Sole Official Souvenir & Programme - Chester Historical Pageant also Searchlight Tattoo : 5 - 10 July 1937
It is interesting to speculate if there was another, rival and unofficial handbook to the Chester Historical Pageant - also Searchlight Tattoo - of 1937 but I think it unlikely! The '30s seems to have been a decade of such historical pageants and Chester's was the usual fare of a series of tableaux presented by a vast cast that endeavoured to tell the history of this ancient city from its foundation as the Roman Deva, "a magic realm" that is introduced by Clio, the Muse of History who enters the arean with the burning torch of history so as to entice two groups of Chester children to hear the tale.
There are nine 'episodes' listed as well as the Searchlight Tattoo and this took place at the College Grounds in the city during the evenings of the 5th to 10th of July 1937. There was also an Industrial, Historical and Bygones Exhibition at Grosvenor Park and, for the lucky few one suspects, a Pageant Fancy Dress Ball at the Town Hall on the evening of Thursday 8 July. The whole event was for charitable endeavours and there are vast lists of patrons, organisers, committees, designers, writers, actors and participents.
The programme, printed in Shrewsbury, contains many advertisements that obviously helped defray the cost of the publication. The front cover is in a 'poster' style artwork and is signed C. Bridge.
Sole Official Souvenir & Programme - Chester Historical Pageant also Searchlight Tattoo : 5 - 10 July 1937
It is interesting to speculate if there was another, rival and unofficial handbook to the Chester Historical Pageant - also Searchlight Tattoo - of 1937 but I think it unlikely! The '30s seems to have been a decade of such historical pageants and Chester's was the usual fare of a series of tableaux presented by a vast cast that endeavoured to tell the history of this ancient city from its foundation as the Roman Deva, "a magic realm" that is introduced by Clio, the Muse of History who enters the arean with the burning torch of history so as to entice two groups of Chester children to hear the tale.
There are nine 'episodes' listed as well as the Searchlight Tattoo and this took place at the College Grounds in the city during the evenings of the 5th to 10th of July 1937. There was also an Industrial, Historical and Bygones Exhibition at Grosvenor Park and, for the lucky few one suspects, a Pageant Fancy Dress Ball at the Town Hall on the evening of Thursday 8 July. The whole event was for charitable endeavours and there are vast lists of patrons, organisers, committees, designers, writers, actors and participents.
The programme, printed in Shrewsbury, contains many advertisements that obviously helped defray the cost of the publication. The front cover is in a 'poster' style artwork and is signed C. Bridge.