View source for Variety Playhouse (BBC)

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'''''Variety Playhouse''''' was a radio programme on the [[w:BBC Home Service|BBC Home Service]] during the 1950s and early 1960s.<ref name=T1/>

It was broadcast live<ref name=T1/> each week except during the summer. Often it played on Saturday between 8 and 9 p.m., but it could also be found at other times and on other days. There was a live audience, live chorus and live orchestra. Frequently the compère was the comedian/violinist [[Vic Oliver]]; he sometimes doubled as conductor.

Regular features included a comedian and an up-and-coming opera singer.

The final feature often was "Variety Playhouse Pocket Theatre", starring [[Jack Hulbert]] and [[Cicely Courtneidge]] in a short, specially written play.

The show often played out to the "Russian Dance" (Trépak) from ''[[w:The Nutcracker|The Nutcracker Suite]]''. Besides providing a rousing ending, this helped to smooth out any deviations from the planned length in the timing of this live show.

The programme was first advertised for Saturday 2 May 1953.<ref name=T1>The Times Online, May 02 1953; pg. 10, accessed 26 Jan 2015</ref> It was last advertised for Saturday, May 19, 1962.<ref>The Times Online: Saturday, May 19, 1962; pg. 6, accessed 26 Jan 2015</ref>

In ''[[w:The Times|The Times]]'' of 21 August 1964, [[w:Sir Adrian Boult|Sir Adrian Boult]] paid tribute, following the death of Vic Oliver, to Oliver's hard and often thankless work in auditioning young and unknown musicians for the opportunity to broadcast for the first time in ''Variety Playhouse''. He wrote that almost every programme had at least one unknown name on it.<ref>The Times Online, 21 Aug. 1964: pg 10, accessed 26 Jan 2015</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:BBC Radio comedy programmes]]
[[Category:BBC Home Service programmes]]