A book that is well researched well written and very enjoyable to read. Though for of facts it does not become boring at any time. For anybody interested in the theatre in any way this book is one to have on your bookshelf

While the days of the Music Halls were long departed before I ever set foot in the UK, the stories about those wild and woolly days were rife. There were still performers who cut their teeth in this medium so it was fascinating to read a history of the Music Hall from its earliest beginnings to its final demise.
By modern standards, what seemed provocative and risqué might nary garner a fleeting blush but in the 19th and early 20th Century, they pushed the boundaries to and sometimes beyond the limits. But the Music Hall changed entertainment forever. Whereas theatrical efforts had become the purview of the monied classes with opera and theatre, the Music Hall was unabashedly common. It sought to entertain the poor and lower classes who had little in their lives to cheer them. Much of the talent came from those same people. So while it may not have changed society, it did impact it.
Show biz is peopled with colourful and eccentric folk. Many of them were generous to a fault and died in poverty. Some were able to take their earnings and carve out a fair legacy. But as you read through some of the songs and lyrics, you will astounded by how many of them have survived through today even if only in historical movies and tv.
Four purrs and two paws up.

British Music Hall by Richard Anthony Baker has just been re-released by Pen & Sword Books. It has an introduction from the late Roy Hudd. Roy was President of the British Music Hall Society, so he knew his stuff – and he writes The book is a great read, whether you are into music hall or not.”

The book opens with a brief history of musical entertainment at pubs in the first half of the nineteenth century. The term “music hall” appears to been first used about a room attached to the Grapes Tavern in Southwark in 1847. From then on, the amateurs faded away and professionals took over.

The book comprises lots of chapters, mostly about the artistes but also the songwriters and the agents or managers. We even get a page or two about Laura Ormiston Chant, who was the Mary Whitehouse of her day, seeking to ensure that the Empire, Leicester Square, failed to have its licence renewed. Baker shows us the transition of the music hall from something assumed (usually by people who never stepped into one) to be dens of vice; through their growth and mass popularity; through establishment acceptance with Harry Lauder being the first popular entertainer to be knighted; to its decline from the 1920s onwards.

The first attempt to revive music hall was in the 1930s, when Lew Lake reckoned that variety shows “were too refined for an audience that had grown up with the ‘vulgar but honest’ music hall.” Baker brings us up to date by covering the genesis of the British Music Hall Society and the capability of modern technology to transfer recording from wax cylinders and 78s onto CDs, making the recordings clear and fresh.

I enjoyed the book so much, I went straight onto t’Internet and ordered several CDs of recordings first made over 100 years ago. In a few days, I’ll be listening to the songs and re-reading the biographies of the singers – because I’m sure they’ll all be mentioned in Baker’s comprehensive book.

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