I say, I say, I say (Music Hall Closing)

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: little john cameron
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 10:36 PM

that ane disnae cover much try this ane

http://members.spree.com/entertainment/blondin/ArchiveV/VestaVictoria.html
ljc

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: little john cameron
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 10:29 PM

morticia,here are aw the auld performers an posters an stuff aboot the auld music halls. Great stuff

http://www.footlightnotes.com/AA02.html
ljc

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: R!
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 10:02 PM

Vaudeville, as I understand it, was dying by the 1940s, although it limped along for a few more decades. Before it finally died, it was little more than a bump-and-grind strip burlesque show. Films, radio, and television all played a part in its demise. Changing tastes and a more sophisticated type of humor are really what did it in. Occasionally an olde tyme vaudeville show will have a brief run in a theatre as a period piece. Sad, really. I always wanted to be a vaudeville performer (that's me - always a day late and a dollar short). At least I have my London Music Hall video tape. . .

Rowana

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: Lox
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 07:52 PM

My dog has no tail.

How do you know when he's happy?

He stops biting me!

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 07:49 PM

When I was seventeen (about 1963) a couple of buddies and I managed to gain admission to the Gayety Theater in Washington, D.C.. At that time vaudeville must have been in the final stages of death. The Gayety was a strip joint. This was my first and only visit to such a place. (honest)

The Gayety had a fairly large, wooden stage. There was a small orchestra pit that held a seven piece band that did a great job of playing the very sort of music you would expect to hear there - complete with all of the rim shots when the strippers did their "bumps".

I believe Blaze Storm was among the starring strippers. Their acts were rather tame by today's standards; but at that time they were just fine with me!

In the middle of the show the strippers went offstage and the curtains closed. A single spotlight lit the stage and to my surprise two vaudeville comics took the stage. They did "Slowly I turned..." and all the old gags. It was great!

I don't know what became of the Gayety. The building was closed and was blocked by a multitude of scaffolding the last time I passed through that part of town. I suspect that it might have been refurbished into a dinner theater. That was the fate of one of its nearby competitors.

I suspect this might be a representative example of what became of vaudeville theaters; but I don't know for certain.

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: jayohjo
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 06:28 PM

Last music hall? Eek! Which was it (name?), where in London was it?

And so many brilliant 'folk' songs were music hall songs originally. Wonder if there's anything else so popular around now that'll become 'folk' in a few years? I suppose a lot of Beatles songs in particular are, or at least in the way I mean, but I can't see us all gathering round the piano in years to come to sing along to Steps (if you don't know who I mean, be very grateful)

Jayohjo XX

Subject: RE: I say, I say, I say
From: mousethief
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 06:19 PM

Well in the 1960s they went to Greenwich Village in New York City. I have no idea where they go now.

Subject: I say, I say, I say
From: Morticia
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 06:15 PM

The last music hall in the United Kingdom, located in the East End of London closed it's curtains for the final time today.I guess the U.S equivalent would be vaudeville, yes? Did it die out earlier over there or is it still going in some parts of the States? Here, many theatres were replaced by Bingo Halls, what happened to the buildings there? We also had a 'variety show' television format that was popular until about five years ago although much less so now, do you have something similar?
Seems to me a lot of aspiring musicians, singers, entertainers of all kinds got their breaks and learned their craft in these places......where will they go now, I wonder?