MODERN MARVELS MAGICIANS AND PORTOBELLO SHOWMEN

MODERN MARVELS
MAGICIANS
AND
PORTOBELLO SHOWMEN
DAVID IRVING
Foreword
This is the story of Harry Marvello, Andre Letta and the Codona family, the showmen who
transformed Portobello into the seaside attraction it became between 1900 and 1950, and
forms part of the Portobello On-line Local History Project.
Most of the information forming the background to this history has been gleaned from the
Scotsman Archives, to which go many thanks and the obvious acknowledgments. The
illustrations come from a number of web sources, on which original copyrights are not
listed, so I apologise for any, inadvertent, breaches of the same and express my thanks to
those people who originally posted them.
Inevitably, with a dependence on a single source of information, there are gaps. For
example, the Scotsman Archive contains no record of when Andre Letta died. Hopefully as
the Local History Project progresses and other sources are explored, a fuller picture will
emerge.
In the 1930s my mother’s family had the franchise to sell ice-cream on Portobello
promenade and worked closely with the show people. Harry Marvello lived in Rathbone
House on the Promenade. My grandparents subsequently took on the lease of Rathbone
House and my mother grew up there. Andre Letta lived in 12 Bath Street. Later, my
parents took on the lease of that house and I grew up there.
Shortly before her death my mother began to write a memoir of the Portobello Shows in
the 1930s, but died before she could take it very far. This is for her.
David Irving
January 2006
In the summer of 1906 a young man was found dead in a bathing hut parked at the side of
the Figgate burn, Portobello. He had dark hair, a slight mustache and a tattoo saying “S.S.
Galatea” on one arm and was judged to be about twenty six years old. He was poorly
dressed and may have died of self neglect. It appeared that he had been working for some
of the local show people, but his name was unrecorded.
If he was working in the shows, then it was likely he had been employed by either Billy
Codona or Harry Marvello, both of whom had pitches on Harbour Green.
In the Edwardian era there was a green sward along the Portobello sea front. It stretched
from Pipe Street to the Figgate burn and from the Potteries to the shore. It was known
locally as Harbour Green. Until 1895 it had been used as a tar yard, but in February of that
year Portobello Town Council decided to relocate the yard to more suitable premises off
the High Street and to use the Green as a children’s playground.
Quite quickly it became a stopping off point for travelling fairgrounds. In August 1899 a
bottle worker called Bernard Greenan, who lived in Pipe Street Lane was caught stealing 3
pounds of mutton, 1 pound of lard, 100 cigars, a box of cigarettes and two boxes of
matches from a showman’s tent on the Green. He was fined £2.
William Codona, commonly known as Billy, was born in 1862 into a family of travelling
show people. Over the years they became the leading family of “amusement caterers” in
Scotland, a position which they still hold today. As now, each member of the family had
their special role in the business. Billy ‘s was roundabouts. In the 1890s Billy Codona,
founded an itinerant players business which utilised the talents of his sons and daughters.
The plays were chiefly melodramas. Later he was among the first to show films, touring
Scotland, Northern England and Ireland with portable cinemas.
Herbert Melville was born in 1879. Over his professional career he called himself Henry
Melville, Harry Hutchison and Harry Marvello, and it is under all three of these names that
he became known in Portobello. As a teenager Marvello became apprenticed to the well
known conjuror Ludwig Dabler, and in the 1890s became a popular society entertainer,
even performing for Queen Victoria. He moved into the Music Halls, first as a variety entertainer, then an illusionist and finally a card manipulator. It was in that capacity that he
joined the Modern Marvel Company in 1900.
Cinema was still in its infancy at the turn of the century and treated as a side show novelty.
One entrepreneur, T.G. West decided to change that and hired the Queen Street Hall in
Edinburgh to put on regular shows. By January 1901 he was putting on shows twice daily,
every day of the week except Sunday. The Scotsman said it was: “The absolute perfection
of animated picture projection. The most brilliant light, the clearest definition and the greatest stereoscopic depth and outline ever produced by the Cinematograph. Supplemented
by the most charming and novel living pictures ever seen in Edinburgh”.
Typically the programmes consisted of footage of disturbances in China, scenes of
Ashanti life, the South African Campaign, a pantomime “The Christmas Dream” and a
historic spectacle, “Joan of Arc”.
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While the reels were being changed, variety acts entertained the audience. The company
included Harry Marvello, Miss Lill Cole and The Sisters Korosko Bale. In 1902 they were
joined by Andre Letta, with Mr. T. Lax on piano.
Like Harry Marvello, Letta had been born in the 1870s, under the more prosaic name of
Robert Horne Stewart, and trained as a stage magician. In 1902 he was living in Antigua
Street and had a passion for pugs. Like Marvello, he regularly appeared in the music halls
and at functions such as the annual gathering of the Leith Yule Club in the Assembly
Rooms. These were enjoyable musical programmes, where the conjuring and ventriloquial
entertainments of Mr. Andre Letta were highly appreciated and dancing was subsequently
engaged in until early in the morning.
Billy Codona, meanwhile, was touring the country with his roundabouts, melodramas and
other attractions. In September 1901 he had a bit of a run in with Archibald Russell in
Wishaw. Russell owned a piece of land which he leased to a plumber, William Waddell.
Waddell in turn sub-let it to Codona who erected a portable theatre for the summer
season. Archie Russell wanted a slice of the action to supplement his coal business.
Fortunately for Codona, the Court thought that Russell was too late in bringing the action
and let the theatre carry on without hinderance.
It was around this time that Codona started adding Portobello to his summer circuit,
pitching his “shows” on land next to the Tower.
In November 1902, the Tower and the large house adjoining it came on the
market. It is a substantial two storey dwelling house, with octagonal turret
corners, flat roof and battlement parapet, which at that time contained on
the ground floor a porch, entrance hall, 4 rooms, lavatories and offices, on
the first floor, 6 rooms, bathroom, dark room, also main and service
staircase. Attached there is the Tower which gives it its name, a four storey
octagonal brick tower with battlemented parapet, having stair access to the
various floors. The advert drew attention to the stone and railing parapet
wall and stone boundary walls. It had electric light throughout and water
connections. The premises were described as substantially built and commodious and in every way suitable for a superior hotel, the implication
being that there was a need for a good hotel in Portobello. It was bought
by William MacKinnon, who did, indeed, turn it into an hotel.
On 30 July 1904, Andre Letta performed at Balmoral in front of King Edward and Queen
Alexandra and thereafter began to describe himself as Scotland’s Court Magician. He left
the Modern Marvel Company and took regular
engagements in Edinburgh theatres.
By 1905 Harry Marvello had also left the
Modern Marvel team and formed his own
company, the Geisha Entertainers. They had
a tent pavilion that summer on the Harbour
Green. The venture was so successful that
the seating capacity had to be doubled after
two weeks.
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That same year Billy Codona ran in to trouble at Carstairs. There was a fight one
Saturday night between some young men of the district and the show people, who had
their paraphernalia pitched on the village green. In the course of the affray the show
people started shooting firearms and a lad of seventeen named Brock, was severely
wounded in the shoulder by a bullet from a winchester repeating rifle.
The quarrel arose about ten o’clock at night when two of the girl attendants at one of the
shooting galleries came up to a young man named Shankly, who had been shooting, and
asked him to pay for his shots. He told them that another young man named Bell had paid
for him. Hearing the argument, Billy Codona came over and knocked Shankly down. A
police constable intervened and calmed things down.
Some time later a young man named MacNamara came into the show ground and
accused one of the show attendants named Kennedy of hitting Shankly. Kennedy asked
MacNamara what it had to do with him, and the pair of them began to fight. The constable
again intervened, but while he was attempting to separate the struggling men, one of the
girls struck him on the head with a naphtha lamp which inflicted an ugly wound. The
policeman arrested the girl but in a few minutes he was surrounded by show people and
the woman was rescued.
There was now much excitement among the people in the show ground and Billy Codona
appealed to the constable to protect them from the crowd. The policeman managed to
restore something like order, but in a short time another quarrel arose and there was a
general melee. The show people got underneath their vans with their rifles and
commenced indiscriminate firing. The shooting continued vigorously for a time and Brock
was shot while standing near a hotel, about forty or fifty yards away. He was taken into the
hotel. The firing continued for some time after this until the policeman bravely
approached the vans and advised those with rifles to give over the shooting as already
one young man had been severely wounded. He succeeded in getting the showmen to
lay down their rifles.
When reinforcements from Lanark arrived, they arrested Codona, his son John, a
showman named Broughton and Kennedy. Ann Stewart, the girl who struck the constable
with the lamp, was also arrested. The four men were charged with having recklessly
discharged firearms, while the girl was charged with assaulting a police constable with a
lamp.
On 17 October, before Sheriff Scott Moncrieff and a jury at Lanark, William Codona,
roundabout proprietor; John Codona, engine man, Alfred Broughton, showman, and
Richard Kennedy, showman, were charged with having on the 26th August, on the public
green at Carstairs village, in concert with each other, culpably and recklessly discharged
guns or other firearms loaded with shot from or near a number of caravans then used by
them in the direction of John Brock, labourer, Thomas McInally, brakeman and other
persons, whereby the said John Brock was struck and wounded on the left shoulder by
a bullet. The accused pleaded not guilty and the jury agreed. They were all acquitted.
Apart from visiting the music halls, theatres and travelling shows, in the days before radio
or television, people engaged in social entertainments. Jeanette Carbarns was typical.
3
A young typist, she had a good soprano singing voice and was popular at amateur concert
parties. In 1905 she met nineteen year old Albert Bentley, whose mother ran a furrier’s
shop in Frederick Street. Shortly afterwards they set up house together, though they did
not marry until Jeanette became pregnant in 1907.
In the Autumn of 1905, William MacKinnon, who owned the Tower Hotel, died, as, shortly
afterwards, did Alexander Gray, the tenant of No. 1 Portobello Promenade, known as
Rathbone House.
On 15 September Harry Marvello took on the lease of Rathbone House, which was the
closest property to his “Pavilion” on Harbour Green. The following year, on 23 May, he
bought the Tower Hotel and announced his intention to build an amusement pavilion in the
grounds.
Around the same time Billy Codona moved into a house at 70 Tower Street, Portobello,
and set up his roundabout permanently on the Harbour Green site, probably employing the
unfortunate young sailor from the S.S. Galatea who was dossing down in one of the
bathing huts nearby.
All of this was too much for one section of the local populace, led by the Minister of the
Regent Street United Free Church, the Rev. Robert Whyte. At a meeting in the Town Hall
on 8 October, over 600 people supported the motion: “that this meeting views with deep
regret the licensing by the City Magistrates of the various open spaces at the Promenade
and Harbour Green for undesirable and noisy amusements, whereby the whole character
of the sea front is lowered and rowdyism encouraged.” The City Magistrates took no notice
and the licences went ahead.
Andre Letta, meanwhile was going down a storm at the Edinburgh Albert Hall, his show
including cinematograph displays, the film “The Terrible Kids And Their Dog” being the
only picture ever known to have been encored in Edinburgh up to that date. So successful
was he that the theatre extended the run. In June 1906 he married Jean Mackintosh, a
young soprano.
Letta had a passion for dogs, particularly pugs and toy spaniels. He was a well known
breeder and regularly advertised pugs for sale in the columns of the Scotsman. Some of
his dogs, particularly his pug Lord Dalmeny, won prizes and Letta himself became a judge
for the Toy Dog Society of Scotland.
Despite the Rev. Whyte and his supporters, on 4 April 1907, the Dean of Guild Court
awarded Harry Marvello a warrant to erect a pavilion between the Tower Hotel and the
Promenade. The pavilion was for the purpose of holding entertainments on music hall lines
and could accommodate 700 people. It was 100 feet long and 50 feet wide and was fitted
out with a tea garden on the roof. However, the national craze at the time was for roller
skating and Marvello fitted out the pavilion for that purpose. This was to be the first roller
skating rink in Portobello, followed later by the enormous rink in the Marine Gardens and
the more modest establishment called the Bungalow, in Bath Street.
Andre Letta became a father in 1907, his first daughter, Evelyn, being born on 25 April.
Perhaps this prompted him to rejoin the Modern Marvel Company, which he did in June,
being described on the programme as Mr. Andre Letta, Prestidigitator. He was competing
with a wealth of subjects of surpassing grandeur, the grandest national spectacles ever
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photographed: great naval fights; thrilling, awe inspiring and realistic scenes; torpedo
attack on HMS Dreadnought; railway building from the Cape to Cairo; an interesting trip
through Palestine; the King and Queen at the Royal Horse Show and the visit of Their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales to the Highland Society Show.
The summer of 1907 wasn’t so happy for Harry Marvello. The cost of buying the Tower
and building the Amusement Pavilion had over stretched him and, under his real name of
Herbert Melville, he was forced by the Edinburgh Bankruptcy Court to wind up his
companies, Melville Theatres and Pierrot Enterprises. The liabilities were £75 6s and there
were no assets. Marvello stated that he was manager of Rathbone Gardens, where there
was a pierrot entertainment, and proprietor by lease of ground at Harbour Green used as a
show ground. He attributed his difficulties to losses caused by competition from another
show at Harbour Green which had the better position. That other show was run by Billy
Codona.
Over the Christmas season, Andre Letta played the King’s Theatre, while Marvello took
over the Oddfellows Hall, Forest Road.
With the arrival of their first child, Albert and Jeanette Bentley found it difficult to make
ends meet. In 1908 Albert went to work for his mother at the furrier’s in Frederick Street
and Jeanette decided to put her vocal talents to use by singing professionally. She started
touring as an “interval singer” in the picture houses of Lanark and Fife and was soon being
described as “a good draw and one of Edinburgh’s leading sopranos.”
With Harry Marvello no longer operating on Harbour Green, Billy Codona took over the
whole site and re-named it Fun City. By September 1908 he had installed a Figure Eight
railway and was advertising plots to other showmen, either on a shares or rental basis.
Marvello, himself, applied for a theatre licence for the Tower Pavilion. This paved the way
for the establishment of summer seaside variety at Portobello which lasted through to the
1930s.
At the licence hearing the Burgh Engineer expressed some concerns. To begin with,
when he inspected the Pavilion it was dirty and in his opinion required cleaning. More
importantly, the screen separating the stage and the auditorium was unsatisfactory as it
was not fireproof. On top of that, the building was heated by six gas radiators which he
considered to be inadequately fixed and posed the danger that ladies’ dresses might
catch fire. However, the Fire Master and the Chief Constable reported that they had no
objections to the licence. The Fire Master pointed out that there was no insistence for a
fireproof curtain. With regard to the radiators, his opinion was that there was no danger.
Mr. Marvello said that the place would certainly be cleaned before it was used as a theatre.
It had been impossible to keep it clean as there had been performing lions and other
animals in there.
However, times continued to be hard for him and in February 1909 he put the Tower and
the Pavilion on the market, advertising the Tower as suitable for a boarding house and the
Pavilion as a temperance restaurant.
It may be that he had visited Billy Codona’s new Palmistry Tent with two frontages, and
divined the potential effect of the huge amusement complex planned for the soon to open
Marine Gardens. As he pointed out in his advert: “ The house is on the beach and the only
5
large one near the new Marine Gardens. Artistes and others will most likely make it their
headquarters. A pushing, energetic party will command success.” That pushing, energetic
party was a Mr. J. W. Morris.
The Licensing Court granted Morris a theatre licence with the proviso that the theatre
should not be opened on Sundays except for meetings of a charitable, religious and
philanthropic character. Marvello returned to the stage as a magician and, interestingly,
took up journalism.
Over the Christmas period 1909, while Letta and Marvello performed on the Edinburgh
stages, Billy Codona ran a fairground at Fountainbridge which attracted over 48,000
people on one day.
On New Year’s Day 1910, Andre Letta showed his toy spaniel “Lady Jean o’ Cockpen”
and his pug “Merry Myra” at the Toy Dog and Cat Show held under the auspices of the
Toy Dog Society of Scotland in the Artillery Hall, Grindlay Street, Edinburgh. Later on
that year he was again advertising pug puppies for sale.
The Marine Gardens had opened in May 1909. The site incorporated the buildings which
had been used at the National Exhibition at Saughton in 1908, and contained a Theatre,
Ballroom, Exhibition Hall and Roller Skating rink as well as an enormous Amusement park,
with scenic railway, figure eight railway and numerous side shows.
The first year at the Marine Gardens was marred by bad weather, but the following
season, summer 1910, was glorious. Inevitably, the competition with Fun City was intense,
but the Codonas knew how to fight back. On the principle that if you can’t beat them join
them, they took over franchises in the Marine Gardens and along with Dickenson’s Merry
Mascots and Mozzetto the Marvelous Juggler, we find Codona’s Hunters and the Haunted
House.
In June, Billy Codona’s son John advertised a Showman caravan for touring. It had only
been in use for two years and was fitted with mahogany mirrors, drawers and lockers and
two beds
It is tempting to think that Andre Letta bought it, because shortly afterwards he and his wife
began to go on concert tours round Scottish villages in a Showman caravan. This was the
first of a series of caravan tours that were to have devastating results.
6
Later in the year Andre Letta won prizes with his toy spaniels at the Leith Kennel Club
Show, but Billy Codona was less lucky with his application to erect a Christmas fun-fair
in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh. Following the problems caused by the high numbers at
Fountainbridge the previous year, the Council refused the application by 37 votes to 8.
1911 saw the Modern Marvel Company being joined by other cinemas in Edinburgh,
particularly Hibbert’s Pictures. Though no longer holding the field of cinematography by
themselves, the Queen’s Hall company continued to present an admirable selection of
films of wide interest. Miss Ethel Grant, at the piano, lent worthy assistance.
King George V’s coronation took place in June 1911.
Billy Codona made it widely known that he could supply all kinds of amusements for
celebrating the coronation at moderate terms: Roundabouts, Motor Cars, Switchback
Railways, Galloping Horses, Park Swings and a host of other amusements too
numerous to mention.
The holiday crowds flocked to Portobello. On one day
between six and seven thousand excursionists arrived
from Blantyre, Burnbank, Kirkintilloch, Balloch, Falkirk
and Longriggend. Unfortunately, in the evening,
Mrs. Christie, forty seven years of age, residing at
55 Orchard Street Aberdeen, had her left ankle broken
on the helter skelter in the Fun City. She was taken
to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
The Coronation celebrations also benefited Harry
Marvello. As the Scotsman noted: “ There was an excellent programme at the King’s
Theatre. It was finely varied, and several of the items were exceptionally good. Mr. Harry
Marvello is a conjurer of note. His sleight of hand tricks with a pack of cards were most
mystifying and the rest of his entertainment was particularly good. There was a good
house and the frequent applause showed that the evening’s entertainment was
appreciated.”
During 1911, the Letta family moved to Magdalene Cottages, Musselburgh. The Scottish
Court Conjuror and Ventriloquist was now advertising himself through a new illustrated
booklet. His spare time was still being taken up by dogs. In March his toy spaniels had
won top awards at the Glasgow Kennel Club Show and he was now a judge for both the
Edinburgh Kennel Club and the Scottish National Toy Dog Club. His specialist breeds were
Toy Spaniels and Yorkshire Terriers.
At the age of 50, Billy Codona should have known better, but in October 1912 he and Billy
Jnr., together with another Showman, William Bastable, got into a fight with the Police at
the Goose Green show-ground at Musselburgh. They had been trying to “rescue” one of
their number who had been arrested. Billy’s wife, Mary Ann, who was with them, was also
arrested for striking Police Sergeant Trotter two severe blows in the face with her fist. The
men were fined £4 each. Mary Ann, 3 guineas.
While that was going on, Harry Marvello was back at the King’s Theatre, sharing the
autumn programme with the greatest act in vaudeville, the sensational twin brothers,
Charles and Henry Rigoletto in their astonishing display of versatility.
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It’s not recorded if the great storm of 26 November 1912, resulted in any problems at the
King’s Theatre, but it caused a lot of damage at Portobello. During the night a high south
westerly wind sprung up and as the day broke it increased in velocity. It reached its
maximum in the afternoon and at times it blew with tremendous force. Signboards and
hoardings suffered considerably at Portobello and Joppa. A portion of the boundary wall
of the Fun City was shattered and the material blown across the Promenade with such
violence that about twenty five feet of the iron stanchion and railing work on the beach
side of the pavement were smashed.
The Codonas were off on the road again with their roundabouts during the
summer of 1913. They employed two new traction engine drivers and took on
two or three young men to help with erecting the machines and collecting the
money. Billy made a point of saying in the advert that it was important that the
men were sober and reliable.
October saw Harry Marvello unveil the illusion for which he is most
remembered. The Silver Hat was a comparatively small article with an
apparently inexhaustible capacity. Innumerable and various were the
articles it yielded, while it appeared to be invested with magic powers.
Audiences at the King’s Theatre were mystified and the Scotsman critic
impressed.
By this time the running of the Tower had been taken over by Lillie Williams, the wife of
the manager of the Savoy Theatre, Glasgow. She organised a touring pantomime
programme. Unfortunately, the comedian on the tour, Harry Farrow, was unhappy with the
payment of £60 6s for a six month run, and sued her for more.
Tragedy struck the Codonas in the spring of 1914 when they were touring their shows in
Ayrshire. One of the barkers called Hugh Campbell (known to his mates as Paisley) was
sitting on one of the waggons drawn by the traction engine as it went through Crosshouse
village. Either the waggon hit a bump, or Paisley was larking around. Whatever the reason,
he slipped and fell beneath the wheels. The heavy waggon passed over his chest and he
sustained such severe injuries that he died fifteen minutes later.
Andre Letta spent the Spring season at the Edinburgh Theatre Royal, along with the four
Killarney Girls and the Sam Ives Trio, who engaged in singing and athletic dancing. On 18
June his second daughter, Gladys Marie, was born. Not long afterwards he set off in his
caravan for a summer tour of the towns and villages.
When war broke out, he kept on with the tour, but started advertising the performances as
special concerts in aid of either the Belgian Relief or the Red Cross funds. By the time his
tour finished in Linlithgow at the end of September he had raised £31 9s. He took out an
8
advert in the Scotsman to declare that he would be available throughout the winter season
for Relief Fund concerts at special rates. A full two hour programme was guaranteed.
The outbreak of war, and the demand for newsreels, also had an effect on the cinema
trade, with the Central Cinema on Portobello High Street taking out adverts in the national
press and the Bungalow roller skating rink in Bath Street being converted to show films.
The biggest casualty of the outbreak of hostilities was the Marine Gardens, which was
taken over by the Government as a barracks for soldiers, resulting in the closure of all of
its attractions, including the amusement side shows.
That was good news for Fun City, where Billy Codona wanted to buy gas heating radiators.
They had to be in good condition and cheap for cash. Unfortunately, there is no record of
where he wanted to instal them but perhaps he wanted to attract as many people as he
could through the winter season. Certainly, the war did not interfere with his activities. In
May 1915 the roundabouts went out on their usual tour, with two traction engines and a
full complement of drivers and attendants. During August he ran a fair and carnival at
Saughton.
Andre Letta was also out touring during the summer of 1915. This time he raised £156 10s
for the Red Cross Fund. A special concert at the Tower Pavilion in September raised a
further £2 18s 3d.
Harry Marvello, meanwhile, was doing his bit fund raising at the Alhambra Theatre in Leith
Walk, sharing the stage twice nightly with the 14 Royal Kinos, the world’s greatest juvenile
act, and thrilling audiences with his sensational mystery, The Silver Hat.
The continuing public desire for newsreels meant that the cinemas were packing them in.
Perhaps packing too many of them in. The proprietors of the Central Picture House found
themselves in court after the police discovered that they had allowed forty one people to
stand in the aisles during one performance. They pleaded guilty. They were let off with a
caution, but the Magistrates said that they and other picture house owners needed to
realise that the matter was serious. They must take warning that this method of conducting
picture houses was not to continue. Shortly afterwards one shareholder was offering his
shares in the Central to any taker, with the plea: “A bargain. What offers?”
Mary Ann Codona died in November. By this timethe war was finally catching up with the
Codona’s as well. Adverts appeared offering quantities of fire wood for sale (possibly
dismantled booths and rides) and making the traction engines available for general
haulage work, Government contracts preferred. Through 1916 they continued to seek
work for the traction engines, and managed to keep Fun City operating, though they did
fall foul of the authorities, culminating in Nat Codona being fined at Edinburgh Sheriff Court
for failing to obscure the lights or have them sufficiently screened.
That year Andre Letta’s summer tour was tragically cut short when his caravan was
involved in an accident at Boat of Garten, Inverness, in which his two year old daughter
Gladys Marie, was killed. Not wanting to return to Magdalene Cottages, he, his wife and
his elder daughter moved to No. 3, Hope Street, Portobello.
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Through the war years, Albert Bentley acted as his wife’s manager and was keen to get
her work. He arranged engagements with Robert Stratmore, the manager of the Gaiety
theatre in Methil. Stratmore, Jeanette Bentley and Andre Letta took part in concerts for
Canadian soldiers and Jeanette Bentley agreed to sing at a number of fund raising
concerts Letta was organising for the Red Cross. She also undertook to join his touring
concert party the following year.
As usual, Harry Marvello spent his time in the Edinburgh theatres. This autumn the
production was “In The Trenches” at the King’s, and he carried through into 1917 in the
review “Say When”.
Activity in 1917 followed the now familiar pattern. The Central Picture House managed to
raise £14 7s 6d for the Scottish Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Hostel Fund. Andre Letta
toured the Highlands with his Caravan Concert Party, including Jeanette Bentley. This
time he raised £347 for the Red Cross Fund. Harry Marvello stuck to the theatres and the
Codonas
advertised for haulage work for their traction engines. Billy was branching out
into the cinema trade, however, buying Picture Houses in Haddington, Prestonpans and
Tranent. The Haddington Picture House and its gas engine generator, were to prove problematic.
Fun City was continuing to operate successfully. In particular, it had lost none of its
attraction for the Glasgow crowd, particularly during Fair holiday. On Fair Monday it
was visited by three young lads who had money to throw around. Inevitably they attracted
attention and were apprehended by Sergeant Alexander Fraser from the local Portobello
police station. Two of them turned out to be apprentice bakers and the third was a
labourer. All three were fifteen years of age. It appears that the day before, £100 in
gold, bank notes, treasury notes and silver went missing from a baker’s
premises in Kirkintilloch. The two apprentices were suspected and,
thinking that the attractions of Portobello might appeal to the boys, their
descriptions had been circulated to Sergeant Fraser. It had only taken
him forty minutes to track them down. They made no effort to elude
capture and seemed pleased that their adventure had come to an end.
They immediately admitted their guilt. More money was actually found
in the possession of the lads than the sum reported missing by the baker!
By the end of the year Billy Codona was having problems with the gas engine generator at
his Haddington picture house. He advertised for an efficient operator but appears not to
have been successful because a second advert appeared in February 1918.
By September of that year he was becoming desperate, offering good wages immediately
to any reliable, experienced cinematograph operator who understood electric light and gas
engine generators.
To compound his problems, he was sued by one of the workers at the Portobello Pottery,
Jemima McCormack. Miss McCormack had fallen from a swing boat in Fun City the
previous August and had been injured. She was seeking £250 damages. In the course of
the evidence, however, it appeared that she had stood up in the swing in order to get a
better purchase on the rope and it was that which caused her to be thrown out and injured.
She said that she was unaware that it was dangerous to stand up. Billy Codona, however,
testified that she had been told to sit down and it was clear from other evidence that there
were posters displayed in Fun City warning people against standing in the swing boats.
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The judge dismissed the case saying that any reasonable person would conclude that
Miss McCormack only had herself to blame.
The gas generator problems at Haddington continued. Another advert in January 1919
resulted in Billy hiring an ‘experienced’ cinematographer, but it didn’t last. In April he was
looking for a new cinema operator owing to “disappointment” with the previous one. Any
applicants must “properly” understand gas engine generating plant. He was still advertising
in August, by which time he had upped the wages to £3 10s.
The Portobello cinemas were also having problems. Both the proprietors of the Bungalow
and the Central appealed to the Edinburgh Valuation Appeal Court against a 25% increase
in their valuations. The Bungalow settled out of court, but the Central carried on with their
appeal, which they subsequently lost, the court finding that the Assessor’s valuations for
the years 1913 - 1919 should stand.
Andre Letta’s 1919 Caravan Tour was one of his most ambitious yet. This time Jean
Letta did not go on the tour, and the company consisted of Letta, with his conjuring
tricks, Jeanette Bentley, the soprano, James Hart, a fiddler, and Nora Milne, pianist.
The tour was extensive. In May they were at Auchterarder, in June at Danashaugh.
July took in Inverurie, Insch and Cullen. In September they were at Ballatar and in
October, Strathmiglo. At each stop the two women slept in digs while the men used
the caravan. Over the season the takings were in excess of £1000. Letta paid his
artistes £3 a week. At the end of the tour Letta sold both his mules. They were dark
brown, in good hard working condition and used to pulling heavy caravans.
The Tower also changed hands, and changed its use radically. It was bought by a Mr.
Hutchison who set up The Tower Engineering Company. The Pavilion made an excellent
garage workshop. In September 1919 he was advertising for lathes and men accustomed
to using high speed tools for repetition manufacture. By November he was offering gears,
straight, involute or bevel cut, at shortest notice. The prices were moderate and the
workshop and materials were guaranteed. The following February he floated the business
as a limited company on the Edinburgh Stock Exchange, with a capital of £20,000 in £1
shares. He employed a draftsman in March and was offering cars for sale from June.
1920 for the Codonas started with scandal. John Codona was convicted of having
conducted himself in a disorderly manner, annoying and molesting two girls aged 15
and 13 within the show grounds and committing a breach of the peace. He was
sentenced to forty days in prison.
Later in the year, his father put the picture houses in Tranent and Haddington up for sale.
The Tranent building was described as being solidly built of brick, incorporating two shops
and with a flat attached. The Haddington building was of wood and corrugated iron. He
claimed that both houses were doing good business and, prudently, omitted to mention
the gas generator. Neither cinema sold.
1921 also started with scandal, this time for Andre Letta.
On 9 March a divorce trial began in the Edinburgh Courts. The furrier, Albert Bentley was
taking action against his wife, Jeanette, accusing her of adultery with Andre Letta. This
prompted Letta’s wife Jean to sue him for divorce. He in turn countersued, accusing her of
adultery with a soldier called Tommy Nelson. Jeanette Bentley also countersued, accusing
11
her husband of impropriety with a barmaid from York Place called Sadie Montague. The
case lasted for months.
Picking through all of the accusations and counter allegations, it appears that the following
was the course of events:
From November 1918 things had been tense between the Lettas. They had quarreled
about Mrs. Bentley, because Letta had intimated that Mrs. Bentley was the better singer
and that Mrs. Letta’s performance was “weakening the show”. Understandably, Mrs. Letta
was unhappy that Letta had signed a contract with Jeanette Bentley for another tour in the
spring. She thought that he should have an all male company.
Jean Letta decided not to go on tour with the concert party that year, but while her husband was away on tour she wrote him regular letters to find out how things were going.
It appears that at various places on the 1919 concert tour, the ladies of the party were
unable to get lodgings and they had been compelled to sleep in the caravan. There was
nothing to prevent a visitor entering the caravan at any time during the night or day. It was
also possible for people to see right into the caravan, especially when the lights were on.
There were two bunks in the caravan, but according to Nora Milne, Mrs. Bentley did not
sleep in the bunks, but on two chairs pushed together.
Meanwhile, Jean Letta was receiving visits at her house in Hope Street from Tommy
Nelson. Tommy was an acquaintance of Jean Letta’s to whom Andre had once sold a dog.
Jean had originally become friends with Nelson’s mother and had known Nelson himself
for over eighteen years. During the war Nelson had been stationed in Egypt and Letta was
aware that Jean wrote regularly to him “ to cheer Tommy up.” Nelson had recently been
discharged from the army and was working in a print shop in Hanover Street . Mrs. Letta
told F.J. Borthwick, one of the regular singers at the Marine Gardens, that she hadn’t gone
on tour with Andre because she wanted to be there when Tommy came home from
abroad. She gave up wearing her usual sedate dress and started wearing flapper dresses
with short skirts. Her behaviour attracted the attention of her neighbours in Hope Street,
who spoke of Nelson having his arm around her. Mrs. Bailie, who lived opposite was told
that Mrs. Letta and Nelson were old sweethearts and Jessie Young, who lived next door,
was told that Jean was fed up with Andre Letta and wanted a divorce.
When Andre Letta returned from the tour, his wife was not at home to greet him. When she
did come home, she was very cold towards him and refused to share the same bedroom.
He discovered that while he had been away she had been regularly taken to theatres,
picture houses and tea rooms by Tommy Nelson. He was also told that Albert Bentley had
been taking her out to dinner while he had been away. When he confronted Bentley with
this, Bentley admitted it, but said that there had always been at least two other people
present.
Letta set off to confront Nelson. When he arrived at the shop in Hanover Street, he was
surprised to see his wife already there, with his daughter, talking to Nelson.
Letta returned home with his father, Thomas Stewart. While they were talking, Jean came
in and noticed that a photograph of Nelson, which Andre had just removed from the front
of the mantelpiece in the sitting room, had disappeared. She asked for it and, seeing her
husband’s photo on the mantelpiece, smashed it to the ground and took up the other
photo. She said that she would place Nelson’s photo on her own bedroom mantelpiece
12
and, going out of the door, she kissed the photo. She told Letta that Nelson was ready to
marry her. Subsequently, she told her brother, Thomas Carbarns that Andre could not
satisfy her any more, and she showed Nora Milne a letter from Nelson in which he had
described Jean as his little wife that should have been.
On her return from the tour, Jeanette Bentley had told her husband that she had had to
sleep in the caravan from time to time. This caused ill feeling between them and she
started to act towards him with total indifference. When they had quarreled about it, she
struck him with a coal scuttle and then telephoned Letta to come and get her.
Bentley took to going out every evening, usually being away from the house between 8.30
and midnight. On one occasion he said that he was dining with an Admiral on board ship
at Leith, but she afterwards learnt that he had been at a theatrical dance. Towards the end
of November they had been visiting friends. They returned home in a taxi just after ten
o’clock and on arrival Bentley opened the door and asked her to go in, and said he had to
go back in the taxi to his shop because he had very important letters that must be posted
that night. He did not return home until five in the morning.
At the Christmas family dinner, at which family members were present, they had an
argument and after that they occupied separate bedrooms. On 4 January 1920, again in
front of her family, Bentley accused her of being drunk. There was a scene between
Bentley and Jeanette’s father, during which Bentley called him a swine and tried to punch
him. Jeanette intervened and he punched her instead.
Things became so bad that eventually Bentley left home altogether. He then accused
Andre Letta of having been familiar with his wife. Letta sued for defamation and Bentley
withdrew his accusation, paying Letta a nominal sum in damages.
With Nora Milne in tow as a witness, Jeanette took to following Bentley when he left his
shop every evening. He would regularly go to a house in York Place. He was observed
giving a fur necklet from the shop to a barmaid in an establishment in Princes Street and
another time was seen at the King’s Theatre with the same barmaid. On that occasion, the
barmaid was wearing Jeanette’s musquash coat. When confronted by Jeanette’s brother,
Thomas Carbarns, Bentley admitted that he was having an affair with the barmaid, Sadie
Montague.
In July 1920 Jeanette Bentley took her children away to live with her sister in Polmont.
Bentley called in the police to help him get access to his children. It was at that point that
she decided to sue for divorce.
She was given her divorce but the Judge found her action in going off on tour with Andre
Letta scandalous, stating that no doubt such a mode of life among persons of opposite sex
was not uncommon among travelling showmen and tinkers, but it was a very extraordinary
arrangement for a person of Mrs. Bentley’s position to acquiesce in. Accordingly he also
granted Albert Bentley his divorce from her. Jean Letta was also successful in her petition,
but with regard to her relationship with Tommy Nelson, while it might have been indiscreet,
the judge found there was no proof that misconduct had taken place, so Andre Letta was
not awarded his divorce, and had to bear the costs of the case.
It is to be assumed that the adverse publicity which the case aroused had a detrimental
effect on Andre Letta’s professional career as there are no records of him performing for
13
some years after this. Instead, he set himself up as a bookie, with premises at 80a
Princes Street.
While Letta was struggling through his divorce case, the Codonas were causing havoc. In
September, as their fleet of traction engines were hauling the rides from Ayr to Glasgow,
they ventured on to a piece of the Kilmarnock Road which was just not capable of taking
the 13 ton load of the traction engines. The ground gave way and the back wheels of one
of the engines sank up to the axle. Hugh Morrison and William Thomson, who were driving
the engines, had a narrow escape. It took about four hours
before a breakdown team from the Glasgow Tramway
Department could come and haul the engine out. Fortunately for
the commuters of Glasgow, it was possible to divert the Giffnock
trams through Pollockshaws, so after the initial disruption, the
delay to the trams while the hole was being repaired added only
a few minutes to the journey.
The following month a number of sheep on Northfield Farm on the outskirts of Portobello
were savaged and killed by two dogs. Witnesses said they thought the dogs belonged to
Catherine Codona and William Burkett, an aerated water manufacturer who frequented
Fun City. The police held an identity parade of dogs at the police station and the guilty
canines were positively identified. The owners were fined. Catherine Codona’s dog was
destroyed and Burkett was ordered to keep his under control.
The gas engine at Haddington was also continuing to cause havoc and Billy Codona was
again looking for an experienced cinema operator who knew how to take charge of, and
repair, gas engines.
There was amusement in October 1921 when Edinburgh City Council had to refuse to give
themselves permission to hold a concert in the Central Picture House, Portobello. They
had wanted to hold a Sunday Concert in aid of the Lord Provost’s Rent Fund.
Unfortunately, the Council’s own rules prohibited Sunday Concerts with admission charges
and a fund raising concert where you could not raise funds was of no use to anyone.
Just after Christmas, Richard Lockyer, who was a prominent Edinburgh tobacco importer
with businesses in Scotland and England, died. Lockyer lived in No. 14 Bath Street, one of
the larger Georgian villas which had a substantial garden. Pitcairn & Mather, the
executors of Richard Lockyer’s Estate decided to sell 14 Bath Street.
In 1922 the Codonas again tried to sell off the cinemas, this time including the Picture
House at Prestonpans. They didn’t sell.
The Tower Engineering Co. Ltd. put their premises on the market and sold all of their
machine tools at public auction. The Tower itself, together with the former hotel and the
pavilion went for £2000. Unfortunately the Scotsman Archive does not record who bought
the Tower, but it reverted to its former use as a seaside entertainment Pavilion.
Probably having reached the point of exasperation with the gas engine at Haddington,
Billy Codona closed the Picture House down and demolished it, finally selling the land as
a vacant site for £350 in November 1922. He still couldn’t get a buyer for Prestonpans or
Tranent and presumably took them off the market. Once again, following petitions from
14
local residents, he was refused a license for a Christmas Fun-fair, this time on the open
space at the corner of Dalmeny Street and Easter Road
Pitcairn & Mather had less success in selling No. 14 Bath Street which remained on the
market for almost eighteen months. It was finally sold in February 1924, to Andre Letta.
He immediately set about converting it into a small theatre, and set up a company to put
on ‘ Pierrot’ shows in what he termed The Portobello Pavilion. To be close to the theatre,
he took on the lease of a flat in the tenement next door, No. 12 Bath Street.
Pierrot entertainments were all the rage at seaside resorts during the early part of the
twentieth century. As the name implies, the cast dressed in Pierrot costumes in the style
of the Commedia Del Arte and the company usually consisted of half a dozen performers,
including a soprano, a baritone, a comedian, a magician and sometimes a contortionist or
acrobatic dancer. All were ably supported by a versatile pianist.
Andre Letta managed to attract artistes to his pierrot troupe who later went on to national,
and in some cases international stardom, such as Jack Radcliffe, Donald Peers and Dave
Willis. In the permanent cast was Peggy Desmond, whom he subsequently married.
The productions which were staged at the Portobello Pavilion, and in the tented Prom
Pavilion, which was erected on the green at the bottom of Regent Street, were often lavish
affairs and drew large audiences. To subsidise the production costs, Letta kept up his
Bookie’s business in Princes Street.
As the Scotsman noted, Portobello kept its attraction throughout the twenties and thirties.
Large numbers of pleasure seekers found the shores of the Forth, even under a grey sky,
an excellent place to enjoy the freedom which the holiday afforded them. There were many
family parties to be seen enjoying an alfresco tea on the spacious sands and the smoke of
the fires contributed appreciably to the atmosphere and spirit of holiday. Young and old
alike were alive to the various entertainments the
enterprising showmen had provided. There was a splash of colour in the
Fun City, from the scenic railway, roundabout and swings, to the dark
skinned ladies who for a small fee gave a delineation of character.
Others, again, found the tonic they desired in a calm and possibly
philosophic survey of the sea. Children gamboled on the sands or
enjoyed cheap rides on diminutive ponies when not building sand
castles.
15
Perhaps it was the pressure of running two businesses, or perhaps it was simply greed,
but Andre Letta found himself in court on 29 May 1924, together with his two compatriots
in the bookie business, James Gollogly and James Brown. The Public Prosecutor stated
that the police had observed that a considerable number of letters were being delivered at
the offices in question. Search warrants were obtained and the police, on visiting the
premises, found numbers of betting lines and postal orders applicable to them. Gollogly
told the Magistrate that on account of physical disabilities, this was the only way he could
earn a living. The others stated that the business was conducted chiefly on credit lines,
but some clients insisted on sending money. In imposing £10 fines, the Bailie said it was
an easy matter to obtain a rubber stamp bearing the words “Credit Betting Only”. He
advised the trio to return all ready money bets to the senders.
Letta was back up in front of the bench again the following September. This time he
admitted that he, being the person responsible for the management of the Prom Pavilion,
had defaced tickets before they were issued to 43 persons who paid for admission. It was
stated by the Fiscal that when two customs officials had paid for admission each had
received a half ticket instead of a whole one. If a half ticket was issued instead of a whole
ticket two persons might be admitted by one ticket and the Customs consequently
defrauded. Mr. Letta explained that he had been occupied with his bookie’s business in
the city and he knew nothing whatever about the charge until he had received intimation
from the Customs officials. This time the court imposed a fine of £3.
1925 was a bad year for the Codonas. In the January they decided that they had to get rid
of the Figure Eight railway and put it on the market, attempting to lease the land it stood on
to other showmen.The summer tour with the traveling fun-fair went awry after John
Codona tried to con the police. On 19 May, when the fair was at Doune, he was
challenged by the local police to produce the licences for the mechanically propelled
road locomotives. He didn’t have the licence on him, but promised to show it to them
the next day. He left Doune in the morning in his car and returned about five o’clock,
when he took the licence to the police.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be too
much space between the figure 2 and
the word May. This roused the
constable’s suspicions and inquiry at
the Taxation Office in Edinburgh showed
that the licence was issued at 10 o’clock
on the morning of 20th May, the same
day that John showed it to the
policeman. The Procurator Fiscal, said
that Codona was exceedingly fortunate
in not being charged with a more serious
offence, as the defacing of a licence
carried a very heavy penalty.
He was fined £3 3s.
Worse was to happen towards the end of November at the Vinegar Hill show grounds in
the east end of Glasgow. Mary Codona had a caravan on the site and her son, Thomas
Leiser shared another with her daughter, Mary, and son in law Edward Tucker. Tucker
and his wife frequently argued with each other.
16
About midnight on 29th November Tucker returned home looking very angry. His wife had
never seen him looking so angry in all her life. About eight o’clock the next morning she
told him to get up and light the fire as he always did. He swore at her and attacked her,
pressing her neck so hard that she could hardly breathe. Taking the baby with her, she left
the caravan and entered that of her mother. She was crying and told her mother that
Edward had been at her again.
Leaving the baby with her son Tommy, Mary Codona went over to the Tucker’s caravan.
She found Tucker picking up a lot of broken dishes. When Mary Tucker followed her into
the Caravan and told her husband she had been for the police, Tucker seized his wife by
the throat. Mary Codona attempted to separate them, but was struck by Tucker. She fell
down the stairs of the caravan and hit another waggon, being knocked out by the fall.
The younger Mary went to help her mother and when she turned round again, she saw her
husband and her brother in front of her. She saw no sign of quarreling between the two
men and so she walked away.
Tommy Leiser had seen Tucker striking his mother and he went forward and objected.
A fight took place. Tucker was a much bigger and heavier man than Leiser and it appears
that Leiser resorted to using a razor he had in his pocket.
Tucker ran after his wife and she noticed he was bleeding. She took shelter in a caravan
occupied by a woman she knew, whom she told to close the door quickly because her
husband was after her.
When Mary Codona recovered she saw Tucker running across the street towards the
police station and she followed. He was holding his hand against his neck. At the police
station, when she saw he was wounded, she exclaimed “Oh, Teddy, Teddy, this is terrible.”
Tucker answered “Tommy did it. Your son, Thomas Leiser, cut my throat with a razor.”
Mary Tucker found her husband and her mother in the police office. Her mother was
putting a cloth around Edward Tucker’s bleeding neck. She went to the infirmary with him
and, shortly after their arrival, she was told that he had passed away.
Tommy Leiser, meanwhile had run off to his sister Francina’s house in Cumnock. She was
surprised to see him so early in the morning. He said he wanted a wash and told her that
there had been a row down at Vinegar Hill. Later he said that Tucker had been striking
Mary and his mother had been thrown down the caravan stairs. He had gone over and
fought with Tucker. Leiser did not appear the least excited and remained calm even when
he was tracked down and arrested later in the day.
At his trial the following March, Tommy Leiser was found guilty, not of murder, but of
culpable homicide, the jury feeling that he had been provoked by Edward Tucker’s
assaults on his mother and sister. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
The day after the trial finished, Billy Codona and his sons took the unusual step of placing
an advert in the national press disowning Mary Codona and stating that they had no
involvement at all in the trial or the events leading to it.
Soon after, Billy announced that he intended to sell his stake in Fun City, saying that his
health was beginning to fail. He was 64. The sons would carry on the business, with Frank
and Billy Jnr. taking responsibility for the travelling shows, John and Nat looking after the
17
fun-fairs, and Harry Paulo, who was married to Billy’s daughter Rebecca, took on the
picture houses.
Andre Letta was back in court as well, once again for receiving ready money bets in his
bookie’s office. The previous conviction was taken into account and this time he was fined
£50. Perhaps to atone to some extent, he held a special concert on behalf of the Queen
Alexandra Memorial Fund.
He also decided to convert and expand the house at 14 Bath Street and build a proper
theatre. The Dean of Guild warrant gave him approval for a hall to accommodate an
audience of 800 people, and he carried out further work on the building within a year of it
opening.
The Codona brothers were also branching out in 1928.
When shares in the Bungalow Cinema in Bath Street came on the market, it appears that
they were bought by Harry Paulo.
The brothers set up a substantial fun fair on one and a half acres of ground next to the
beach ballroom at Aberdeen. The rent was £500 a year. It wasn’t plain sailing. The
decision to grant them the lease went on the casting vote of the Convenor of the city
council, and even then they were prohibited from having anything which could be
interpreted as a circus or boxing show. The opposition was because the land was used
locally as a cricket pitch and a number of the councillors thought that was a more
appropriate use. (Like Fun City, the Abderdeen fun-fair is still a going concern today.)
Having been successful in Aberdeen, they then made an application for a show ground at
Bellahouston, Glasgow, including roundabouts, a scenic railway and other attractions.
This time they were refused. Thirty people had objected, concerned that the noise from
the fun-fair would be intolerable and that it would attract a number of undesirable people.
It didn’t help that there was a dog racing track nearby that held four meetings a week.
There were even more objectors, over seventy, to their application for a fun-fair on the Low
Green at Ayr, but the Council were prepared to grant a temporary license for £500.
However, despite the number of objector having gone up from thirty to sixty three, they
succeeded in getting approval for the Bellahouston ground the following year. The local
Tenant’s Association had advised the Magistrates that such shows were never patronised
by local people, that they caused considerable congestion and attracted an undesirable
element. However, the chairman of the bench had made it his business to visit other
fun-fairs and he had met many local people there. The application was granted on
condition that the ground was totally fenced in, that only smokeless fuel was burned and
that the show closed at 10.30 every night.
1929 also saw the Central Picture House on the High Street getting a refurbish. Following
the refit it hosted a grand charity concert to give a christmas treat to the children of
ex-servicemen. Over 700 attended. The event had been organised by F.J. Borthwick, the
well known Edinburgh baritone who had given evidence against Jeanette Bentley at
Andre Letta’s divorce case.
18
Letta once again found himself on the wrong side of the law. He was still running his
bookie’s business, and it seems that he was also still taking ready money bets. He
was back in court on 8 July 1930. This time he was fined £60.
By 1930, the Codonas had a show ground at Port Seton and Frank had been out and
about with the traveling shows, picking up a £3 fine at Cumbernauld for allowing four
trailers to be drawn by a traction engine, more than the permissible number. Again they
had the Tranent Picture House on the market as a good going concern. They made a point
of making it clear that the cinema had been fully fitted out for Talkies. This time it sold.
Billy Codona died suddenly on 10 August 1931 at the age of 69.
Life, and the business, carried on. Frank held a large open air Christmas Carnival at
Meadowbank over the festive season.
Not so festive, however, for Andre Letta. Having given up his bookie’s business in Princes
Street, he was now caught using the theatre at Bath Street as a gambling establishment.
He was fined another £60. This was the last straw for some of the creditors of the bookie
business, who held a meeting on 24 February and had him up in court again the following
month. The business was wound up and from then on he was free to concentrate
exclusively on the Pierrot troupe.
1932 was also expensive for Frank Codona. About two miles on the Glasgow side of the
village of Fenwick, Ayrshire, shortly before six o’clock on 21 June, a fleet of caravans and
atraction engine were on their way from Milngavie to Ayr. The driver of the traction
engine detected a smell of smoke emanating from one of the large vans and, on opening
it up a great mass of flames immediately belched out. Kilmarnock Fire Brigade were
summoned and were quickly on the scene, but there was no water supply at hand and the
firemen had to lay half a mile of hose in order to obtain water from a small stream. The van
affected was completely destroyed, as were also fifteen small motors which were stowed
inside and all the electric equipment. The flames broke down the telephone wires and also
ignited the tarred surface of the roadway, which was ablaze for a distance of nearly 20
yards. Fortunately the sleeping vans for Frank and his staff were detached. During the
progress of the fire buses and cars were held up for nearly an hour. It was thought that the
fire might have been caused by friction on the small motors due to the jolting of the van.
Unfortunately, Frank wasn’t sure whether or not the damage would be fully covered by his
insurance.
Billy Jnr. did not fare much better, failing to obtain a license for land in Gorgie which he
could use for carnivals every spring and autumn. Having heard various objectors, the
Magistrates refused his application.
Harry Paulo was more successful. His plans for a new Picture House in Haddington were
approved in August. It was to be an up to date, modern design seating 700 people, with a
spacious foyer and crush hall.
Summer in Portobello carried on in the traditional way. Plump ponies and well fed donkeys
ambled peacefully to and fro along the beach. Fishwives did a good trade in mussels, sold
by the saucer and consumed without ceremony on the spot. Mothers sat about on the
sands drinking their picnic teas, reading paperback novels and knitting in the intervals
between keeping an eye on the bairns and retrieving the baby from under the feet of the
19
passers by. Patient fathers turned out sand pie after sand pie. In Fun City the children
clamoured for pennies so that they could clamber up the tower with a doormat and spiral
down to the bottom again, or get onto the merry go round and ride with the music ringing in
their ears.
By the time the summer was over, Andre Letta was in trouble again. This time he was in
court accused of failing to pay Entertainment Duty in respect of the Pavilion Theatre in
Bath Street. He argued that he had had no intention to defraud. It had been a case of a
rush of patrons and the offences were entirely unintentional. The court did not agree and
fined him £10 with 10s costs.
The Tower and its Amusement Pavilion was put up for sale again in March 1933. This time
it was bought by Erin Aaron Deane.
In September of 1933 fire broke out at the Pavilion Theatre. Part of the roof was
destroyed and several rooms were damaged by water and smoke. A quantity of the
theatrical properties used by the company were entirely destroyed. Two detachments of
Edinburgh Fire Brigade - one from Leith and the other from London Road - were in
attendance and it took two hours before the outbreak was extinguished.
The catastrophe seems to have galvanised Andre Letta into action. The Theatre was
repaired and he negotiated a contract with the BBC. From June 1934, the shows from the
Pavilion Theatre, Portobello were broadcast on the Scottish Regional Programme. Among
those taking part in the broadcasts were Dave Bruce (comedian) Peter Sinclair (baritone)
Jack Radcliffe (musical comedian) Dave Collins ( songs at piano) Peggy Desmond ( the
comedy girl) Betty Kent (soubrette) Molly Milne (Soprano) The Four Saxon Girls (taps and
twirls in harmony) and Letta’s Playboys ( the modern symphonic sextet). Over 2,000
people a week were coming through the doors. By November he was able to announce
that he would be able to pay his creditors.
Inevitably, it was too good to last. On 14 December 1934 he was back in court facing
charges of three contraventions of defacing Entertainment Tax stamps and contravention
of the Entertainment Duty regulations by failing to retain portions of the tickets for the
statutory period. In eight cases, stamps had not been properly affixed to the tickets with
the result that when the tickets were torn in two, the stamp itself was not torn and so was
capable of being used again. Letta said it was simply a matter of carelessness, not an
intend to defraud. He was fined £15.
20
Over recent years John Codona had been developing an act as a Punch and Judy man
and one man band, and regularly gave charity concerts. His name was becoming
associated with charity work and good causes. On an April day in 1935, a horse bolted
in Hamburg Place, Leith. John was a passenger in a
motor van which was going along the street at the time. He
told the driver to chase the horse. While the van was traveling
at about twenty miles per hour, Codona jumped from the
footboard, caught the horse by its bridle rein and was
dragged for twenty yards before he was able to bring it to a
standstill. He was awarded £2 for his bravery.
Rather than receiving awards for altruism, Andre Letta was back in court in September
1935 accused of fraud on the Customs and Excise. He had no option but to plead guilty .
The government tax was sixpence. Letta was charging people ninepence, issuing them
with threepenny tickets and pocketing the sixpence tax. He had foolishly issued tickets to
officers of the Custom and Excise and 32 other people, which did not have the price of
admission printed on them or a statement as to whether the price included or excluded
the proper entertainments duty. On top of that he had in his possession a counterfoil book
of 40 tickets intended to be issued for the purpose of authorising persons to be admitted
to the theatre which did not have the price of permission printed on them. This clearly gave
him the opportunity of passing his patrons in at any figure he cared. The judge said that in
view of the fact that Letta had been before the Court on four previous occasions, the last
being December 17 1934 for defrauding the Inland Revenue, he was bound to double the
last fine. He imposed a penalty of £30, with the alternative of three months imprisonment.
Letta was allowed six weeks in which to pay the fine.
Notwithstanding this (or perhaps because of it) Letta again made a profit in 1935 and
again in 1936 and was able to pay his creditors.
1936 began with the sudden death of Frank Codona, at the early age of 46. His funeral
took place at Piershill cemetery on 17 February and show people came from all over the
country to pay their respects. Over three hundred came from Glasgow alone, and marched
through the streets from Waverley station to Meadowbank where they were joined by a
further two hundred local showmen. There were an enormous number of floral tributes.
Frank was buried in the plot next to Billy.
After Frank Codona’s death, John took on the responsibility for the touring shows.
Changes in legislation were now making it more difficult for the Codona brothers to find
pitches for the travelling shows. In particular the Playing Fields Association was adding covenants to its grants and leases ensuring that the
grounds were only used for recreation and children’s play. This led local
councils, such as the one at Cumnock, to stop the brothers running
their annual shows. Others, such as Arbroath refused permissions
because of the likely damage to football pitches or the effect on
takings at their own facilities.
At the Tower Amusements, Erin Deane began to consolidate his position.
In addition to his basic staff, in 1936 he took on three apprentices to learn the amusement
catering business, employed a typist and bookkeeper and opened further premises on the
Promenade which he named Erinalls. By May 1937, it was possible for him to employ a
sleep-in servant to help Mrs. Deane in the house.
21
For reasons which are not clear, in the summer of 1938, Andre Letta decided to give up
his theatres, disband his Pierrot troupe and return to conjuring in variety shows in the
Edinburgh theatres. On July 21 he put the Portobello Pavilion on the market at a reserve
price of £1210, paid off his creditors, gave up the lease on the flat at No. 12 Bath Street,
and left Portobello, setting up home at 26 Drummond Street, Edinburgh.
The Pavilion was
bought by Harry
Paulo and the
Codona Brothers and
they announced in
September that they
were going to spend
£20,000 on a grand
cinema.
The cinema would
have a double balcony, and the total
seating capacity
would be between
1200 and 1400.
There would be a
spacious foyer and a
new technique in
colour lighting would
be employed.
The architect responsible for the new cinema, which was to be known as The County, and
which was to have an imposing facade, would be Mr. T. Bowhill Gibson, FRIBA. They expected the building would be completed in the spring of the following year.
22
It was completed on time. The entrance, beneath a sweeping canopy, was flanked by two
great drum towers rising three storeys, between which there soared a tall semi circular
projecting advertising tower that projected well beyond the height of the central flat topped
tower. The facing block was in two shades of light blue and the 33 ft high advertising tower
was entirely glazed and illuminated at night from inside by means of cyclo troughing giving
constantly changing pastel hues. The top of the building was outlined by a thin line of neon
tubing and the remainder of the facade was floodlit by lights hidden behind the canopy.
People had seen nothing like it in Portobello before.
The Central cinema on the High Street responded by installing aids for people with hearing
problems and running charity film shows in aid of the Lord Provost’s Appeal Fund.
By 1939 Erin Deane had expanded his operations beyond Portobello, opening amusement
arcades at other Scottish seaside resorts and hiring out amusement machines to other
caterers. In 1940 he became the sole proprietor of Tower Amusements Ltd.
By that time the Second World War was underway and people were doing their bit. Andre
Letta appeared regularly in concerts to entertain the troops and John Codona joined in
with his novel flute and drum act, his fascinating animal impersonations, and his Punch
and Judy show. So skilled had John Codona become with his Punch and Judy act, he
received critical reviews in the Scotsman and on one occasion in July 1942 several
thousand people crowded into Princes Street Gardens to see him perform.
Harry Paulo’s contribution was to change the name of the Bungalow to The Victory, and to
present a programme of films for gardeners at the County as part of the Dig For Victory
campaign. The tickets were free and could be obtained from seedsmen and nurserymen.
On Sundays, people were engaged to come and give talks in the cinema to focus attention
on the Allied effort. On one occasion the speaker was Cong En Lim lecturing on the
chinese efforts to defeat the Japanese.
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It wasn’t just the Bungalow which changed its name. In May 1943, Paulo decided to
re-name the County , The George. In the same month he carried out extensive work at
both cinemas to instal new ventilation systems. This got him into trouble. Under War
regulations, it was not permissible to carry out building work costing more than £290 and
a licence had to be issued to cover it. While Paulo obtained a licence for the Victory, he
didn’t for the George. On top of that the work at the Victory cost £699 17s 3d and that at
the George £391 4s 5d. He was sued under the Control of Building Operations Order and
fined £100 (£50 for each building). John McKissack & Sons, who had carried out the work,
were fined £30.
Inevitably, the War had had an effect on the seaside enterprises at Portobello, but with the
end of hostilities, the holiday makers came flooding back. In fact during the first Glasgow
Fair Week after the war, more holiday-makers arrived than Portobello could accommodate
and people were sleeping on the beach and in the shelters on the Promenade. According
to the police, lorries laden with advance luggage were coming into the town all night. It was
as if Portobello was going to be occupied by an invading army. When the army arrived and
the weather rapidly improved, the Beach and Promenade were packed. The Fun City and
other promenade amusements drew their crowds of patrons and hawkers of paper
windmills did a roaring trade among children. Moving among Americans, Canadians,
Norwegians, Poles, the Glasgow holiday-makers were happy. With them there were men
in new suits, sunburnt, fit looking men not yet quite accustomed to civvy street, but liking it.
On 8 August 1948 another great storm hit Portobello. The Promenade was swept by the
heavy seas which ran high for over three hours. Seaweed and rubbish was strewn about
many of the streets. Many who risked running along the Promenade were almost washed
24
away. A dog was caught by the sea and drowned. A small boy who was standing on the
incline at the foot of Bath Street was pulled into the water by the backwash and narrowly
escaped death, the succeeding wave fortunately carrying him in again. Many premises
along the water front were flooded. A shopkeeper locked his door to keep the water out,
but the sea burst the door open, flooding the shop. Many parts of the Promenade were
covered with sand and sea coal. Once again part of the Promenade and railings in front
of the Fun City were carried away.
After the War, John Codona set up his own business, establishing John Codona’s
Pleasure Fairs Ltd. with a capital of £10,000 in £1 shares. The new company would run
travelling shows on pleasure grounds across Scotland. He followed that with John
Codona’s Fun Cities Ltd. for permanent sites. Again the capital was £10,000 in £1 shares.
Tragedy struck him in April 1948 when his 16 month old daughter died in Arbroath
Infirmary after falling into a tub of hot water while her mother was washing clothes
outside their caravan home at Arbroath show ground.
On 18 November, Billy Jnr died, and the following week John also died, aged 62. His
obituary in the Scotsman credited him with having brought the amusement business up
to date. He left £7,368 in his will.
Tragedy continued for the Codonas. In March 1949, Daniel, the ten year old son of Frank
Codona was playing near Croy, Dumbartonshire. Climbing a tree, he slipped and fell into
the water filled quarry beneath. The other boy who was with him ran to the village for help
and one of the villagers plunged into the water and pulled the boy out. Miners from the
quarry applied artificial respiration and initially Daniel showed signs of improvement, but
died on the way to hospital.
On 7 September, the last remaining Codona Brother, Nat, was at a meeting in Glasgow of
the Showman’s Guild when he collapsed and died. It was the end of an era.
Harry Paulo kept the Picture Houses running, but attendances were dropping and in 1956
he closed the Victory. It became a furniture warehouse and was finally demolished in
2005. The George became a Bingo hall in the 1970s.
25
Harry Marvello was the last of the magicians to go, dying in 1967.
The Tower Amusements continue
to operate as an entertainment
centre, as does Fun City. The
Codona family continued to go
from strength to strength as
Scotland’s premier show people.
26