Tribute to Tommy Smith
The Citizens Theatre would like to pay our respects to Tommy Smith, who sadly passed away in December 2017.
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| Tommy Smith |
Tommy was born in Portugal Street, across the road from the Citizens Theatre, and became a highly-regarded self-taught Gorbals artist. We at the Citizens were privileged to get to know him when we discovered his true talent: as a vampire hunter.
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| L-R Tommy Smith, Tommy Donnelly, Kenny Hughes, Bob Hamilton, Joseph Curran. Credit Tim Morozzo. |
Tommy became an important part of our 2016 Community Production, 'The Gorbals Vampire', sharing with us his recollections of this legendary event that took place in the Southern Necropolis in 1954. He painted a particularly vivid picture of a night when 100s of local schoolchildren, armed with makeshift weapons, hunted down the mythical 7-foot tall 'man with the iron teeth'.
Tommy had been seven years old at the time, taking his place alongside all the other brave children, proudly toting his Tomahawk made out of a stick and a baked bean can. He lived to tell this tale, along with many others tales of growing up in the Gorbals which will be treasured by those that met him and retold for many years to come.
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The Gorbals Vampire publicity image by artist Frank Quitely. Buy a copy |
Tommy had been seven years old at the time, taking his place alongside all the other brave children, proudly toting his Tomahawk made out of a stick and a baked bean can. He lived to tell this tale, along with many others tales of growing up in the Gorbals which will be treasured by those that met him and retold for many years to come.
Hear more from Tommy and some other vampire hunters:
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