Archive for the ‘Sooty’ Category

22 Feb

Sooty’s Magic Show Newcastle Tyne Theatre and Opera House 20th February 2020

Posted by vintagerock in Sooty, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , .

Well this was a proper nostalgia trip for me. sooty ticketThose of you who have been reading my blog for some time may recall that my 1st ever “concert” experience was seeing the Sooty Show with Harry Corbett at Sunderland Empire in the early 1960s. One of the many great things about having grand children is that it gives you the chance, and a great excuse, to relive your childhood. Now I wasn’t aware that Sooty was back on television again but indeed he is and, along with Sweep and Soo, in pretty authentic form accompanied by new friend Richard Cadell and on TV every morning (see the Sooty Show). So along we went myself, Laura, Dale, Lisa and little Phoebe to experience the little bear and all his friends. The advertisement said: “Izzy Wizzy let’s get busy! Join Sooty for his brand new Laugh Out Loud Magic Show! Direct from their hit ITV series, Sooty, Sweep and Soo will amaze you with impossible tricks and sidesplitting jokes! Be astounded at Sooty’s flying car, Soo’s singing unicorn and Sweep’s levitating sausage! A spectacular treat for the whole family.” What fun!

sooty progAnd pretty good it was too. Sooty was as naughty as ever, the little voices of our three heroes were exactly the same, the magic tricks were as silly as ever and Sooty had his magic wand and even said (along with all of us of course) “Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Busy!” Along with this we had friendly magician Michael Jordan who span plates on sticks and managed to make his wonderful assistant disappear from a box.
But the most magical part came at the end. A little boy, who couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old was brought up on stage. Richard told him that some magical things were going to happen and that he would “remember them for the rest of his life.” The boy did some tricks with Sooty and then climbed into his little red car alongside the little bear and flew up into the air. The car safely brought them back to land safely onto the stage and Richard presented the boy with a small magic wand which apparently was Sooty’s “original wand that he had had for 70 years. 🙂 ” The boy was told that he would treasure the wand for the rest of his life and that he would remember this experience for ever. And you know what. I bet he will.
Pure magic.

29 Mar

The Sooty Show Sunderland Empire sometime in the early ’60s

Posted by vintagerock in Sooty.

The Sooty Show Sunderland Empire sometime in the early ’60s
sootyannualsOk Maybe the daily blogging is finally getting to me. You are going to think I am going completely mad, but here we go anyway. I just couldn’t finish this project without mentioning my earliest memory of going to the theatre. I was a big fan of Sooty (along with Torchy the Battery Boy, but that’s another story) and remember my dad taking me to see The Sooty Show, with Harry Corbett, and of course Sweep, when it came to the Empire. I can’t have been very old, which places it probably sometime in the early 60s. I can picture myself to this day, sitting half way back in the stalls, hardly believing that I was actually seeing Sooty and Sweep live on stage! The lights, the lovely plush surroundings of the theatre, the bright lively action on stage; it all fascinated me. I have early memories of going to the circus, but didn’t particularly like it (I was frightened of the clowns), but a theatre show was something special, something different. The strongest memory I have of the show is of Sooty sitting at his little drumkit playing in the “Sooty Band” with Sweep (and possibly Soo, although I think she may have joined later). I found a video of said band in an arcade machine playing “Polly Put the Kettle On” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0-KChypko Wow! Soo on piano and Sweep on sax. sootycardThis is exactly how I remember it onstage at the Empire.
Sooty of course hit Harry on the head a couple of times with a hammer (“Don’t do that for goodness sake!” said Harry), waved his magic wand and said “Izzy wizzy, let’s get busy!”, soaked Harry and Sweep with his water pistol, and played his xylophone. All good clean fun.
My fate was cast. I know its seem quite a long way from going to see Zeppelin, the Stones or T Rex, but it was early experiences like this that gave me my thirst for concerts. The pictures of Sooty’s card game and the Sooty annuals are mine, picked up for 50p or so each at a car boot sale. I still can’t resist the little bear. By the way, I’m not alone in liking rock and Sooty. Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain is a big Sooty fan; always has a Sooty puppet as a mascot on the front of his drumkit, and has occasionally worn a full size Sooty costume at shows as an entrance (now that is crazy 🙂 ).
Oh, and of course the show would always end “Bye bye everybody, bye bye”. Magic.