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been credited with coming up
with the idea of asking
visiting stars to contribute to
this "signing wall", with the
result that it has become a
priceless gallery preserving
precious memories of the
theatre's proud and long
history. Some of the names I
saw there included Spike
Milligan, Lauren Bacall,
Slim Dusty, Barry
Humphries, Angela
Lansbury, Rowan Atkinson,
Wilfred Hyde-White, Debbie
Reynolds, Maggie Smith,
Reg Livermore, and Whoopi
View of the two level auditorium from the stage. The refurbishment will Goldberg to mention just a
re-introduce a second balcony as the third level few of them. During the
theatre's Renewal project, the
Bill makes uninvited visits from time to time. You see, he is the theatre's wall has to be dismantled
resident ghost and he has been around for as long as the theatre has. Back brick by brick, and re-
in 1913, there were two Opening Nights for the theatre. The first was on assembled in a new Green
5 September for a large assembly of prominent citizens and VIPs, who Room in order to preserve it
were treated to lots of speeches and an official Opening Ceremony with a little damage as
performed by the Mayor of Adelaide, J. Lavington Bonython. The second possible.
Opening Night was for the general public, on 6 September. Just before
the show was due to commence, two backstage employees were There is a lot of affection
instructed to climb an iron ladder up into the flies to check that the amongst patrons, staff and
mechanism for lowering and raising the asbestos fire safety curtain was performers for this "Grand
working properly, which they did. The curtain was successfully lowered Old Lady of Grote Street"
and raised, and everything left secure. His mate then saw William Fisher and we look forward to its
begin to descend the ladder, but he had not gone down more than five next incarnation. With a
feet when he fell about 30 feet to the stage below. He landed on his head, budget of around 66 million
fracturing his skull, and was picked up in an unconscious state. He died dollars, it should be
in the Royal Adelaide Hospital about 2 hours later. At the time William something pretty special. ★
fell, the theatre was crowded, but the house curtain was down, so people
were oblivious that anything untoward had happened and the show went
ahead as planned. William was a conscientious employee and no
explanation could be found as to the cause of the accident. Ever since
that incident, there have been reports of people hearing creaking
footsteps, lights being turned on mysteriously, backstage crew sometimes
seeing a figure out of the corner of their eye, and unexplainable
happenings in the flies. Various staff at the theatre believe that these
occurrences have some link back to William Fisher's unfortunate demise.
My exploration of the theatre was nearing an end as I progressed through
various backstage rooms, workshops, spotlight storage spaces and empty
dressing rooms. A hidden treasure of this theatre was to be found deep
in the bowels of the backstage area, in the old Green Room. In this space,
a large expanse of the brick wall has been covered with many dozens of
autographs and signatures from some of the biggest names in show
business who have performed in the theatre over the years. Kelvin
Adams, Head Mechanist at the theatre for more than three decades, has
Just a few of the hundreds of signatures on the Green Room signing wall
Credits
Tivoli - Frank Van Straten. (Thomas C Lothian Pty Ltd. 2003.)
Her Majesty’s Pleasure - Frank Van Straten. (Wakefield Press. 2013.)
Film Weekly – 19 Oct. 1967 Vol. 107, No. 2126, to 27 Feb. 1969 Vol
109 No. 2194.
The Showman - Vol. 19, No. 6, 15 Oct. 1967 to Vol. 20, No. 11, 15
March 1969.
The Advertiser - Monday 18 September 1913, page 15.
The Advertiser - Thursday 5 September 2013, Page 25. "Grand Story
Written in Stone"
The Advertiser - Monday 26 March 2018, page 22. "Fitting Farewell
for the Grand Old Maj".
Her Majesty's Theatre Closing Benefit Souvenir Program - 24 March
2018.

Additional Information - Allan Hall and Adam Towill.
Special Thanks to Jane Rossetto, Adelaide Festival Centre.

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