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Special Feature on London's Windmill Theatre

Above - Laura Henderson and members of the Windmill Theatre cast pose for a photograph to celebrate the 6th anniversary performance on the 4th of February,1938 - From left to right, Doris Barry, Meggie Eaton, Laura Henderson, Edna Wood, and Mollie Hallewell - Courtesy Maurice Poole.

The feature is centered around two articles in the Glasgow based 1949/50 publication 'Film and Art Reel' about London's Windmill Theatre with extracts from the Diary of a Windmill Girl by Pat Raphael, and an Article on the Film "Murder at the Windmill."Click the covers for the Main Articles.

But there is also a lot more to be seen here, including programmes pictures and newspaper articles so read on.

Below - Click the covers for Five 1950s programmes from
The Windmill Theatre's Revudeville era

Above Left - Click for 'The Windmill Sails,' an Article about Vivian Van Damm and the Revudeville girls, with images from Revudeville No. 32.

Above Left - Programme for 'Inquest!' the first production at the newly opened Windmill Theatre in June 1931. Click for details.

Above Right - Very early Revudeville programme for the 9th of May 1932, just 3 months after Mrs. Laura Henderson introduced this new form of entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. - Click for details.

Left - Articles and Images from the Revudeville Souvenir Programme - 14th Edition - Nos. 151-157 Courtesy Robert Ludwig.

Above - A selection of Wartime Revudeville Programmes.

The Windmill Girls' 2011 Reunuion

Above - Photograph of some of the Windmill Girls - Click for many more images.

Above - Publicity Photograph of the Windmill Girls in various poses from the Windmill Theatre Tableaux. Click for many more images.

Above - In 1940 Kenneth Bandy, who was the House Manager at the Windmill Theatre at the time, set about photographing some of the scenes from the Revudeville shows at the Windmill Theatre on to 35mm colour slides. These slides now belong to Maurice Poole who has had them restored and digitised by David Rose and has kindly sent them in for inclusion on the site. There are 256 of these slides and all you need to do to see them all is to click the image above.

Above - Kenneth Bandy - Backstage Cameraman at the Windmill Theatre - An Article from Photography Magazine in August 1956.

Left - On the 31st of October 1964 the Windmill Theatre shut its doors on Revudeville for the last time. Click to see the last Night programme.

Right - Closure Of The Windmill Theatre - Article on the final days and closure of the Windmill from the Evening News of the 1st of October 1964 - Click for article.

Above - Some pictures of the Windmill Theatre after its Revudeville years can be seen on the site here...

For more information on the Windmill Theatre you may be interested in the following Books, Films, and Recordings:

Books

Sheila Van Damm authored a book published by Putnam & Co.Ltd., London in 1957 and called 'No Excuses" (Shown Left and Right).

There are some chapters in the book on the Windmill Theatre but most are about car rallies.

Vivian Van Damm wrote a book called 'Tonight and Every Night' (Shown Right) which was first published by Stanley Paul, London in 1952. The book tells the story of the Windmill Theatre in its heyday, with a Foreword by Emile Littler.

Shelia Van Damm wrote another book about the Windmill Theatre, and her time there, called "We Never Closed" (Shown Left) which was published by Robert Hale in 1967.

Another book with photographs which were taken at the Windmill Theatre and feature Windmill Theatre artistes is "Tap Dancing Made Easy" (Shown Left) by Isolde. The book was published in 1936 by C.Arthur Pearson Ltd., with further editions in 1937 and 1947.

Another book with photographs called 'Blonde and Brunette' (Shown Right) was Published in 1940 by Chapman and Hall Ltd, all the girls in the book were Windmill Theatre artistes.

A new book by Mike Hutton was published in March 2012, 'The Story of Soho, The Windmill Years, 1932-1964'. The book, which has 224 pages and 90 illustrations, was written to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the opening of the Windmill Theatre and covers the story of thirty-two years of dramatic change in this famous district. The book tells the story of the Theatre, the war, austerity, strip clubs, glamour models and rock ‘n’ roll.

"Soho has always been a source of fascination. A district quite unlike any other in London, where glamour meets squalor and then often merges. It is different, never mirroring the changes of its more fashionable neighbours. It seduces and destroys in equal measures.

The Windmill Theatre opened in 1932 and, after entertaining audiences through thirty-two years of dramatic change in Soho, finally closed its doors in 1964. In this book, the Windmill forms the backdrop against which Mike Hutton explores all the diversity taking place in the surrounding streets of this unique district during a period of social and moral change.

There is the influence of the many nationalities living there during the years leading up to the war. Organised crime existing alongside leading West End theatres and restaurants. The arrival of the GIs with money to burn and time on their hands. The black market booms. Want some nylons? How about a gun? No problem. Falling bombs bring terror, but there is still time to party.

Then it’s all over and, nationally, austerity takes hold, but never quite in Soho. The squeaky clean Windmill girls are joined by models baring all in the burgeoning strip clubs. There is money to be made, dodgy policemen to be paid off, and violence simmers away to a background of music." 224 pages and 90 illustrations.

Click here to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk.

Also available from the publishers and at all good book shops.

FILMS

A film called 'Tonight and Every Night' (Shown Right) directed by Victor Saville in 1945, with Rita Hayworth, purported to be the first film 'to tell the “true” story of Laura Henderson, who died in 1944.

Another film was 'Murder at the Windmill', released in the UK in 1949, with Diana Decker, John Pertwee and Jimmy Edwards. This low budget film was about the murder of an usher in the Theatre.

It was produced by Danny Angel who was married to one of Van Damm's daughters. In North America it was released as "Mystery at the Burlesque" in 1950 (Shown Above Left and Below).

There was another film made at the Windmill Theatre in 1966 called 'Secrets of a Windmill Girl,' (Shown Right) with Pauline Collins, Martin Jarvis and Dana Gillespie. This was produced by Searchlight Films. A DVD was released in 2004 and is now available in region 1 [North American]. It can be purchased on the Internet from the U.S.A. The film has some fan dance scenes by former Windmill Theatre Company artistes.

The artist Zsuzsi Roboz did some back stage drawings of the Windmill girls before the theatre closed in 1964. These drawings are in the Tate collection and can be viewed online here.

The British Film Institute has a copy of the film "Dawn In Piccadilly" which was screened at cinemas in the 1960's. Although not availiable to view at the moment the BFI synopsis of the film says it is: 'a nostalgic documentary about the legendary Windmill Theatre in London's West End. Dawn Maxey one of the Windmill Girls, a dance troupe, talks about how she became one of the girls and what she enjoys about it. We see her in rehersal and performing a fan dance. George Martin, speaking from the nearby Pop's Club, introduces the film and gives a survey of the theatre's history. We learn that great entertainers and comedians like Bruce Forsyth and The Goons started their career at the Windmill, where the programmes were a combination of dance and comedy acts.'

In 1969 the BBC made a television documentary about the Windmill Theatre called 'If it moves it's rude'. This featured Jimmy Edwards, Arthur English, Bruce Forsyth, Pearl Hackney, Stanley Holloway, Alfred Marks, Des O'Connor, Harry Secombe, and Sheila Van Damm. The film was narrated by Kenneth More. Televised 26-12-1969, 50 mins. duration.

The dance routines for Paul Raymond's "A Night at the Revuebar" were filmed at the Windmill Theatre, and is still available on VHS in some online auction sites.

Finally, if you would like to experience the Windmill Theatre in it's Glory Days for yourself, the film Mrs Henderson Presents [2005] is a wonderful and heart warming recreation of the period. The DVD is a must buy for anyone who remembers the Windmill Theatre's Revudeville period, or wants to see it for themselves. Highly recommended.

Click here to buy the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

There are many clips from the Windmill Theatre's early days available to view online at BritishPathe.com.

Recordings

In the February 4th 1936 Revudeville Programme an advertisement (Shown Below) was carried for this Columbia Records recording of some of the numbers from Revudeville shows. It was called 'Revudeville Memories' - Image Courtesy Maurice Poole.

This Special Feature on the Windmill Theatre was first created in February 2003 but has been updated and enhanced many times over the years. Updates are all logged on the What's New page.