Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Revellers in Dundee had big choice of halls to visit
THE polished floors of Dundee’s dance halls were the places where hundreds of romances began, blossomed and, on occasion, died.
Just before the Second World War and in the boom years which followed, the city had many dance halls, all with their own individual following.
There wasn’t a night of the week, with the exception of Sunday, when you couldn’t go dancing somewhere in the city.
Those who could afford it – and most made sacrifices to do so – took a few lessons at one of the city’s many dancing schools before venturing near a hall.
The more enthusiastic gave up their lunch hour to practise.
The West End Palais in the cobbled Well Road off Hawkhill first opened in 1910 and was small, intimate and smoky.
It was known to one and all as Robbie’s.
The proprietor, John Robertson, taught literally thousands of young Dundonians to dance.
Many of the city’s finest dancers took their first basic steps from the instructions of Mr Robertson using the strict tempo dance records of Victor Sylvester and the like.
Robbie’s, like others of its time, was demolished in 1966, in its case to make way for university expansion.
Thousands of couples waltzed and foxtrotted to the strains of a variety of bands and perhaps the most popular rendezvous was the old Palais in Tay Street.
The Duncan family, who at one time operated the Palais, was responsible for bringing many famous names to Dundee including Louis Armstrong in 1933.
He was appearing in Edinburgh when James Duncan paid £40 for
Armstrong to be brought through to perform at the Palais one night after a second house.
One of the best-known of the pre-war Palais bands was Harry Smead’s Orchestra.
Smead bought records of all the tunes Armstrong was to play that night after being told that they were to back one of the most influential figures in jazz.
The band had mastered the arrangements so thoroughly that Armstrong praised them afterwards for their wonderful “off-the-cuff” accompaniment.
The longest-serving Palais band was that led by the legendary Andy Lothian.
Coming to the city around 1938, after George Dundas and Bertha Wilson took over, Andy and his violin were synonymous with the Palais for about 30 years.
Every band had its comedian and trumpeter Clem Stevens was a Dundee favourite.
The Duncan family expanded their empire considerably, setting up in competition to the Palais with a number of new ballrooms of their own, notably, the Empress ballroom, on the Dundee shore front, alongside the Victoria Arch.
Built on reclaimed land, the ballroom became well known for the slight ‘wave’ in the floor, which formed after many years of use.
Andy Lothian’s brother, Jimmy, for a time led the band there and among early musicians at the Dock Street dance hall was saxophone player Benny Green.
The hall opened at Christmas 1938 under the dark shadow of the Royal Arch and the opening night featured Carl Volti and his band from the Ritz in London.
The Empress played host to various famous bands and was another popular rendezvous until it was demolished to make way for the Tay Road Bridge approaches.
The Locarno, too, which opened in 1939, had its fair share of well-known resident maestros, including Murray Sheffield with his soprano saxophone at the bandstand.
Like other halls of its day, the Locarno, which was situated in Lochee Road, would, from time to time, bring top-name bands to play for the customers.
One of the country’s bestknown dance band leaders, Joe Loss, was once barred from the
Locarno after being booked for a one-night stand.
It seemed everyone aged between 18-80 wanted to see the Joe Loss Orchestra and the bouncer was struggling to deal with gate-crashers.
Many enthusiasts lacked sufficient funds to satisfy their love of dancing and they sometimes sneaked in without paying.
They used to go in through back doors, toilet windows, emergency exits – everywhere, in fact, where it was possible to do so.
They also collected pass out tickets from previous dances and carried them around whenever they went dancing.
The Locarno closed in 1953. There were also, of course, places like the Chalet on Broughty Ferry Esplanade and several other smaller ballrooms in Dundee, including the Progress Hall on the Hilltown, which was notorious for its brawls.
The other principal venue in the city was Kidd’s Rooms in North Lindsay Street, whose Saturday night sessions principally attracted senior school children and students.
Kidd’s Rooms closed in 1962 to