The Band tells the story of teenage girls who grew up as fans of a boyband and re-unite 25years later. It features the music of one of the greatest boybands, Take That. There were boybands long before Take That- think of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and any number of groups that came out of Liverpool in the heady 1960’s days of Mersey Beat. But there was a craze that pre-dated even these groups and, although only lasting for a couple of years between 1957 and 1958, it had a lasting influence on pop and rock ‘n’ roll

This was “skiffle” and, of course, Birmingham Hippodrome presented its exponents in an effort to be “with it”, to use the vocabulary of the time. Skiffle was a music genre that had jazz, blues and folk influences and had developed in the early 20th century from New Orleans jazz. There was a lot of improvisation, especially in the instruments on which it was played – it used washboards, jugs, tea-chest bass and even saws and kazoos – oh, yes, there was even a more conventional guitar and banjo! It meant that, with a minimum of musical know-how, anybody could get up and knock out a rhythmic tune that would get the audience’s feet tapping. Skiffle played an important part in the early careers of later pop stars and was a stepping stone to a British folk revival and blues boom in the late 1950s.

Skiffle grew out of the post WW2 British jazz scene, in which popular tastes moved away from the earlier big band swing to traditional jazz. It was from Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen that his banjo player, Lonnie Donegan, emerged with two other band members to play skiffle in the band’s interval. Much of their material came from recordings by the American folk and blues musician Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter- 1888-1949). Decca released two skiffle tracks by Lonnie Donegan and his group and they became big hits. His version of “Rock Island Line” remained in the British Top 20 for 8 months and it was the first debut record to gold in Britain, selling over a million copies.

This success and the relative ease with which skiffle could be played propelled the new craze into the big-time and produced Chas McDevitt, Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass Boys and The Vipers. It reached its peak with the televising by the BBC of ” Six-Five Special” from 1957- this was the first British youth music programme and a skiffle song was used as its title music.

It has been estimated that by the end of the 1950s, between 30,000 and 50,000 skiffle groups had emerged in Britain. Sales of guitars soared and a new social phenomenon was created alongside the music – the coffee bar. The most famous, selling Italian expresso coffee, was the 2i’s in London’s Soho, where Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard made their first public appearances. Other famous singers who started off playing skiffle include Van Morrison, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Roger Daltry. The Beatles developed from John Lennon’ s skiffle group The Quarrymen and the Bee Gees came from Barry Gibb’s group the Rattlesnakes.

Lonnie Donegan had a quick string of hit records and Moss Empires, the then owners of Birmingham Hippodrome, sent him out to head up Variety shows to capitalise on the new craze. His first appearance here was in October 1956- also on the bill were two young up-and-coming comedians, Des O’Connor and Stan Stennett. He returned in October 1959 in ” Putting On the Donegan”, again with Des and two ex-George Mitchell choir singers named Mikki and Griff. By this time, Donegan was developing into an all-around entertainer and he started here as Buttons in our first Cinderella pantomime in 1961-1962.

In December 1957, the Vipers skiffle group appeared at Birmingham Hippodrome, led by Wally Wyton, who was later to become a popular television presenter. Also on the Variety bill were the current heart-throb singer Jim Dale and the locally-trained Betty Fox Girls. One of these was a young Audrey Styler, who subsequently became Assistant Manager at Birmingham Hippodrome.

The Vipers had earlier appeared at the 2i’s coffee shop in Soho, where they sometimes jammed with a young Tommy Hicks (Tommy Steele). For short periods, their line-up had included Hank Marvin, Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, who went on to become The Shadows.

Another top skiffle group was Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass Boys, who appeared at Birmingham Hippodrome in March 1958 with a rising comedy duo- Morecambe and Wise. Also on the bill were a singing group called The Southlanders, one of whom was the father of entertainer Gary Wilmot.

Skiffle’s popularity lasted only a short time but it had a big influence on what was to come in pop music. It gave valuable exposure and stage experience to up-and-coming future stars and helped to keep Birmingham Hippodrome open at a time when Variety was fading. With the staging of The Band, it is timely to recall perhaps more innocent days when the earliest boybands could emerge from working-class backgrounds and have a taste of what it was like to be idolised by screaming teenage girls. For most, it was a passing phase but for others, it was a stepping stone to even greater fame and fortune.

Ivan Heard- Hippodrome Heritage Volunteer

To see the award-winning musical The Band, book here.