She ruled the artistes on the Moss Empires circuit with a rod of iron. Woe
betide any comic who put in any questionable material or any act that went on
in tatty costumes. Her Fuhrer Bunker was in Cranbourne Mansions the
Leicester Square head office of the circuit Her name was Cissie Williams. A
small woman with swept back dark hair and a distinct cockney accent she
was feared by all artistes who trod the Moss boards during the thirties through
to the late fifties.
She was credited as artistes booking control in all the programmes and
control she did. She had the authority to book all artistes on the circuit who
were on salaries of up to £100 per week so this included almost everybody
apart from tops and second tops of the bill. Over £100 she had to consult Val
Parnell the managing director who usually deferred to her judgment. One of
the few middle of the bill acts who were earning more than this were Wilson
Kepple and Betty and Joe Kepple used to boast about this but there rarely
any trouble with them because the act changed very little during the fifty years
that it existed.
She had a gauleiter who assisted her, Ted Gollop. He could be seen at
lunchtimes walking her poodle dog around the gardens in Leicester Square.
Norman Murray the agent told of a time when had just taken on a two girl
dancing act who were quite good and he wanted to get them on the circuit. He
eventually persuaded Cissie to let him take her to see them and dressed in
his best suit he accompanied her to the Camberwell Palace to vet them. She
sat through the act without a word. The girls had forgotten to polish their
shoes before going on.” We don’t book acts with dirty shoes Mr Murray” she
retorted as the luckless girls took their call.
Finsbury Park Empire was the theatre where bills that were usually kept
together and the Revues did their first week and were polished for the rest of
the tour during first house on Monday night., David Wilmot the manager and
Alf Padgwick the stage manager used to quake in their shoes at the sight of
her but Sid Kaplin the musical director used to treat her with almost disdain.
Before Finsbury Park he had been at the Holborn Empire for a number of
years and it was rumoured that he could rattle a skeleton in her cupboard.
I managed my Uncle Jack Taylor’s revues and a number of bills with
American tops for Moss Empires so was on the receiving end of her tongue
many times. She would sit in the fourth or fifth row of the stalls near the pass
door. Ted Gollop was dispatched through this with urgent reprimands for the
act during the show. I would be standing in the prompt corner and ear the
clunk of the iron door as it closed and see Ted scurrying across the stage
toward the dressing rooms with a missive for some poor unfortunate artiste.
When the show ended I would go into the stalls to receive my orders from her
whilst the cleaners did the rubbish pick up before the second house around
us. We had an elderly comic who had been around for years and liked a
tipple. He fell over on his way back from the pub one night on a previous tour
and tore the knee of his trousers. Now he more important things to do with his
money than buy new evening dress trousers such as to hand it over the
counter of the pub near to the stage door so a dresser took pity on him and
put a very neat patch on the knee that was hardly visible and he continued to
wear them.” Buy him a new pair of evening dress trousers, deduct the cost
from his salary and tell him if he does it again he is out” said Cissie. Bobby
Thompson the Tyneside comic was booked for the tour. His act was in very
broad Geordie.”Tell him he can play Newcastle and Sunderland but the rest of
the dates are cancelled” ordered Cissie.
That was Moss Empires the artistes used to say that they operated Martial
Law in their theatres.
