I'm a great fan of British variety acts ,the whole set up has always fascinated me,so whilst discussing Frank Randall with an even older guy than me,he informed me that he'd got a contract for A Randles Scandals show with costumiers called BOWMAN I mentioned my interest in this and he said well surely you know Frank intended to promote wrestling he thought it would replace the halls and he intended to start at a theatre in Accrington that was proving to be a liability and he regretted buying it,he told everyone that he went to school with Billy Riley but this could be nonsense as he claimed he went to school with George formby and every other notable Wiganer even if ages and dates proved otherwise.However fact is he knew jack Atherton and tommy and jack Pye. He also claimed that he'd wrestled as a youth as young McAvoy.
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Off topic but, only discovered Frank Randall since watching TPTV and thought to myself what have i been missing. He made about half dozen films and i had to have them all on dvd. The late comedy actor John Inman was a big fan of Randall and he pays tribute to him on "Youtube." There's also footage Of John Inman playing Frank Randall's character the old hiker from "The Good Old Days" also on youtube, very good too. "I'm 92 you know, i would've been 93 but me dad was shy!"
There's a story that Randall & Formby were on the same bill at Blackpool. Formby's wife wasn't happy that Randall was top of the bill and Formby below him. She thought Frank was crude and common and didn't deserve top billing, she moaned that much to the manager that the billing was changed. Roughly five minutes before Formby was due on stage Randall nailed George's dressing room door shut and beggared off to the pub to get plastered.