Today it would be called a Talent Contest. It wasn’t a regular item in the repertoire. The contestants were mostly young. The items were often regional. In Fife there was nearly always someone reciting ‘The boy in the train’ – best known for the last line of each verse :-

‘-  the next stop’s Kirkaldy’

Until the final verse (always good for a laugh) :-

‘For I ken mysel’ by the queer like smell
That the next stop’s Kirkcaldy.’

A reference to the linoleum factories in the town at that time.

Further North in the 1950’s there was always someone ready to sing ‘The Northern lights of old Aberdeen’.

A bonus was Highland Dancing. Usually a young girl, or girls. The audience were knowing critics.

In some rural areas  the poem ‘A pair o’ Nicky Tams’ was a regular item. Again the last line of each verse was a sure laugh.