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MUSIC HALLS
Online EncyclopediaOriginally appearing in Volume
V19,
Page 90
of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also: MUSIC HALLS . The " variety See also:theatre " or " music-See also:
Charles II. had. strong theatrical leanings, and had helped to arrange the See also:
36, which in later days was still the only act under which the music halls of See also: forty millions and more of people were licensed, was always liberally interpreted, as long as it kept dear of politics. The " saloon theatres," always being taverns or attached to taverns, created a public who liked to mix its dramatic amusements with smoking and light refreshments. The See also:principal " saloons " were the Effingham in the Whitechapel Road, the See also:Bower in the Lower See also:Marsh, See also:Lambeth, the See also:Albert at See also:Islington, the Britannia at Hoxton, the Grecian in the City Road, the See also:Union in See also:Shoreditch, the Stingo at See also:Paddington and several others of less importance. All these places had See also:good companies, especially in the See also:winter, and many of them nourished leading actors of exceptional merit. The dramas were chiefly rough adaptations from the contemporary See also:French stage, occasionally flying as high as See also:Alexandre See also:Dumas the See also:elder and See also:Victor See also:Hugo. Actors of real tragic power lived, worked and died in this confined See also:area. Some went to See also:America, and acquired fame and See also:fortune; and among others, See also:Frederick See also:Robson, who was trained at the Grecian, first when it was the leading saloon theatre and afterwards when it became the leading music hall (a distinction with little difference), fought his way to the front after the abolition of the " patent rights " and was accepted as the greatest tragi-comic actor of his time. The Grecian saloon theatre, better known perhaps, with its See also:pleasure garden or yard, as the See also:Eagle Tavern, City Road, which formed the material of one of Charles See also:Dickens's Sketches by Boz, was a place managed with much See also:taste, enterprise and discretion by its proprietor, Mr Rouse. It was the " saloon " where the one and only See also:attempt, with limited means, was ever made to import almost all the See also:original repertory of the See also:Opera Comique in See also:Paris, with the result that many musical See also:works were presented to a sixpenny audience that had never been heard before nor since in England. See also:Auber, See also:Herold, Adolphe See also:Adam, See also:Boieldieu, See also:Gretry, See also:Donizetti, See also:Bellini, See also:Rossini and a See also:host of others gave some sort of advanced musical See also:education, through the Grecian, to a rather depressing part of London, long before See also:board See also:schools were established. The saloon theatres rarely offended the patent houses, and when they did the law was soon put in See also:motion to show that Shakespeare could not be represented with impunity. The Union Saloon in Shoreditch, then under the direction of Mr See also:Samuel Lane, who afterwards, with his wife, Mrs Sara Lane, at the Britannia Saloon, became the leading local theatrical manager of his day, was tempted in 1834 to give a performance of Othello.It was " raided " by the then rather " new See also: police," and all the actors, servants, audience, See also:directors and musicians were takeninto custody and marched off to See also:Worship Street police station, confined for the See also:remainder of the See also:night, and fined and warned in the See also:morning. The same and only law still exists for those who are helping to keep a " disorderly house," but there are no holders of exclusive dramatic patent rights to set it in motion. The abolition of this privileged See also:monopoly was effected about this time by a See also:combination of distinguished See also:literary men and dramatists, who were convinced, from observation and experience, that the patent theatres had failed to See also:nurse the higher drama, while interfering with the beneficial freedom of public amusements. The effect of Covent Garden and Drury Lane on the See also:art of acting had resulted chiefly in limiting the See also:market for theatrical employment, with a consequent all-See also:round reduction of salaries. They kept the See also:Lyceum Theatre (or See also:English Opera House) for years in the position of a music hall, giving sometimes two performances a night, like a " gaff " in the New Cut or White-See also:chapel. They had not destroyed the " See also:star " See also:system, and See also:Edmund See also:Kean and the boy See also:Betty—the " See also:Infant Roscius "—were able to command sensational rewards. In the end Charles Dickens, Sir See also:Edward Bulwer-See also:Lytton, Sir Thomas See also:Noon See also:Talfourd and others got the See also:patents abolished, and the first step towards See also:free trade in the drama was secured. The effect of this See also:change was to draw See also:attention to the " saloon theatres," where during the performances smoking, drinking, and even eating were allowed in the auditorium. An act was soon passed, known as the Theatres Act (1843), appointing a See also:censor of stage-plays, and placing the London theatres under the See also:control of a Crown officer, changing with ministries. This was the See also:lord See also:
II. c. 36—the Music and Dancing Act—and so far a See also: divorce was decreed between the taverns and the playhouses. The lord chamberlain eventually made certain concessions. Refreshment bars were allowed at the lord chamberlain's theatres in unobstrusive positions, victualled under a See also:special act of William IV., and private smoking-rooms were allowed at most theatres on application. All this implied that stage plays were to be kept free from open smoking and drinking, and See also:miscellaneous entertainments were to enjoy their old social freedom. The position was accepted by those " saloon theatres " which were not tempted to become lord chamberlain houses, and the others, with many additions, started the first music halls. Amongst the first of these halls, and certainly the very first as far as intelligent management was concerned, was the See also:Canterbury in the Lower Marsh, Lambeth, which was next door to the old Bower Saloon, then transformed into a " minor theatre." The Canterbury sprang from the usual tavern germ, its creator being Mr Charles See also:Morton, who honourably earned the name of the " See also:doyen of the music halls." It justified its See also:title by cultivating the best class of music, and exposed the See also:prejudice and unfairness of See also:Planche's See also:sarcasm in a Haymarket See also:burlesque—" most music hall—most See also:melancholy." Mr Charles Morton added pictorial art to his other attractions, and obtained the support of See also:Punch, which stamped the Canterbury as the " Royal See also:Academy over the See also:water." At this time by a See also:mere See also:accident See also:Gounod's great opera of See also:Faust, through defective inter-See also:national See also:registration, See also:fell into the public domain in England and became See also:common See also:property. The Canterbury, not daring to See also:present it with scenery, costumes and action, for fear of the Stage-See also:play Act, gave what was called " An Operatic Selection," the singers See also:standing in See also:plain dresses in a See also:row, like pupils at a school examination or a See also:chorus in an See also:oratorio at See also:Exeter Hall. The music was well rendered by a thoroughly competent See also:company, night after night, for a long period, so that by the time the opera attracted the tardy attention of the two principal opera managers at Her See also:Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket and Covent Garden Theatre, the tunes most popular were being whistled by the " See also:man in the street," the " boy in the See also:gutter " See also:cellor See also:Halsbury), and the conviction was confirmed. Being heard at See also:quarter sessions, there is no See also:record in the law reports. These and other prosecutions suggested the institution of a See also:parliamentary inquiry, and a House of See also:Commons select See also:committee was appointed in z866, at the instigation of the music halls and variety theatres. The committee devoted much time to the inquiry, and examined many witnesses—amongst the See also:rest Lord See also:Sydney, the lord chamberlain, who had no personal objection to undertake the control of these comparatively See also:young places of amusement and recreation.Much of the See also: evidence was directed against the Stage-play Act, as the difficulty appeared to be to define what was not a stage play. Lord See also:Denman, Mr See also:Justice See also:Byles, and other eminent See also:judges seemed to think that any See also:song, action or recitation that excited the emotions might be pinned as a stage-play, and that the old 'See also:definition—" the See also:representation of any action by a See also:person (or persons) acting, and not in the form of narration " —could be supported in the then See also:state of the law in any of the higher courts. The variety theatres on this occasion were encouraged by what had just occurred at the time in See also:France. See also:Napoleon III., acting under the See also:advice of M. See also:Michel See also:Chevalier, passed a See also:decree known as La Liberte See also:des thedtres, which fixed the status of the Parisian and other music halls. Operettas, ballets of action, ballets, vaudevilles, pantomimes and all light pieces were allowed, and the managers were no longer legally confined to songs and acrobatic performances. The See also:report of the select committee of 1866, signed by the chairman, Mr (afterwards See also:Viscount) See also:Goschen, was in favour of granting the variety theatres and music halls the privileges they asked for, which were those enjoyed in France and other countries. Parliamentary interference and the introduction of several private bills in the House of Commons, which came to nothing, checked, if they did not altogether stop, the prosecutions. The variety theatres advanced in every direction in number and importance. Ballets See also:grew in splendour and coherency. The See also:lighting and See also:ventilation, the comfort and decoration of the various " palaces " (as many of them were now called) improved, and the public, as usual, were the gainers. Population in-creased, and the six millions of 1730 became forty millions and more.The same and only act (25 Geo. II. c. 36), adequate or inadequate, still remained. London is defined as the " administrative See also: county of London," and its area—the ao-See also:miles See also:radius—is mapped out. The See also:Metropolitan Board of Works retired or was discharged, and the London County See also:Council was created and has taken its place. The London County Council, with extended power over structures and structural alterations, acquired the licensing of variety theatres and music halls from the local magistrates (the See also:Middlesex, See also:Surrey, See also:Tower Hamlets and other magistrates) within the administrative county of London. The L. C. C. examine and enforce their See also:powers. They have been advised that they can See also:separate a music from a dancing See also:licence if they like, and that when they grant the united licence the dancing means the dancing of paid performers on a stage, and not the dancing of the audience on a platform or See also:floor, as at the See also:short-lived but elegant Cremorne Gardens, or an old-time " See also:Casino." They are also advised that they can withhold licences, unless the applicants agree not to apply for a drink licence to the local magistrates sitting in See also:brewster sessions, who still retain their control over the liquor trade. Theatre licences are often with-held unless a similar promise is made—the drink authority in this See also:case being the See also:Excise, empowered by the Act of William IV. (5 & 6 Will.IV. c. 39, s. 7). The spread of so-called " sketches "—a See also: kind of condensed drama or See also:farce—in the variety theatres, and the action of the London County Council in trying to check the See also:extension of refreshment licences to these establishments, with other grounds of discontent on the part of managers (individuals or " limited companies "), led to the See also:appointment of a second select committee of the House of Commons in 1892 and the See also:production of another See also:blue-See also:book. The same ground was gone over, and the same objections were raised against a licensing authority and the tradesman waiting at the door for orders. With the Canterbury Hall, and its See also:brother the See also:Oxford in Oxford Street—a converted inn and coaching yard—built and managed on the same lines by Mr Charles Morton, the music halls were well started. They had imitators in every direction—some large, some small, and some with architectural pretensions, but all anxious to attract the public by cheap prices and See also:physical comforts not attainable at any of the regular theatres. With the growth and improvement of these " Halls," the few old cellar " singing-rooms " gradually disappeared. See also:Evans's in Covent Garden was the last to go. See also:Rhodes's, or the Cyder Cellars in See also:Maiden Lane, at the back of the Adelphi Theatre; the See also:Coal Hole, in the Strand, which now forms the site of See also:Terry's Theatre; the See also:Doctor See also:
It was his nightly " chapel of ease " to the adjoining See also: Garrick Club. In its old See also:age it became decent, and ladies were admitted to a private See also:gallery, behind screens and a See also:convent See also:grille. Before its See also:death, and its revival in another form as a sporting club, it admitted ladies both on and off the stage, and became an See also:ordinary music hall. The rise and progress of the London music halls naturally excited a good See also:deal of attention and See also:jealousy on the part of the regular theatres, and this was increased when the first Great Variety Theatre was opened in See also:Leicester Square. The See also:building was the finest example of Moorish See also:architecture on a large See also:scale ever erected in England. It was burnt down in the ' eighties, and the present theatre was built in its place. Originally it was " The Panopticon," a See also:palace of " recreative See also:science," started under the most distinguished direction on the old See also:polytechnic institution lines, and with ample See also:capital. It was a commercial failure, and after being tried as an " See also:American See also:Circus," it was turned into a great variety theatre, the greatest of its kind in See also:Europe, under the name of the See also:Alhambra Palace. Its founder was Mr E.T. See also:
The case is in the law reports—See also: Wigan v. Strange; the ostensible plaintiffs being the well-known actors and managers See also:Horace Wigan and See also:Benjamin See also:Webster, supported by J. B. See also:Buckstone, and many other theatrical managers. A long trial before eminent judges, with eminent counsel on both sides, produced a decision which was not very satisfactory, and far from final. It held that, as far as the entertainment went, according to the evidence tendered, it was not a ballet representing any distinct See also:story or coherent action, but it might have been a " divertissement "—a term suggested in the course of the trial. A short time after this a See also:pantomime scene was produced at the same theatre, called Where's the Police? which had a See also:clown, a See also:pantaloon, a See also:columbine and a See also:harlequin, with other See also:familiar characters, a See also:mob, a street and even the traditional red-hot See also:poker. This inspired proceedings by the same plaintiffs before a police See also:magistrate at See also:Marlborough Street, who inflicted the full penalties—2o a performance for 12 performances, and See also:costs. An See also:appeal was made to the Westminster quarter sessions, supported by See also:Serjeant See also:Ballantine and opposed by Mr See also:Hardinge See also:Giffard (afterwards Lord Chan- which is 'elected by public votes, only exists for three years before another See also:election is due, and can give no See also:guarantee for the continuity of its judgments. The consensus of See also:opinion (as in 1866) was in favour of a state See also:official, responsible to See also:parliament—like the See also:Home See also:Office or the Board of Trade—the preference being given to the lord chamberlain and his See also:staff, who know' much about theatres and theatrical business. The chairman of the committee was the Hon. See also:David See also:Plunkett (after-wards Lord Rathmore), and the report in spirit was the same as the one of 1866.Three forms of licence were suggested: one for theatres proper, one for music halls, and one for See also: concert rooms. Though the rise and progress of the music hall and variety theatre interest is one of the most extraordinary facts of the last See also:half of the 19th See also:century,' the business has little or no corporate organization, and there is nothing like a See also:complete registration of the various properties throughout the United Kingdom. In London the " London Entertainments See also:Protection Association," which has the command of a weekly See also:paper called the Music Hall and Theatre See also:Review, looks after its interests. In London alone over five millions See also:sterling of capital is said to be invested in these enterprises, employing 8o,000 persons of all grades, and entertaining during the See also:year about 25,000,000 people. The annual applications for music licences in London alone are over 300. (J.Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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