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"Roll up, roll up.............Come and see the Greatest Show in the Universe !" That may well be a suitably traditional promotion call heard in by-gone days on the sea-front at brash and breezy Blackpool. Today, it could be eminently suitable to introduce a glimpse into the future as seen through the eyes of Britain's Number One fantasy film producer in Britain's Premier holiday resort, Blackpool. The show is, of course, the Gerry Anderson "Space City" exhibition situatied in the heart of the famous Blackpool Golden Mile - housed, in fact, in the Golden Mile Centre itslef, just one of the newer buildings to replace the old- fashioned sea-front of yesteryear. The show is a direct descendant of the old-fashioned side- show and can be found side-by-side with a huge amusement arcade and an indoor FunFair. A picture paints a thousand words, or so they say, and certainly "City" stands by that maxim with the range of displays relying on their sheer spectacle with the minimum of explanation cards and reminders. The "Space City" came into being when the Blackpool Tower Company, part of the giant EMI-Thorn group. decided to mount an exhibition of some sort to rival the established BBC "Doctor Who" exhibition which is located literally a stone's throw from the Golden Mile Centre itself. Certainly science-fiction seemed to be a crowd- puller and it didn't take long for the Tower Company to approach Gerry Anderson with a view to staging a show around the many television series formulated by himself and Sylvia Anderson. Mr. Anderson himself, though somewhat bemused by the prospect of people actually wanting to PAY to look at his creations, took a leading role in the planning of the exhibition, which was master- minded by Keith Shackleton and Mr. Joe Bramley, the manager of the show. Mr. Bramley is an amiable man who spoke to me at the end of last year about the exhibition. He was quite proud to point out that until "Space City" was created, the Anderson legend was scattered around Britain with such things as models at Bray Studios, sets at Pinewood, and various models and memorabilia in the hands of individuals who had worked at different times for the Anderson organisation. "The shame is that Gerry Anderson himself never kept very much for himself, you know," said Joe, almost sadly. With the coming of the "City" all this was put to rights, Model-maker Martin Bower was brought in to re-create some of the earlier craft, but the stock on show is worth about 250,000 it is |
 
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