On the evening of Monday March 1st, the Streatham Society hosted a very interesting online talk by Professor Rohan McWilliams entitled “London’s West End: Creating the Pleasure District, 1800-1914”
Detailing the evolution of the area as a shopping and entertainment destination, there were a number of fascinating changes which the area went through in the nineteenth century to become an early version of what we still recognise today as the West End.
I was surprised to hear that one of the most important developments were the provision of ladies’ lavatories. Something that the West End theatres could certainly still do with a lot more of, over a century later!
We also learned where the colonnades which originally lined Regent Street were removed to – and why they had to be removed in the first place!
Fascinating glimpses of an evolution which embraced panoramas, music halls, and so much more, this was an enlightening way to spend an hour.
You can enjoy a recording of the talk which is now available here
Thanks to the Streatham Society for yet another interesting talk.
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!
