IT has been 80 years since panto dames and principal first boys took to the stage of Bournemouth’s Pavilion Theatre.

The following eight decades have seen more risque jokes, more shouts of “He’s behind you!” and more sweets thrown into the young audience than anyone could easily count.

Cinderella was the Pavilion’s first panto in December 1934, and the shows quickly became hugely popular.

Even the Second World War did not stop the pantos, although the closure of the Pavilion for repairs in 1960 did, local historian John Walker notes.

The one year no one organised a panto was 1983, leading to an outcry from audiences and the local hotel trade.

Mr Walker lists some of the stage and screen stars who appeared in the pantos over the years; film star Jean Kent in 1952, Charlie Chester in 1953, Max Wall in 1957, Reg Varney and Tommy Cooper in 1958, David Nixon in 1959, Richard ‘Mr Pastry’ Hearne in 1961, Adam Faith in 1962, Danny La Rue in 1963 and even one of Britain’s biggest movie stars, Diana Dors, in Jack and the Beanstalk in 1966.

In 1991, Jack and the Beanstalk starred Max Boyce and Ian Botham, at a time when the tabloid papers were interested in Botham as much for his private life as his cricketing prowess. Mr Walker, who saw the show, remembers Boyce making some ad hoc references to his co-star’s off-stage activities at the time.

Bournemouth was the birthplace of the ‘King of Panto’, Paul Elliott. Mr Elliott, who was educated at Bournemouth School and made his debut at the town’s Palace Court Theatre in 1958, made a career producing seasonal entertainments across the country, notching up a record-breaking 29 productions in one year.

He brought Cinderella – billed as ‘Bournemouth’s Biggest Ever Panto’ – to the town in 1992, as part of the ‘Cadbury’s pantomime season’.

The stars were Stefan Dennis, famous as villain Paul Robinson in Neighbours, and June Brown, aka Dot Cotton in EastEnders.

The Pavilion’s 1998 production, Beauty and the Beast, included two figures with local connections.

Robin Cousins had taken to the ice at Bournemouth’s Westover Ice Rink when he was a boy visiting the town with his family. In an exchange of emails with John Walker, he confirmed that this was his first experience of skating and that he was delighted he could spin around on the ice without falling over. The production also starred Buster Merryfield of Only Fools and Horses fame, who lived in Verwood.

Bournemouth had produced another successful theatre producer in Throop-based Michael Rose. He had a long association with Poole Arts Centre – now the Lighthouse – and is now a familiar name in the West End and on Broadway.

The Arts Centre had opened in 1978 and the Michael Rose productions ran for almost two decades from 1988. The shows, which included more than one helping of Peter Pan starring Matthew Kelly, featured other big names such as Ron Moody, Lynda Baron, Millicent Martin, Dora Bryan, Peggy Mount and Anne Charleston.

The producer parted company with the Lighthouse after a disagreement about contracts and ticketing charges in 2007, but pantos at the Lighthouse have continued.

Ed Pertie of CBeebies starred in the latest successful production, Robin Hood, which closed on Sunday.

  •  Grateful acknowledgement to John Walker and to Hugh Ashley’s book Bournemouth Pavilion – A Celebration 1929– 2006.