In the years after the Second World War, the Darlington Hippodrome – which had been the home of the operatic society since 1924 – was run by a colourful impresario called Edward J Hinge whose company had 27 theatres and cinemas across the North East. READ FIRST: A CENTURY OF SONG: HOW THE DARLINGTON OPERATIC SOCIETY MADE THE HIPPODROME ITS HOME Stories about Teddy Hinge are legion. He turned up the heating 10 minutes before the interval so he would sell more ice creams.
He was sued by the rights holders of the musical Annie Get Your Gun for putting on a saucy version called Did Fanny Get Your Fun? He turned down a knighthood because he didn’t want people to think of an ear infection when they addressed him as “Sir Hinge”...
Not all of them may be true. Darlington Operatic Society prepare for Show Boat in 1957 He allowed the operatic society to put on its two shows a year in the Hippodrome and their classy productions sat uneasily alongside his Soho strippers and risqué revues. In 1954, he persuaded DOS to perform the annual panto, Cinderella, which he had written with costumes and scenery hired from his company.
The show was a success, but really it was Hinge’s way of getting money into his company and of avoiding paying the wages of a proper panto dame. He was on the brink of bankruptcy, and eventually teetered over the edge at Easter 1957, when he shut the doors of the Hippodrome for the last time, and he was pursued to the end of his life in 1961 by the Inlan.