Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2006/January 2007 | Page 28

JOHN HANNAM

Jack Douglas - Long John Silver

John Hannam talks to Shanklin’s Jack Douglas about
his 44 Christmas shows. Jack, who ran away from home
to join showbusiness and eventually starred at the
London Palladium with Cliff Richard, rues the loss of real
pantomime traditions and stars.”
When Jack Douglas was eleven he
hated school and ran away from
home and joined Feldman’s Theatre,
Blackpool, as a lime boy. His job was
to shine the lights on the actors.
Later the spotlight fell on him in
44 pantomimes and some of the
stars he worked with included Cliff
Richard, Barbara Windsor, Alma
Cogan, Arthur Haynes, Hugh Lloyd
and Terry Scott. “My father, who

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was known as ‘JD’ Roberton, was a
stage director and by the time I was
seven I knew Cinderella without
a script. I disliked school because
they didn’t teach me anything about
showbusiness,” reflected Jack.
When the Blackpool theatre rang
his father to report where he was,
they were told to give him all the
dirty jobs. That still didn’t put him
off and he stayed two years and

never went back to school.
On Jack’s fifteenth birthday his
father gave him an envelope and in
it was a script of Cinderella and the
chance to direct his first pantomime.
It was at the Sunderland Empire
and he expected a rough ride as he
was the governor’s son. On the first
morning when comedian Albert
Burdon, one of the bill-toppers,
arrived late, Jack gave him the
biggest dressing down of his life. He
got through the sixteen weeks with
no problems. Among the other stars
was GH Elliot.
How times have changed. Now a
long run is four weeks and the stars
are hardly into their stride before
it’s all over.

Jack became a performer by
accident. He was directing the
1948/49 pantomime at the Kingston
Empire and had got Joe Baker out of
the army to play the mate in Dick
Whittington. At the dress rehearsal
the actor who was playing the
straight role of the captain had a
heart attack and could not continue.
Jack knew the script and took over
at the last minute. When top agent
Hyman Zahl came backstage after
the first show he asked Jack how
long he’d been in the double act.
Jack surprised him with his instant
reply: “two hours twenty five
minutes.” From that moment Baker
and Douglas were born and stayed
together for ten years.

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