Brixton Empress, a major music hall and variety theatre
Next week sees the annual celebration that is Music Hall and Variety Day and as part of the celebrations, the British Music Hall Society invites you to join them on a virtual walking tour of Brixton, celebrating the role of the area in the history of entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The event is presented by Tracey Gregory, Chris Beddoe and Sue McKenzie, all of whom are part of the team working on the Brixton Music Hall project researching and mapping the people and places of Music hall Brixton on the Layers of London website (https://www.layersoflondon.org).
If you saw any of the excellent Brixton Music Hall talks last September (see my previous blog articles here and here) you will remember Tracey, Chris and Sue for their sterling work on those very interesting and informative events, which means that this new event is certain to be worth attending.
The talk will start at 11am on Sunday 16th May 2021. A Zoom joining link will be sent out via TicketSource on the day before the event. Tickets cost £3 for BMHS members and £5 for non-members. You can book your ticket here
Music Hall artistes waiting to go on at the Royal Music Hall. Undated photo from the arthurlloyd.co.uk website
The month of September welcomed Music Hall Wednesdays (part of Lambeth Heritage Festival’s first totally ‘online’ season) which gave an entertaining look at Brixton and Lambeth’s Music Hall history from a number of viewpoints.
The organisers have now loaded all five talks to their YouTube channel (Music Hall Brixton and Beyond). So if you missed out on a talk, or enjoyed them so much you want to go back and see them again, they are all now available online for you to enjoy at your leisure.
Here’s a quick reminder about each talk:
COME ROUND ANY OLD TIME – BRIXTON’S MUSIC HALL COMMUNITY, where Sue McKenzie looks at how and why Brixton was home to so many people from music hall, early cinema and variety in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She also tells the stories of some of the performers in what was a precarious and unpredictable world. Link to Sue’s talk here
THE EMPRESS THEATRE OF VARIETIES, where Bill Linskey talks about the history of The Empress Theatre of Varieties, now long-demolished. Opened in 1898 it quickly became one of Brixton’s best-known venues; described as ‘one of the finest of London’s suburban music halls’. Link to Bill’s talk here
RESEARCHING BRIXTON’S MUSIC HALL CONNECTIONS, where Christine Beddoe and Tracey Gregory share stories of music hall people associated with the legendary address Glenshaw Mansions on Brixton Road and reveal some of the sources they have used to uncover the stories. Link to Christine and Tracey’s talk here
MUSIC HALL JUGGLERS OF LAMBETH, Charlie Holland’s talk on music hall jugglers features original props, posters, programmes and photographs, and draws you into the globe-trotting lives of Paul Cinquevalli, the Mongadors, and Hanvarr & Lee. Link to Charlie’s talk here.
INTERNATIONAL MUSIC HALL is an interesting panel discussion on how music hall linked Brixton to the world, and how changing performance names and personas disguised true identities. Featuring Alison Young (a solicitor who has turned her research skills to exploring the lives of her paternal family of music hall performers); Steve Martin, (Brixton based historian and author specialising in Black British history); Amy Matthewson, (Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). Link to the panel discussion here
In addition to the talks, the Music Hall Brixton and Beyond collection on the fascinating historical website Layers of London continues to grow. They now have over 50 short histories of music hall people in and around Brixton. You can explore street by street. It’s well worth a visit, and all praise to the contributors for the ingenious way it has been created and the detail which is available. You can find LAYERS OF LONDON by clicking here
The group have been delighted by the large online attendance for each of these events and are consequently planning more talks and possibly walks live or virtual.
Please do share the links to the talks and the Layers of London music hall collection with anyone you think might be interested. They’re all well worth a look!
The Empress Theatre Brixton- “Twice Nightly. Always a West End Programme”.
Programme cover, 1915
Brixton and the surrounding London borough of Lambeth was home to thousands of music hall and variety performers and associated businesses between the 1850s and the 1960s.
Please note that you will need to book for access to each of these fascinating talks which I believe should last around an hour each. The subjects are:
Come round any old time – Brixton’s music hall community Wed 2nd Sept at 19:00BST. At this, the first of the Music Hall Wednesdays talks, Sue Mckenzie looks at how and why Brixton was home to so many people from music hall, early cinema and variety in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She will also tell the stories of some of the performers, their careers and their fortunes in what was a precarious and unpredictable world.
Empress Brixton – Display card from 1955, towards the end of the theatre’s life as a variety hall. Note that bottom of the bill act, “Morris, Marty and Mitch” included the man we would later celebrate solo as Marty Feldman.
The Empress, Theatre of Varieties:Wed 9th Sept at 19:00BST. Bill Linskey will talk about the history of The Empress Theatre of Varieties. The building on the corner of Bernays Grove opened in 1898 and quickly became one of Brixton’s best-known venues; it was described as ‘one of the finest of London’s suburban music halls’. Bill’s talk draws on a variety of sources including contemporary newspaper reports.
Empress auditorium, from 1962The Empress’s 1931 updating of the exterior was itself remodelled in 1957 for its reopening as Granada cinema in late 1957 (Photo from 1965)
Researching Brixton’s Music Hall connections Wed 16th Sept at 19:00BST. Christine Beddoe and Tracey Gregory share some of the sources they have used to uncover the stories of Glenshaw Mansions, Brixton Road, the one time home of Charlie Chaplin, at the time when the area was a thriving hub for music hall people and when so many fascinating music hall people lived and passed through these buildings.
Brixton Empress advertisement from 1910
Here’s a short film piece from the Empress’s reopening as the Granada in late 1957, attended by the Mayoress, her escort, and stars Sabrina and Forrest Tucker (Tucker was one of the stars of the opening film playing the venue). Courtesy of British Pathe’s YouTube channel.
Paul Cinquevalli juggling. McAllister, James, 1869-1952 :Negatives of Stratford and Taranaki district. Ref: 1/1-007877-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22759699
Music Hall Jugglers of Lambeth Wed 23rd Sept at 19:00 BST. Charlie Holland’s talk on music hall jugglers, featuring original props, posters, programmes and photographs, will draw you into the globe-trotting lives of Paul Cinquevalli, the Mongadors, and Hanvarr & Lee, all of whom were Lambeth residents for several years.
Poster advertising Chuckles of 1933 at Brixton’s New Empress Theatre
International Music Hall Wed 30th Sept at 19:00BST. A panel discussion on how music hall linked Brixton to the world and how performance names and personas disguised true identity. Featuring Alison Young (British Music Hall Society); Steve Martin, (Brixton based historian and author, specialising in Black British history); Amy Matthewson, (Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London).
1949 Hellzapoppin goes crazy at the Empress with Dave and Joe O’Gorman
Display card for a tour of The French Peep Show, 1955. You can bet the only French model you’ll have found anywhere near this theatre was an old Citroen in the local used car showroom.
Programme cover from 1938. “New” relates to the theatre’s revamp in 1931. The Brixton Empress belonged to the VTC – Variety Theatres Consolidated Ltd -circuit, which also owned the Palace music halls at Chelsea, Walthamstow and East Ham, the Regent at Kings Cross and later the Metropolitan Edgware Road. Sidney and Cecil Bernstein, founders and heads of the Granada cinema circuit, bought into VTC in 1951, which is one of the main reasons why the Brixton Empress later became a Granada.
If you enjoy Music Hall, you can find other related articles on this blog here, here and here, and by searching this blog on the words “music hall” . Enjoy!
