Wolverhampton Grand at 125: Actors dug in and promoted their new play
Actors Jack Douglas and Leslie Randall swapped their scripts for shovels to give a hand to workmen digging up the road outside the Grand.
The comic pair donned hard hats for a publicity stunt to promote Fur Coat and No Knickers, the hit play in which they were starring in 1988 when this photograph was taken.
"I thought it might be an idea to sort out the front of the house," joker Jack, pictured left, told the Express & Star at the time.
The actor, then 61, had made his name with regular appearances in the final eight Carry On films, appearing with the likes of Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, Leslie Phillips and Barbara Windsor.
But he became best known for his character Alf Ippititimus, a fidgety, nervous man with an involuntary twitch who left a trail of chaos wherever he went.
Alf, with his catchphrase 'Phwaay!', was born by accident after Jack's comedy partner failed to appear on stage during a routine so he gave an impromptu impersonation of a colleague which brought the house down.
His co-star at the Grand, Leslie Randall, was a popular but lesser-known face on TV, appearing in various sitcoms and also stage plays.
In the week they were performing at Wolverhampton, in early September, the road outside the Lichfield Street theatre had been dug up but the extensive works did not not affect the box office.
The comedy, which poked fun at snobbish values, had been playing to packed houses all over the country and at the Grand, too, it enjoyed sell-out audiences.
The photograph, from the Express & Star archives, is reproduced here as part of a weekly feature leading up to the Grand's 125th anniversary in December.
