Mexborough and Swinton Times October 4, 1929

“The Circus Ring”

Crowded First Night

Long before the advertised time of starting, a large crowd had assembled outside the Grand Theatre doors on Monday night and it was with a little difficulty that they were restrained in their eagerness to get inside.

In a short time the house was packed from end to end, and both Mr. Pollard, the managing director, and Mr. Carten the manager, received a rousing reception. Mr. Pollard deprecated a report that the theatre had been purchased by a combine of Jews. He was no Jew. The theatre had been purchased by people who intended giving value for money, and Yorkshire value at that.

Mr. Pollard referred to the strike of 1926, and quoting from “The Miner” stated that he had tried to do a little for the Notts and Derbyshire miners in those days of inactivity. He had given them hundreds of free shows, and had in other ways tried to lighten those dark days. If he could be of some assistance to the Yorkshire miners he would do all in his power to help them. (Applause).

Mr. Carten also spoke, stating that the management would welcome suggestions from the audience with regard to the improvement of the theatre or performance. Unfortunately, in the past there had been a little rowdiness in the theatre, and he would like it to be thoroughly understood that the management would take strict measures to ensure behaviour from all sections. (Hear hear.)

Two Hours of Fun

It was a happy thought on the part of the management to open the theatre with a circus show, and they could not have done better than to have engaged the Royal Empire Stage Circus, presented by Mr. George W. Batty and Mr. J. Fossett.

It had all the atmosphere of the sawdust ring, with a splendid stud of handsome horses, ponies, mules, dogs, etc., and a full company of star artists from many of the principal circuses in Europe. There was two hours’ real good fun, and the peals of laughter and vociferous applause were enough to convince the management that a good start had been made.

There were some excellent feats of horsemanship by the Fossett Bros., whose daring acrobatic feats brought wild applause. Horse sense in its finest degree was shown by Africa, who spoke, counted and played a musical instrument. Jenneta, a mule, presented by Mr. J. Fossett, was not so stupid as most of her kind, and Fredrica’s comedy terriers were great laughter provokers. Sheila, a wonderful riding dog, proved as much at home on horseback as on the ground, and she jumped through hoops without the slightest hesitation.    Alexis was a daring bareback rider, and Constance Freda performed graceful feats con her handsome horse. For equilibristic display  the Oceans Trio would be hard to beat, and the Ching Chang Trio, in a comedy Chinese table pyramid performance, did a marvellous amount of falling about in the most graceful of styles.,

Carrval did a lot of amazing things on top of an unsupported ladder, and Mdlle. Dorrete Batiste and her posing horse was one of the most effective displays of the evening, beautiful colour effects been obtained. No circus is complete without a couple of foods and Eddie and Bobby worked hard to keep the fun going comical Jimmy brought along a troop of Wath acrobats, and outtakes of the six local lads produce roars of laughter.

Altogether the show was a real menu, and went with a swing. If it is any criterion of what the management intends to stage, then a visit to the Grand always be worthwhile.