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___________________________________________________________________________________________ Shoreditch Theatres and Halls Royal
Cambridge Music Hall See also in this vicinity:
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Royal Cambridge Music Hall, 136 Commercial Street, Shoreditch, London Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here 1879 1903
'The New Cambridge Music Hall in Commercial Street,
Bishopsgate, is now nearing completion. The stage will be 41ft wide
by 30ft deep . The premises will be heated throughout by hot water coils,
and provision has been made for lighting the house by electric light.' Left - Royal Cambridge Theatre - From 'The Architect' January 20th 1899. |
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Above Left - Site of the Royal Cambridge Music Hall in 2004 M.L. |
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Finch Hill went on to design Weston's Music Hall (1857), the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton (1858), the Oxford Music Hall (1861), the Royal Cambridge Music Hall (1864) and the Philharmonic Hall, Islington (1866) . The architecture of these halls was considerably chaster than the entertainments which took place in them. Finch Hill was a master of the opulent but never licentious classicism of the 1850s. Audiences knocked back their beer in sumptuous settings designed by an architect who knew the churches of Gibbs, Archer and Hawksmoor. With the exception of the Britannia none of them had any proper auditoria; this, incidentally, was the main reason why none of them survived, for in the course of the century the form of the music halls was to develop closer and closer to that of the theatre and they were rebuilt as a result. Finch Hill's inspiration was literally ecclesiastical; his halls had level floors and galleried isles leading the eye to a ceremonial culmination above a raised platform at what one is tempted to call the ritual east end. From - Victorian Pubs by Mark Girouard. Studio Vista 1975. Courtesy John Grice. Ada Reeve on The Cambridge Music Hall. My early appearances were usually
in the East End Halls. These were the days of the 'Chairman' - Mr E
V Page at the Cambridge - who used to introduce each turn in his sonorous
voice. I was at the Cambridge at the height of the Jack the Ripper scare.
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National Standard Theatre, 2/3/4, Shoreditch High Street, Shoreditch. Other names - Shoreditch Olympia / Royal Standard Public house and pleasure gardens / Royal Standard Theatre / New Standard Theatre / Standard Theatre / Olympia, Shorditch
The National Standard Theatre was originally built in 1837 with a horse shoe auditorium seating 3,400 but was destroyed by fire in 1866. The Theatre was rebuilt and reopened December 1867 with a seating capacity of 3000. The Theatre was rebuilt for a third time by Bertie Crewe with a capacity of 2,463. By November 1926 it was in use as a cinema called The New Olympia Picturedrome. The building was demolished in 1940. Right - Programme for the National Standard Theatre - Year unknown.
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The Romance of London Theatres
Right - The Olympia Shorditch. In 1845 it was sold to John Douglass, who had been for some years a showman. Douglass had a genius for stage effect - the pantomimes of the Standard ran those of Drury Lane very close, and in order, not only to retain the patronage of the district, but also to attract other clientele from the West End, he carefully watched Harris's productions at Drury Lane. He said that the latter house habitually reproduced his own sensations.
Left - Programme for 'High Explosives' at the Olympia Shoreditch 1917 - Click to see Entire Programme.
Right - The National Standard Theatre with Henry Irving on the Bill. From the book 'London Theatres and Music Halls 1850 - 1950' by Diana Howard. A particular feature of the Standard Theatre was that for many years it held an annual season of opera, usually by J. W. Turner's troupe, supported presumably by the large number of Jews in the neighbourhood.
A peculiarity of the house was that it had a convertible stage, which could be turned into a horse ring, and in order to render this more practicable, the boxes were removable. Thirty or forty years ago all the best actors of the day appeared at various times at the New Standard, which rendered it unique amongst theatres.
Right - A poster for The National Standard Theatre with image of the auditorium in 1867. From the website PeoplePlay UK For many years the theatre was under the management of the Melvilles (father and sons) who produced many successful melodramas. Most of these plays were written by Walter Melville. The theatre still has many strong attractions which draw patrons from all parts of the various suburbs. From 'The Romance of London Theatres'
By Ronald MAYES - From a Lewisham
Hippodrome programme for 1st April 1929. |
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Above - Remains of The National Standard Theatre in the mid 50s after its demolition and a failed start to build a new super cinema was halted by the war - ' A portfolio of photographs' by Colin Sorenson, 'Theatrephile' Vol22-No5 - Courtesy Bishopsgate Institute Reference Library.
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Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here 1879 1882
The poster right is for a Benefit for Arthur Lloyd with his wife Katty King at the Town Hall Shorditch in 1882, and is from a large collection of original Lloyd Posters collected since the mid 1800s by members of the family and found recently after being lost for 50 years. Click the poster to Enlarge. To see all these posters click the Poster Index here... |
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Above - The Town Hall Shoreditch during renovation works M.L. 2004
Above - The Foundation Stone of the 1901 expansion to The Town Hall Shoreditch during renovation works M.L. 2004 Visit the Town Hall's Website here...
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Shoreditch
Empire / Griffin Music Hall / The London Music Hall / London Theatre
of Varieties, 95-99, Shoreditch High Street, Formerly Holywell Street.
Right - Programme for the London Theatre of Varieties - Courtesy Catherine Kent.
The photograph was taken at the "London" Music Hall, Shoreditch; the audience, who, at the time, were enjoying a chorus song, were not warned of the fact. - From 'The Playgoer' 1901 - Courtesy Iain Wotherspoon. - Click to Enlarge. See also in this vicinity:
Above - Programme for the London Music Hall with a young Charlie Chaplin on the Bill. Also appearing were Griffin and Dubois of which there are more details below - Programme Courtesy Catherine Kent, Great Grandaughter of William Griffin.
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William Griffin was a fascinating man - quite the dandy - he married a dancer from the East end of London called Elly or Ellen - very beautiful apparently. They went all over the world but their home was in Syracuse NY State (it is still in situ!) and she used to visit and stay with family in Florida while he travelled performing. They had one son also called William who they sent to boarding school over here and that is my grandfather (now deceased also). He (called Dickie for some reason) was always doing acrobatic turns and lifting my father up as a baby and scaring everyone when he threw him about! William Griffin was certainly known by Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin and was famous before they were. Charlie Chaplin even wrote to my great grandfather once asking if he could give him a job! He called himself Griffin because his original name was Zimmerman - from Alsace Lorraine. The sensitivity was always there of the German sounding name so hence the change. He did have various partners from time to time - Dubois and Ardell - Dubois can be seen billed with Griffin in the programme above.. |
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Above - Cutting from the Kent Messenger - Courtesy Catherine Kent who is looking for any information on William Griffin, if you think you can help please see her entry in the Forum... |
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