Two Red Shoes July 28, 1960

The Two Red Shoes featured live music and disco dances from 1960 to 1977 During the 1960s, dozens of popular acts on tour performed to delighted pop music fans. Some of those who performed at the Elgin venue included: The Springfields, The Swinging Bluejeans, Alan Price Combo, The Big Three, Them [with Van Morrison], Packabeats, Jacobeats, Tangerine Atmosphere, My Dear Watson, The Animals, The Who, The Searchers, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, The Modelles, Pink Floyd, The Facells, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, The Troggs, Bert Weedon, Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, Gene Vincent, Sounds Incorporated, The Clyde Valley Stompers, Lulu and The Luvvers, The Puppets, The Overlanders, Johnny and The Copycats, Neil Landon and The Burnettes, Malcolm Clarke and The Cresters, The Four Pennies, The Rats, The Measles, The Baron Knights, Shane Fenton and The Fentones, Chance Gordon, The Strangers, Jet Harris and The Jet Blacks, Johnny and Mike with The Shades, Jimmy Crawford and The Ravens, Emile Ford and The Checkmates, The Viscounts, The Remo Four, The Rebel Sounds, The Jimmy Nicol Sound, The Poets, The Dollies, The Mixture, The T – Set, The Caravelles, Goldie and The Gingerbreads, The Viceroys, The Mighty Avengers, The Deacons, Roy Whitaker, The Boomerangs, Flintlocks, The New Apaches, The Undertakers, Anita Harris, The Allisons, Eden Kane, The Jay Walkers, The Honeycombs, The Innocents, Mike Cadillac and The Playboys, The Elizabethans, The Stepping Stones, Eddie LePard and The Leopards, The Cresters with Mike Sagar, The Innocents and many more.

photo-collage c.djdills 2020 None of My Jelly Roll https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC0ZopypxCU&list=PLY7hYwuEMeEVwk2rCACaJPQxStkCNCdOd&index=2&t=0s

Two Red Shoes circa 1961

Turning forty is a milestone for many who come to realise that “there’s is no time like the present” to accomplish personal goals. My challenge was to take up photo-collage to express thoughts and emotions besides a way of visual storytelling. For impresario Albert Bonici, besides becoming a successful, self employed business man wasn’t enough for “uncle Albert” who had a notion to throw dances in north-east Scotland. Just as he was celebrating 40, his abition to open a dance hall with concessions became a reality after a few years of planning… The Two Red Shoes Ballroom opened in the summer of 1960.

In 1956, Albert began promoting though, according to him, it was something that he wanted to do since his late teens. Three years early, with the help of a young friend, Henry M Robertson and London booking agent, Tito Burns, he was successful in bringing the Ray Ellington Quartet to the north of Scotland for a short tour.

Albert who was well travelled in western Europe, likely visited clubs during a visit to New York, having booking ship passage from the UK after having completed his degree as an electrical engineer in 1948. The trip was largely to perform business, having launched a struggling perfume line that went bust two years later. In the early 1950’s after working as an electrical engineer, he was asked to manage the Bonici family businesses, under the family’s PC Holding Company including the Park Cafe, ice cream business, and frozen foods.

When visiting clubs and coffee shops in London’s Soho area in the mid – 1950’s, Albert noted the popularity of the 2ii’s Coffee Bar which has come to be known as the “birthplace of British rock ‘n roll”. With the family’s blessing, Mr. Bonici employed aspects of the coffee shop including a stage area for new acts. Elgin, Scotland’s Park Cafe became decked out with vinyl benches, a jukebox, art on the walls, and a small stage, in 1956. Local talent like Alex. Sutherland and Henry Robertson [later known as Harry Robinson in London] would fill the cafe on weekends for live entertainment.

Though Mr. B had already developed plans for the infamous Two Red Shoes Ballroom “the glitter ball of the north” located near Elgin Cathedral, it took him four years to realise his further ambition to to run his own dance hall. One year after Albert Bonici introduced the first Elgin Jazz Festival, the dance hall opened on the 28th of July, 1960. It was an instant hit, and a popular spot for a fun night of dancing and entertainment from the beginning which featured a talented house-band led by Alex Sutherland. The business continued to gain momentum and a highly thought of reputation for years. It wasn’t until 1977 when the dance hall was shut due to a changing scene, that forced small halls to close across the UK by the 1970s. In 1977, the space became the Flamingo Room featuring cabaret acts though short lived. Unable to secure an alcohol licence and attract enough business, the venue closed in 1978.

Plans for event were cancelled as we went into lockdown mod with a virus epidemic. Fortunately, the museum exhibit is in place besides the unfinished exhibit with notes [before completing project] Speaking of projects, I started with a small box of artefacts from the Bonici Archives, and short trips to interview promoters, musicians, and people around the north of Scotland who experienced the “happy days” during the jazz and beat era of the ’60s. Thanks to Mr. Bonici arranging bus transportation during events, he brought beat music to small towns dotting the magnificent natural landscape.

Hope you enjoy the historical notes and documentation gathered for SCOTBEAT, highlighting a special time in Scotland’s music history…

Two Red Shoes threw discos on a regular basis besides live entertainment features

Swing and Jive competitions were still popular in the 1960s

About scotbeat

SCOTBEAT and http://bonici.wordpress.com includes photos and documents from the Bonici Archives with permission from the Bonici family [PC Holding Co]. You may contact me at dillsdavid@yahoo.co.uk for consent in using images for media projects. Am currently updating http://djdills.wordpress.com with original new collages. #collageart #beatmusic #popmusic #1960smusic

‹ Albert Bonici 1920 – 1990

“I remember when rock was young”… ›

Posted in 1960's pop music