There are two plaques honouring Frank Randle. The first to be placed is close by Frank's birthplace of 50 Wigan Road in New Springs which was then in the urban district of Aspull, which is now in the borough of Wigan. The house was demolished and hence the plaque was positioned nearby. (Photo by Gerry Maudsley) You may have seen the booklet written by J A Hilton (published by Aspull and Haigh Local History Society) - it was the money raised from sales of that booklet that paid for the plaque commemorating Frank Randle's birthplace. Itsahotun all reet - thanks JA!
New Springs was not in the BOROUGH of Aspull but in the URBAN DISTRICT of Aspull, which is now in the borough of Wigan.
On 7th July 2007 the Cuthbert Club funded another blue plaque to Frank Randle which is sited on the North Pier, Blackpool - you will find it at the top end opposite the entrance to the Carousel Bar which is where the Cuthbert Club members thought would suit Frank the best, especially seeing as his first top of the bill performance took place there in 1939. (see this link for more plaque details)
Frank Randle was born 30th January 1901 on Wigan Road in the village of New Springs and he died in Blackpool where he is buried at Carleton Cemetery - click here for Carleton location map and details)
Many thanks for the copy of the birth certificate above goes to Ian Hudson who kindly wrote to us January 2010 and helped clear up the previous confusion between the site of Randle's birth and that of his Wigan blue plaque.
Frank Randle
The greatest Character Comedian of the North!
... trace his rise to fame beginning here with the Bouncing Randles 1931 ...
... and to the right top in March 1939 ...
then on to his own production company in 1950 ...
Thank you to Jacqui Maddock who emailed us (summer 2007) with regard to Queenie Randle (Maiden name Douglas) and attached a great photograph too - displayed below. Jacqui has been tracing her family tree and discovers that Queenie was a cousin of her maternal grandmother. The photograph is of Frank and Queenie taken in May 1948 with their dog. It is signed on the back by Queenie: "With Love to our dear father from Queenie and Arthur (Frank)". We wrote to the Williams brothers and they have advised us that Queenie's father's name was Alfred - and the dog's name was Patsy - our thanks as ever to Philip and David! If anyone has further information on May Annie Victoria (Queenie) Jacqui would love to hear from you. Write to Cuthbert with your email/contact details and we'll pass them on to Jacqui.
19 May 2006 - Thanks to Ben Gilbody for bringing this photograph to the Cuthbert Club on Wednesday night! It's a photograph of a 'do' at a hotel in Blackpool and his Mum is on Queenie's knee! We guess it's the 1950s - could it be a Coronation Day function? Jack Warner is there, looking very proper on the left and, dressed as a Bellboy, is Ronnie Ronalde!! (NOT!*)
* Dear Mrs. Cuthbert -
I thoroughly enjoyed looking on your website and the photos of Frank,
bringing back many memories, especially the one on the boat. He once
invited Ben Warris and Jimmy Jewell onto his boat and when Jimmy called
him by his name Frank turned round and said:
On this boat you call me Captain.
However I have to disappoint you in the photo with Jack Warner it is
not me, Ronnie Ronalde, dressed as a bellboy.
Thanks RR for putting us right (email received 13 June 2006) ...
If you know any of the people featured (particularly the woman with the cigarette holder!) we'd love to know!! contact Mrs Cuthbert, Web Missus
Thanks also to Jim Medway for emailing the scan of this great artefact.
March 2007 - Further information has arrived from Philip and David Williams wand you can read the full story behind the photograph! See opposite ...
Just imagine having your photograph taken with Frank for 3/6!!
The first ‘News Chronicle STAGE & RADIO Garden Party’ was held in Blackpool in 1950. The third such event staged in 1952 was attended as in previous years by many celebrities. These obviously included most of the personalities who were appearing in the Blackpool summer shows but also many other top names who had travelled to the resort to give their support. Why is this significant to our friends at itsahotun.com? Well, this is a partial answer to your question re: photo on your Frank Randle gallery page dated 19 May 2006 - from Ben Gilbody. We can tell you that the photo was taken during the 1952 STAGE & RADIO Garden party event staged at Stanley Park on July 22nd – with Jack Warner as the master of ceremonies. There were around 24 side shows each manned by celebrities. Those of most interest to US would be ‘Sideshow 7’ which included Frank Randle, ‘Sideshow 2’ with Harry Korris - With many other ‘friends’ spread around including, Gus Aubrey, Jimmy James, Diana Dors, Maudie Edwards and Arnley & Gloria. Also in attendance on ‘Sideshow 1’ was Ronnie Ronalde, who quite rightly states that the ‘chap’ in the photo is not ‘he’. So, who is the man dressed as a bellboy. Well the answer is that it is Bobby Collins who was on ‘Sideshow 4’ with Alf & Bob Pearson. Bobby was appearing that summer season with Frank Randle in his 1952 ‘Summer Scandals’ at the Central Pier. You can see a picture of him on the back page of the show programme (you have one as part of the raffle prizes – so presume you have your own copy). As originally stated, this is only a partial answer as we still don’t know who the lady with the cigarette holder is. By the way - for six pence (for charity) you could have an autograph of any of the stars or for 3s 6d you could have your photo taken with a star of your choice - 17½p for a photo with me and Frank what a bargain - alas I was only one year old.
24 February 2006 - The photo opposite has been handed to us by Mike Blakeley - it shows Frank Randle getting into his makeup and character as the Old Hiker and possibly comes from the 1940 Mancunian film 'Somewhere in England' ...
... and this week also, through the post, a film reel was delivered, kindly donated by Mr Harry Wilcox. It is a Standard 8 copy (silent) of an extract from Somewhere in Civvies - 'The Nightwatchman and the Magician'. This has been handed to the North West Film Archive.
The photograph opposite came to light just before Christmas 2006 - for the full story behind the picture see p172 of Hooray for Jollywood.
In a nutshell, Randle was trying to steal the limelight by blacking up in front of Winifred Atwell (It's A Grand Life) ... John E trained a camera on Frank but had better taste than put film in it!
If not for some studio photographer this story would have remained apocryphal!
One of the earliest pictures of Randle as a professional performer, here with Tumbling Act - Roy Bros & Mac. Randle is on the right, dimunitive and apparently still with some teeth.
It was in troupes like this and the Bouncing Randles that he learnt the art of Stagecraft. In order to fill in the time between scene changes, he became what was known as a "front-cloth comic" doing routines to the expectant crowd. This eventually persuaded him to become a solo comedian as Arthur Twist -
Randle toured for several years as Arthur Twist (opposite) but never gained the success he felt he deserved. According to legend, one night after a particularly ill-received performance at Glasgow Empire he decided to change his stage name once more - this time to Frank Randle - and start again from the bottom as a character comedian.
So it was back to Blackpool in the mid 1930s and the long, slow slog to build a career. Frank realised that the secret of comedy was having all your teeth out and then using different sets of false teeth, or none at all, to create comic characters. Here are the first two to bring him fame and fortune - the Old Boatman and the Old Hiker.
By 1937 he was second on the bill to American comics Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon at the Palace, Blackpool. And through the hard work of impressario Jack Taylor, Randle's comedy star began to rise across the North of England as can be seen from this programme from the Palace, Sheffield, in 1938.
Also in 1938 Randle was appearing at the North Pier with the Mills Bros and then in 1939 he starred there again with On With The Show.
By 1940 Randle had become King Twist and was earning £1,000 per week.
Frank and his wife Queenie - sailing on Lake Windermere, 1940
In 1940 Randle branched out into film-making with John E Blakeley at the Mancunian Film Studio. Here is a still from 1942 'Somewhere in Camp'
Throughout the War, Randle's Wartime Scandals travelled around the country both North and South, boosting morale and causing havoc.
Randle's Scandals continued to play around the country after the war but by the 1950s Variety was losing popularity to television. Randle worked with artistes who would soon become household names - Maudie Edwards, Betty Jumel, Roy Castle and, in the picture here, Jimmy Clitheroe.
Randle the Ventriloquist (with Jimmy Clitheroe)
Randle always remained true to Blackpool, where he lived until his death in 1957.
Here finally is a picture of Randle the man, rather than the legend.
