1932 - Laurel and stayed two
nights at the Central Hotel, and made a personal appearance on stage
at La Scala Cinema. The interior has since been totally gutted, as
the venue is now a shopping arcade. All that remains is the arched entry.
1947 - Laurel & Hardy played two weeks at the Glasgow Empire, in Sauchiehall Street. Sad to say, this was demolished in 1963, and the site is now covered by a row of shops. Again, they stayed at the Central Hotel.
During their stay in Glasgow, Laurel had a good look around the inside of the Metropole Theatre, in Stockwell Street, where, in his mid-teens, he had spent a few years working for his father, Arthur Jefferson, who was the lessee-manager.
GLASGOW CENTRAL HOTEL
METROPOLE THEATRE, Stockwell Street,
Glasgow
Still a working hotel.
Demolished and site built on. The Old
Scotia pub is till there.
.
1952 – The Boys played only one week at the
Glasgow Empire, w/c 10 March, again staying at the Central Hotel.
This time there was no massed throng to greet them, and the whole week went
off without so much of a ripple, much less a wave, of publicity.
1954 - It was two years before Laurel and Hardy came to Glasgow again, 1 March 1954, and ,with the conditions they met there, it's a wonder they lived to survive the tale. Snow, ice, and black-outs were continuous throughout the week, and temperatures fell below zero. But still, they were well-received inside the theatre.