OTD in early British television: 2 August 1933
John Wyver writes: Nearly a year on from the BBC having taken over 30-line television, producer Eustace Robb was keen to produce increasingly ambitious broadcasts. One example was Looking at London by Television, a 35-minute original revue screened in the late evening on Wednesday 2 August 1933.
In the cast were Marjorie Gordon, John Rorke and Harold Kimberley, along with Billy Milton and the Paramount Victoria Girls. New sketches and songs, which included ‘The pigeons of St Paul’s’ and ‘Hyde Park Corner’, were contributed by Milton, Ernest Longstaffe and Harry S. Pepper.
Two images from the September issue of Television also indicate the inventiveness of the production working with just a single scanner and basic graphics. The range and riches of the show are also detailed in the magazine’s ‘Last month’s programmes’ column:
The revue Looking at London was the best yet seen and heard, and I attribute its success to the experienced cast and to the snappy presentation for which Eustace Robb, the producer, must have credit. Maybe he just happened to choose artists that I like; anyway, they all looked good to me.
Marjorie Gordon has long been a tonic for tired eyes and listless ears. Billy Milton is one of our best musical comedy juvenile leads… Harold Kimberley has apleasant voice, knows his stuff and girls like his picture. A little more careful preparation next time and his work will be improved.
Equally at home in a sketch or a song and most telling in characters parts, our old friend, John Rorke, infuses comedy into any programme. Add a chorus of the Paramount Victoria Girls… [and] Harry Bidgood has a grand quartet, skilfully led and adaptable to this work…
There is no room in the studio for a larger combination when principals and chorus have been squeezed onto the floor and lack of space must arrest the development of this type of show…
The programme opened to a line drawing of St Paul’s, with the quartet playing Harry Pepper’s number, ‘Stepping into the sunshine’. The picture faded to a curtain which parted to reveal the girls who appeared in turn, each singing a line of the song that was continued by the principals before the picture faded back to St Paul’s.
Then came a good tune, ‘The pigeons of St Paul’s’, sung by Marjorie Gordon and Billy Milton, whose heads popped up on either side of the dome (above). Next we saw a bird-like dance by two of the girls dressed as pigeons in a scene representing the steps of the cathedral. This setting was cunningly formed by placing pillars at either side and to the rear of half the flight of stairs which was used for the first time to good effect in Rokoko, produced in July.
The finished performance by the Paramount Victoria Girls was an agreeable feature of the show… During the circular movement in a routine dance and during the finale when the line of dancers passed and repassed each other, the stage seemed to be filled with girls in the approved West-end style and the principals moving forwards and backwards between rows of chorus was also in the best revue tradition.
The sketch, too, was short and pithy. The top of an old London ‘bus was easily recognisable in the scene and the passengers were characters that I seem to remember having met before (above). Marjorie Gordon played the ‘refaned’ lady and John Rorke was the farmer up for the day. The action was quick and it was not long before she had his watch and wallet by a trick.
[OTD post no. 228; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication on 8 January 2026 of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain, which can now be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here.]
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