bhowells

Does anyone out there go to see old time variety shows in theatres in their localilty. I notice that the Stage reviews music hall evenings, as well as the City Variety Theatre in Leeds it reviews simaler shows elsewhere.

I really would be interested in hearing from members about this aspect of theatre as it really interests me. I didnt appreciate it when the Good Old Days was on when I was a kid and its great tp know that its has not completely died out.

CaptainWaggett

The Players Theatre still survives though they don't have their base under Charing Cross railway bridge any more. Sadly they've split into two rival groups, one of whom inherited the costumes and the other, IMO, the better artistes. I won't say which I think is better but here's the details of them both for those who like that sort of thing.

bhowells

Many thanks for this Captain.

Oliver Double

It's interesting that there's still an interest in variety theatre, because the true tradition died out decades ago. Although there are still theatres like the London Palladium and the Hackney Empire, most of the theatres on the variety circuit had closed by the early 1960s, and many were pulled down to make way for soulless concrete council buildings, etc. When the Metropolitan in Edgware Road held its final show in 1963, apparently it was packed out with people bemoaning its demise. If only they'd continued to go in those numbers more regularly, maybe it wouldn't have had to shut. I find it unimaginable to think that in the mid-20th Century, every major town in the UK had a theatre putting on shows twice nightly, six nights a week (plus matinees), where you could see singers, dancers, comedians, magicians, jugglers, animal acts, and all kinds of weird speciality acts (and some of these really big stars), all on the same bill.

samkydd

I've been a fan of this sort of entertainment since childhood, and growing up and still living by the seaside it's still a draw. The last one I went to had the excellent Trevor Bannister (Are You Being Served) showing what he can do on the stage and very good he was too.

It's not everybody's cup of tea but as a living history of how things used to be from the 19th century to the 1950s it's quite enjoyable. When Music Hall was king there were many many variety theatres around the land, and from what I can gather it was fairly inexpensive for people to go. Cinema became the competition, and I suppose many theatres eventually became cinemas.

The discerning punter probably demands something more sophisticated these days; (Big Brother, Celebrity Love Island, Hell's Kitchen etc ) whilst watching the telly sat in their hotel rooms overlooking the sea, and they see this sort of live entertainment only as something pensioners would enjoy.

Personally, the sheer versatility of some of the performers is amazing and there aren't many "one trick ponies" they all seem to be able to cope very well with multi-tasking. "The Entertainer" film showed this sort of entertainment in its death throes, and there were many real life Archie Rice characters who struggled on, putting on their vision of lavish productions in front of empty theatre seats.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

orpheum

In America films and radio combined to kill of vaudeville by 1940.In this country the last straw was the start of ITV in 1956.The last major Empire in the suburbs of London,the Finsbury Park Empire closed down in i think 1958.The Shepherds Bush and Wood Green Empire both closing to be used as tv studios.The thing is that one has to accept that like everything else in life the way we are entertained changes all the time.

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CaptainWaggett

There's an episode in the Brighton series of Public Eye centring around sea-side variety with the chief comic being, I think, Joe Melia.

The film I'd really like to see on this subject is The Cooptimists which is, I assume, a recreation of the seaside pierrot act with Elsie Randolph, Stanley Holloway et al (you can see what it must have been like in an early scene in Millions Like Us). I do have the Co-optimists LP, and remember it as being very good, but alas, have no record player any more...(and since it's the only record I now own, it seems a bit pointless getting one!)

Rob Compton

Going back in time a little, "Champagne Charlie" is a somewhat sanitised but still thoroughly enjoyable portrayal of Victorian Music Hall.

When I get my Time Machine in full working order, one of the first visits I'll pay will be to a music hall in the 1870's!

rgds
Rob

CaptainWaggett

There's a good episode of Cribb about murder at the music halls - Abracadaver, it was called and had Joan Sims running a home for artistes who'd fallen on hard times. The book is good too. I notice BBC4 are repeating Marie Lloyd - Queen of the Music Halls next Tuesday, for anyone who missed it first time round.

EHV_Emmetts

The actor Roy Hudd has a wealth of knowledge about the Music and Variety halls era.

orpheum

He used to do a very good Max miller impersonation.

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EHV_Emmetts

Roy is trying to get a bronze statue of his hero, Max Miller, built in his home town of Brighton.

afrovicar

Hello everybody - I'm not sure whether this is the correct area to post this but I think I may need your help! NB I have also posted this on a topic of it's own but I'm new to the site and I'm not sure if and how people will find it!
I am currently attempting to write a feature film screenplay about the decline of the Music Hall, set in the late 1950s. I am about to enter my final year as a Media Production student at the University of Lincoln and the screenplay is my first feature film, having written and produced a number or short films to date, including the Award winning ‘Jellied Eels’ (2006) and ‘Reliant Robbers’ (2008). The script is hardly even started at the moment but I would like the basic story to be based around a group of Music Hall entertainers who are trying to save their theatre.

Unfortunately, as much as I love the music, comedy, (my favourite comedian is Will Hay) and general idea of the Music Hall, I have very little knowledge about the years surrounding its demise. If it’s at all possible, would anyone here be able to shed some light on the Music Hall years in the 1950s. My original idea was to set the film 20 years earlier in the inter war period, but I have decided that this time period with the onset of the Second World War has frankly been done to death and so thought the 1950s would be more suitable.

Although the script will be about the demise of Music Hall in general, it will specifically be based around the destruction of a physical building too. I’d rather it weren’t set in London as again it’s been seen too many times, so if you can suggest an area of England that might fit the bill and even a specific theatre that you’d like to see in the screenplay, please let me know – along with any ideas for interesting variety acts for me to base the characters on. I am planning to create my own characters as much as possible but it would be better if they were based upon living persons.

Thanks

Tom (afrovicar)

'If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?' - Stephen Fry

Nick Dando

Reading some JB Priestley novels would be a good source of background information - The Good Companions and Lost Empires spring to mind.
Then John Osborne's The Entertainer will give a few more ideas.

Nick