Back in Glasgow in the late 1940s, Baxter worked at the Citizens Theatre as assistant stage manager, played the Fool in Macbeth and appeared in Tyrone Guthrie’s 1948 Edinburgh Festival production of The Thrie Estaites.
But he really found his feet and fame in variety theatre.
Over the coming decade he appeared with Jimmy Logan, Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy on stage at Glasgow’s Alhambra Theatre and on the radio show It’s All Yours. Early on in his career, Baxter also became a notable panto dame.
Inevitably, London called.
He was cast in On The Bright Side, a comedy sketch show where he first performed what would become one of his most popular sketches.
‘Parliamo Glasgow’ was a spoof language programme where, instead of teaching Italian, Baxter’s earnest presenter tutors the rest of the world in the language of his home city.
Altering words and adding the odd slang term, a typical example was: “Zarra marra onna barra, Clara?”
Baxter would say the phrase in a thick Glasgow accent before providing the translation:
“Is that a marrow on your barrow, Clara?”
That Baxter could pull this off without causing offence or appearing to patronise his Scottish roots for a wider audience was a testament to his brilliance as a performer.
The 1960s saw his TV career bloom.
The Stanley Baxter Show was a huge success on the BBC in 1963 and ran for eight years.
There were films too, such as The Fast Lady and Crooks Anonymous. But cinema comedies, with their need for proper stories and well-rounded, believable characters, never really suited Baxter’s talents.
He was best at broader caricatures, impressions and sketch comedy and as his reputation and audiences grew, so did his ambition and control over his programmes.
