MUSIC HALL

See Also: CAMPNESS; CIRCUSES, DISAPPEARED; COMEDY; ENTERTAINMENT, DISAPPEARED; ILLUSTRATION & GRAPHIC DESIGN Donald McGill; MOVIES Carry Ons; MUSIC HALLS; THE PRUSSIAN PROFESSOR

Music hall started out in pubs that mounted entertainments in the hope of drawing in more customers. Each bill might well have two dozen artistes on it and the major stars were often paid only a few pounds per performance. An act that was in demand would appear in perhaps five or six separate venues during an evening, travelling from one to the next in a hired carriage.

In the 1880s musical hall was very much an entertainment for men. Customers were free to wander to the bars during the performance. Music hall s conversion into variety entertainment was the achievement of theatre owners such as Oswald Stoll. He sought to attract respectable family audiences and was relentless in his efforts to take the form upmarket. One of the indicators by which respectability was marked was the introduction of fixed seats.

In 1904 The Coliseum Theatre opened as a music hall. Stoll encouraged European acts to come to Britain to perform in his theatres. In 1906 the licensing authorities gave music halls the freedom to put on short plays with small casts. Five years later the London County Council permitted the music hall theatres to put on variety shows and full-length dramas. The owners attracted actors by paying them higher wages than they were likely to receive in conventional theatres.

In its earliest years, the venue offered four shows a day, six days a week. The performers who appeared there included Sarah Bernhardt, Lily Langtry, Diaghilev's Ballet Russe, and W.C. Fields, who was a world-renowned juggler before he became a comedian.

Location: The Coliseum Theatre, 33-35 St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES (purple, brown)

Website: https://britishmusichallsociety.com

The Champagne Wars

In 1861 the tax on champagne was reduced. George Champagne Charlie Leybourne (1842-1884) championed and the Great Vance (n Alfred Peek Stevens (1839-1888) were musical hall rivals, who both sang songs about drinking. Charlie championed Mo t and the Great Vance Veuve-Cliquot. Both men died in their forties. The film Champagne Charlie (1944) was made about them. It starred Tommy Trinder (1909-1989) as Champagne Charlie and Stanley Holloway (1890-1982) as the Great Vance.

Location: 136 Englefield Road, N1 3LQ. Champagne Charlie's home.

12-18 Grosvenor Gardens, SW1W 0DH. Mo t Hennessy's London office. The company now owns both houses. (blue, purple)

See Also: CHAMPAGNE

Website: www.lvmh.com/houses/wines-spirits/moet-chandon www.veuveclicquot.com

Marie Lloyd

Marie Lloyd (n e Matilda Wood) (1870-1922) was skilled in the use of double entendre. Once she appeared before a vigilance committee that had taken exception to the line She sits amongst the cabbages and peas . She offered to change it to She sits amongst the cabbages and leaks .

Location: 55 Graham Road, Hackney, E8 1PB

The Players' Theatre

The Players' Theatre is an organisation that mounts music hall shows. It was founded in 1936 by the actor Leonard Sachs as a theatrical club. Its original home was at No. 43 King Street, Covent Garden, which had been the home of Evans Music & Supper Rooms music hall (1840s-1880). In 1937 the Players' mounted their first music hall show. This proved to be a great success. The club embraced the form; Sachs would often play the role of the chairman who presided over the evening's proceedings. Some of those who performed were the scions of pre-First World War music hall performers. In 1946 the Players' moved into premises in Hungerford Lane that had once housed the Gatti s-In-The-Arches music hall.

Sachs was invited to mount a music hall show for the Festival of Britain. This was a great success. The show then toured through Britain, which, in turn, prompted the commissioning of The Good Old Days television show (1953-83).

Location: Evans Music & Supper Rooms, 43 King Street, WC2E 8JY (blue, brown)

The Players' Theatre, Hungerford Lane, WC2N 6NG. In the arches underneath Charing Cross Railway Station.

Website: www.playerstheatre.co.uk

Poverty Corner

Along a portion of York Road there used to be a cluster of both lodging houses that were used by musical hall artistes and theatrical agents offices. As a result, the area became known as Poverty Corner . A couple of miles to the south, Brixton became a district where many music hall performers lived.

Location: Glenshaw Mansions, 78 Brixton Road, SW9 6BH. Charlie Chaplin lived in Flat 15.

3-13 York Road, SE1 7NJ

See Also: POP & ROCK Archer Street; STREETS, SPECIALISED

Fred Karno

Fred Karno (n Frederick Westcott) (1866-1941) led a comedy troupe whose members included Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) and Stan Laurel (n Arthur Jefferson) (1890-1965). His headquarters - The Fun Factory - were off Coldharbour Lane.

Location: 26 Southwell Road (formerly Vaughan Road), Camberwell, SE5 9PQ

Dan Leno

Dan Leno's memorial is maintained by the Waterrats. For a long time he was King Rat.

Location: 56 Akerman Road, Brixton, SW9 6SN

David Backhouse 2024