Leonard Bentley
Piccadilly Circus: 1974
This is a J. Arthur Dixon postcard printed and published in Great Britain. It shows the view across Piccadilly Circus looking north towards Shaftesbury Avenue from the junction with Lower Regent Street. It is 1974 and the American film “The Spikes Gang” is playing at the London Pavilion in early June for a short period. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and starred Lee Marvin, Gary Grimes, Charles Martin Smith and Ron Howard of “Happy Days” fame. It was about three boys who meet an old bank robber and begin to rob banks, it does not end well. On a billboard underneath the Coca-Cola sign there is an advertisement for “The Sting”, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw at the Paramount cinema in Lower Regent Street, it was shown at several west end cinemas during most of 1974. The No. 159 bus bottom left is carrying two advertisements for west end shows, “Billy” starred Michael Crawford at the Drury Lane Theatre, the musical was based on the book “Billy Liar” by Keith Waterhouse, the production ran for 904 performances and made Michael Crawford’s name in musical theatre. The other advertisement is for the American Hippy musical, “Hair” which had to wait until 27th September 1968 so that the Theatres Act, which abolished theatre censorship could come into force. It ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre for 1,999 performances until 20th September 1973 when the production was curtailed because part of the theatre roof fell in. This advertisement refers to the second London production at the Queen’s Theatre which started on 25th June and ended on 28th September, a grand total of 2,111 performances.
Piccadilly Circus: 1974
This is a J. Arthur Dixon postcard printed and published in Great Britain. It shows the view across Piccadilly Circus looking north towards Shaftesbury Avenue from the junction with Lower Regent Street. It is 1974 and the American film “The Spikes Gang” is playing at the London Pavilion in early June for a short period. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and starred Lee Marvin, Gary Grimes, Charles Martin Smith and Ron Howard of “Happy Days” fame. It was about three boys who meet an old bank robber and begin to rob banks, it does not end well. On a billboard underneath the Coca-Cola sign there is an advertisement for “The Sting”, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw at the Paramount cinema in Lower Regent Street, it was shown at several west end cinemas during most of 1974. The No. 159 bus bottom left is carrying two advertisements for west end shows, “Billy” starred Michael Crawford at the Drury Lane Theatre, the musical was based on the book “Billy Liar” by Keith Waterhouse, the production ran for 904 performances and made Michael Crawford’s name in musical theatre. The other advertisement is for the American Hippy musical, “Hair” which had to wait until 27th September 1968 so that the Theatres Act, which abolished theatre censorship could come into force. It ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre for 1,999 performances until 20th September 1973 when the production was curtailed because part of the theatre roof fell in. This advertisement refers to the second London production at the Queen’s Theatre which started on 25th June and ended on 28th September, a grand total of 2,111 performances.