This from a conversation overheard by my (much) better half in Michael's Bookshop today: "Are the midget houses still there?" There followed no small amount of confusion, but it turned out that the lady in question had left Ramsgate many decades ago (before or just after the war), was revisiting and wondered if the houses that were apparently 'built in to the cliff' for the midgets - low level fittings, small doors and so on - were still there.
The location would seem to have been on the slope down from the Granville towards the Marina Theatre, and I do recall seeing an old stage photo of the troupe of midgets who presumably had a long-term residency in the Marina Theatre before the war. Any extra information? It was such a surreal question that there has to be an answer! Michael himself was apparently stumped by the question, which makes it all the more effective, obviously. Time to check out your old photos and postcards...
4 comments:
Maybe she'd got it confused with the model village?
Well it would have saved building special houses... but no, she was adamant it was near/behind/beside the Marina Theatre.
It really is a bit surreal I have been going through old Kellys directories what is now Marina Esplanade seems to have just been called The Esplanade with the bit from Merrie England (Pleasurama) to the marina Bathing Pool being called Granville Marina however the sloping road that takes you up the cliff doesn’t have a name. Kellys calls it Road to East Cliff but there are no residencies mentioned. The road doesn’t appear in Kellys apart from being shown as a junction in the Granville Marina entry, a sort of non-road. I can’t find anything in any of my old pictures either I am pretty sure I published something with an extensive advertisement for the amusements in that area but with about 100 of my local history books in print now it’s a lot of pages to look through. I have however found a picture of Midget Town Merrie England published at http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/history/id9.htm please feel free to use it on the blog.
Thanks Michael - if they were based in Merrie England rather than the theatre then maybe the town was inside M.E. or behind it, so at that end of the site rather than the Marina Theatre end. Where are all the old people (with good memories) when you need them?
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