Black, George

▪ British theatrical manager

born April 20, 1890, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Eng.

died March 4, 1945, London

      British manager and producer of entertainments. Black originated the brilliant, long-lived “Crazy Gang” revues at the London Palladium and later at the Victoria Palace, London, and was a pioneer of the motion-picture business.

      As a young man, Black helped his father establish the first permanent motion-picture theatres in Great Britain. Later, he became proprietor of a circuit of theatres and music halls on the northeast coast. Black moved to London in 1928 and became the general manager of various music halls there and in Brighton, reviving much of the spirit of the old-time hall. In 1933 he took over the active management of Moss Empires theatres (extending all over Great Britain) and became the joint managing director in 1938. He initiated the “Crazy Gang” revues, for which he is chiefly remembered, in 1935 with Life Begins at Oxford Circus; the revues continued as an annual event that World War II interrupted only intermittently.

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