The Great British Music Hall: Its Importance to British Culture and ‘The Trivial’

Authors

  • Steven Gerrard University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135487

Keywords:

Music Hall, British, populist, entertainment, Victorian, cinema, low art

Abstract

By 1960, Britain’s once-thriving Music Hall industry was virtually dead. Theatres with their faded notions of Empire gave way to Cinema and the threat of Television. Where thousands once linked arms singing popular songs, watch acrobatics, see feats of strength, and listen to risqué jokes, now the echoes of those acts lay as whispers amongst the stalls’ threadbare seats.

The Halls flourished in the 19th Century, but had their origins in the taverns of the 16th and 17th Centuries. Minstrels plied their trade egged on by drunken crowds. As time passed, the notoriety of the Music Hall acts and camaraderie produced grew. Entrepreneurial businessman tapped into this commerciality and had purpose-built status symbol theatres to provide a ‘home’ for acts and punters. With names like The Apollo giving gravitas approaching Olympian ideals, so the owners basked in wealth and glory.

The Music Hall became the mass populist entertainment for the population. Every town had one, where everyone could be entertained by variety acts showing off the performers’ skills. The acts varied from singers, joke-tellers, comics, acrobats, to dancers. They all aimed to entertain. They enabled audiences to share a symbiotic relationship with one another; became recruitment officers for the Army; inspired War Poets; showed short films; and they and the halls reflected both the ideals and foibles of their era.

By using Raymond Williams’ structures of feeling as its cornerstone, the article will give a brief history of the halls, whilst providing analysis into how they grew into mass populist entertainment that represented British culture. Case studies of famous artistes are given, plus an insight into how Music Hall segued into radio, film and television.

References

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Articles, Journals and Periodicals

The Era Almanack (date and publisher not known)

The Era Almanack (23rd March 1867)

Hands, Charles E. (25th November 1913): ‘A Common Person’s Complaint’in The Daily Mail

Kinematograph Weekly, 20th September 1934

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Webography

www.vauxhallgardens.com
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/4/1/8/4189/4189.htm
http://www.vauxhallgardens.com/vauxhall_gardens_performers_page.html

Filmography

Dan Leno Attempts to Master the Cycle (GB 1900: dir. n/k.)

Au Music Hall (UK 1907: dir. n/k.)

Early Birds (UK 1907: Albert Bruett).

The Jazz Singer (USA, 1927: Alan Crosland)

The Broadway Melody (USA, 1929: Harry Beaumont)

Elstree Calling (UK, 1930: Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert, Paul Murray and Alfred Hitchcock)

Looking on the Bright Side (UK, 1932: Graham Cutts & Basil Dean)

The Good Companions (UK, 1933: Victor Saville)

Those Were the Days (UK, 1933: Thomas Bentley)

Sing As We Go (UK, 1934: Basil Dean)

Look Up and Laugh (UK, 1935: Basil Dean)

No Limit (UK, 1935: Monty Banks)

Off the Dole (UK, 1935: Arthur Mertz),

Royal Cavalcade (UK 1935: Thomas Bentley and Herbert Brenon)

Oh! Mr Porter (UK 1936: Marcel Varnel)

The Big Blockade (UK, 1940: Charles Frend)

Let George Do It (UK, 1940: Marcel Varnel)

Gasbags (UK 1941, Walter Forde and Marcel Varnel)

The Goose Steps Out (UK 1942: Basil Dearden and Will Hay)

King Arthur Was a Gentleman (UK 1942: Marcel Varnel)

George in Civvy Street (UK, 1946: Marcel Varnel)

Radio and Television

Band Waggon (BBC 1938-1940)

Variety Bandbox (BBC 1941-1953)

Billy Cotton’s Band Show (BBC1946-68)

The Good Old Days (BBC 1953-83)

Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ITV 1955-67 and 1973-4)

Live From Her Majesty’s (ITV 1982-88)

Tonight at the London Palladium (ITV 2000)

Britain’s Got Talent (ITV 2007-)

Das Supertalent (Germany, 2007)

Downloads

Published

2013-12-12

How to Cite

Gerrard, S. (2013) “The Great British Music Hall: Its Importance to British Culture and ‘The Trivial’”, Culture Unbound, 5(4), pp. 487–514. doi: 10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135487.

Issue

Section

Theme: Pursuing the Trivial