‘An amazing treasure of a venue’ – Founder of Yorkshire Silent Film Festival hails Winter Gardens ahead of Morecambe date

Thursday, 26 May 2022 06:00

Did you know that Laurel and Hardy performed at Morecambe’s Winter Gardens in 1947?

Well, now, they’re back on the big screen as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival, which comes to the resort on Sunday (May 29), as part of the Winter Gardens’ 125th anniversary celebrations.

The event is a double bill of classic comedies featuring Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton’s The General, all accompanied by live music, as would have been the case when the films were originally screened in cinemas in the 1920s.

Audiences will be able to experience the magic of the golden age of cinema in Morecambe’s beautiful and historic Winter Gardens theatre.

Click here to listen to our interview with festival founder and pianist, Jonny Best:

‘’It’s a beautiful, beautiful venue’’, says Jonny.

‘’It’s a beautiful heritage building that’s been bought into life, with a wonderful atmosphere and its own history of showing silent films.

‘’The volunteers are doing a great job of bringing it back into use and we’re thrilled to be a small part of that programme.

‘’The Winter Gardens is an amazing treasure of a venue and Morecambe is really lucky to have it.

‘’In the 1920s, sound would have been ‘local’ – anything from a pianist, a gramophone making affects sounds, maybe big orchestras in bigger cinemas. Film composers didn’t exist, so the sound was improvised, the score was ‘compiled.’

‘’Laurel and Hardy transcend generations. They are still so funny for kids. People falling over, into cakes, it’s funny! Keaton the same thing. Because its visual comedy, it’s very straight forward.

‘’Slapstick, the visuals of clowning around is incredibly influential. You can see elements of Laurel and Hardy in Morecambe and Wise.

‘’The genre was cut down by the invention of sound and the verbal wisecracking, screwball comedy took over in the 1930s and 40s.

‘’People like Miranda Hart and Lee Evans are still highly successful in the genre. It never goes away.’’

The evening of comedy classics starts with a trio of Laurel and Hardy short films – Angora Love, From Soup To Nuts and Liberty. In true Laurel and Hardy style, whatever they get up to, they make a complete mess of it!

The second show is Buster Keaton’s spectacular action masterpiece The General, packed full of beautiful visual comedy, daring stunts and nail-biting dramatic tension. Both screenings will be brought to life with live scores by YSFF’s expert improvising musicians, Jonny Best on piano and Trevor Bartlett on percussion.

These events, presented in association with More Music, follow YSFF’s successful first show at the Winter Gardens last year. In October 2021, hundreds of people attended a special Halloween screening of the creepy classic Nosferatu with music by Morecambe’s Off The Rails Creative Jazz Orchestra.

YSFF’s 2022 programme at Morecambe Winter Gardens will continue with more one-off events planned for the summer and autumn. Details will be announced in the coming months.

Tickets are available now by clicking here