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Tivoli Music Hall / Tivoli Theatre / Tivoli Cinema, 65-70½ The Strand, London

Above - Postcard for the Tivoli Theatre, Strand - Sent in 1908.

Above - Cutting from the ERA - Arthur Lloyd writes in the opening week of the Tivoli
about artistes copying his work. - Courtesy John Grice.

Above Left - A Times report on the opening of the Tivoli Theatre May 26, 1890
Above Right - A Times report on the closing of the Tivoli Theatre Jan 26, 1914.

Above - The rebuilt Tivoli Cinema of 1923

Left - A Times report on the opening of the New Tivoli Cinema Aug 13, 1923.

...1924 May 13th: The first of several films based on Robert W. Service's work, The Shooting of Dan McGrew, made in 1923, has its world premiere at Jury's Tivoli Cinema in the Strand, (left) London. Directed by Clarence Badger, it stars Lew Cody as McGrew, Barbara La Marr as Lady Lou, and Percy Marchmont as the Stranger.

Right - Programme for the Tivoli Cinema, Strand - September 16th 1929.

...Mutoscope and Biograph Company builds a film studio at the back of the Tivoli Theatre in the Strand, London. The stage has removable glass walls, it can be rocked for movement effects and rotated towards the sun.

Little Tich ...After working in England, he was enticed by an American producer to the U.S.A. at 3 times his British salary. He often traveled to Paris to appear at the Alhambra, the Olympia and the Folies Bergere. One high honor was, being made, at 42, an officer of the French Academy, the first music hall performer to gain this honor. The good folk of Kent flocked to London to laugh at him. For 17 years he was the toast of the old Tivoli Theatre in the Strand, and in a memorable show in 1907 he was one of the 5 Harrys – Harry Lauder, Harry Tate, Harry Fragson and Harry Randell. The show was billed as "sensational success of the FIVE Harry’s", and ran for ten Fantastic weeks.

Right - Tivoli Theatre Programme 1892 - Click to see details.

He developed his act and danced with big boots, 28 inches long, which he later discarded and gave to his lifelong friend, Sacha Guitry, in Paris they were last seen on display at the Blacksmiths arms in Cudham. After working in England, he was enticed by an American producer to the U.S.A. at 3 times his British salary. He travelled to Paris and was in the Folly bergere. For 17 years he was the toast of the old Tivoli Theatre in the Strand, and in a memorable show in 1907 he was one of the 5 Harrys – Harry Lauder, Harry Tate, Harry Fragson and Harry Randall. The show was billed as "sensational success of the FIVE Harry’s", and ran for ten weeks.

Cecilia (Cissie or Cissy) Loftus
...Shortly afterwards, she was a sensation at the Tivoli Theatre in the Strand. One of the most devoted of her new admirers was Max Beerbohm (1872-1956), the critic and caricaturist. For several months, his letters to friends dealt mainly with his infatuation with her, claiming that his new-found love had reformed him. 'I have become good and am really happy at last,' he wrote to his friend, Will Rothenstein.

Left - Programme for The Tivoli Cinema - May 8th 1933

April 29 1929
...Musical film Show Boat (re-made in 1936 and 1951) opens at the Tivoli Cinema in the Strand, London.

...I watched the warm-up acts with unexpected interest. London’s own Tommy Catchpole was the unrivalled master of the ventriloquial art, late of both the Empire and the Alhambra in Leicester Square. Josephine de Sévigné, resplendent in feathers and silks, was the most elegant dancer I had seen in many a year, though the trenches had provided little in the way of attractive females. And as for the comedic genius of the American Ballsworth Twins – who could ask for more?

Right - Tivoli Theatre Programme 1892 - Click to see details.

Things had much improved in Music Hall while I had been away, and the concert parties I helped to organise were tame by comparison. Variety was a joy, and the atmosphere at the Tivoli was gay and heady – a far cry from the old Song and Supper Rooms of my father’s day. But like everyone else in the theatre, it was the legendary Maestro himself I was waiting to see.

"Stupendous!" the headlines screamed. "Bravo!Wonderful! It is a joy to behold such a magnificent skill." And none more so the Phileas Bender’s Monday review, which I was already looking forward to with excitement.

...Ted Cowan was the first in the family to become a professional Music Hall artiste; his name appears on the Tivoli Theatre bill of 1899 as 'Comic Vocalist and Dancer'. Subsequently he toured the Music Halls throughout Great Britain on his motor-cycle and side car for the rest of his working life, some sixty years in all, billed a 'Ted Cowan the Popular Quaint Comedian'. During his long career he covered all aspects of show business; music hall, pantomime musical comedy, revue, films and radio.

For pictures of The Strand including the present building standing on the Tivoli site, see here...