BILLY
RAYMOND
1960s Contd.
THE GENE VINCENT AND
EDDIE COCHRAN TOUR (Contd.)
EDDIE COCHRAN TOUR (Contd.)
He was due to appear in the last act last night - but the curtain was rung down and the house was cleared almost three-quarters of an hour before the show was billed to end.
On stage when the first bombardment came was compere and singer Billy Raymond - singing, ironically enough, “Do You Mind”.
A solid metal ash-tray, ripped from the back of a seat, sailed past his ear and gouged its way along the boards of the stage. Said Billy last night in his dressing-room: “I picked it up and carried it off, thinking it was only some drunk who would soon be evicted. Then I announced Billy Fury and the Beat Boys.” And as Billy, in his glittering gold suit, sprang into his energetic “That’s Love” number, all Hell broke loose in the theatre. A whisky bottle whizzed past his right ear and smashed on the stage.
[The audience rioted] (text missing) ... With cries of “Robbery for Six Bob”, “We want Vincent” and “We were victimised because of them.”
Within minutes of the rioting every available police car in Glasgow was told to go to the theatre. More than 50 policemen had to struggle with hundreds of disgruntled teenagers, both inside and outside the theatre.
Thirty minutes after the outbreak, policemen and theatre ushers had the hall cleared. And later at the Central Police Station seven men were charged with the incident. They will appear in court this morning.
Backstage in their dressing rooms, surrounded with “souvenir” ashtrays which had been ripped from the backs of seats, Billy Raymond said: “I am ashamed to come back to Scotland. It seems to happen only here. The last time trouble broke out was at the Caird Hall in Dundee. Now this. It’s not the teenagers that start the trouble.” said Raymond. “It’s mental hooligans who start it all. They are jealous of the girls screaming at the boys on stage.” Gripping a souvenir ashtray, Raymond added: “Hooligans get drunk on Friday night and then come into the theatre just to start trouble. There is never any trouble like this when we play in England. The teenagers, although they are tough in places, hate this sort of violence.”
On stage when the first bombardment came was compere and singer Billy Raymond - singing, ironically enough, “Do You Mind”.
A solid metal ash-tray, ripped from the back of a seat, sailed past his ear and gouged its way along the boards of the stage. Said Billy last night in his dressing-room: “I picked it up and carried it off, thinking it was only some drunk who would soon be evicted. Then I announced Billy Fury and the Beat Boys.” And as Billy, in his glittering gold suit, sprang into his energetic “That’s Love” number, all Hell broke loose in the theatre. A whisky bottle whizzed past his right ear and smashed on the stage.
[The audience rioted] (text missing) ... With cries of “Robbery for Six Bob”, “We want Vincent” and “We were victimised because of them.”
Within minutes of the rioting every available police car in Glasgow was told to go to the theatre. More than 50 policemen had to struggle with hundreds of disgruntled teenagers, both inside and outside the theatre.
Thirty minutes after the outbreak, policemen and theatre ushers had the hall cleared. And later at the Central Police Station seven men were charged with the incident. They will appear in court this morning.
Backstage in their dressing rooms, surrounded with “souvenir” ashtrays which had been ripped from the backs of seats, Billy Raymond said: “I am ashamed to come back to Scotland. It seems to happen only here. The last time trouble broke out was at the Caird Hall in Dundee. Now this. It’s not the teenagers that start the trouble.” said Raymond. “It’s mental hooligans who start it all. They are jealous of the girls screaming at the boys on stage.” Gripping a souvenir ashtray, Raymond added: “Hooligans get drunk on Friday night and then come into the theatre just to start trouble. There is never any trouble like this when we play in England. The teenagers, although they are tough in places, hate this sort of violence.”
