Its predecessor the Gaiety Theatre[3] had opened in 1874 under Charles Bernard, staging pantomime, opera, musicals and plays but changed to variety, which Moss Empires developed further.

Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray, Frankie Laine, Connie Francis, Eartha Kitt, Howard Keel, Guy Mitchell, Mel Tormé and Liberace were joined by Frank Sinatra, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Jack Benny and a great favourite, Danny Kaye.

[8] Other performers from Britain who became regulars included Nat Gonella, Jimmy Young, Harry Secombe, Max Bygraves, Ken Dodd (who brought the house down), Eddie Cochran, Adam Faith, Cliff Richard, the Springfields and Frankie Vaughan before he headlined at the Alhambra Theatre.

[10] Comedian Ken Dodd famously disparaged attempts to psychoanalyse humour with the rebuttal, "The trouble with Sigmund Freud is that he never played second house at the Glasgow Empire after both halves of the Old Firm had just lost!

[12] The final curtain came down on the theatre on 31 March 1963 with a cast that included the Red Army Choir, Duncan Macrae, Robert Wilson, Iain Cuthbertson, Albert Finney, Rikki Fulton and Andy Stewart.