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Charles
Morton's Canterbury Music Hall
Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here 1862, 1863, 1864, 1870, 1871, 1880, 1885 See also May's Special Feature See also Playbill for Arthur at The Canterbury
Left - Poster with Arthur Lloyd on the Bill for this special 9 hour Benefit performance at The Canterbury 1885. The poster left is from a large collection of original Lloyd / King Posters collected since the mid 1800s by members of the family and found recently after being lost for 50 years. To see all these posters click the Poster Index here... In 1876 the building was reconstructed as a three-tier theatre, its bar being for many years the favourite rendezvous of music-hall performers. The Canterbury was well patronized by Royalty, being visited regularly by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), the Duke of Cambridge, and the Duke and Duchess of Teck. When the popularity of the 'halls' began to decline, drastic reductions in the price of seats brought audiences back for a while; but the heyday of the music-hall had long been over before the Canterbury was destroyed by bombing in 1942. Above Right - Canterbury programme - July 1913 - Courtesy Peter Charlton Above text from The Oxford Companion To Theatre 4th edition 1983
THE CANTERBURY. From The Sketch May 1879
On Wednesday evening last-Derby night the Canterbury programme was more than usually attractive. The overture was Aubert's DominoNoir. Then Miss Emily Kean and Mr. Mills for a brief while amused the audience. To them succeeded our old favourite, Arthur Lloyd, the most deservedly popular of comic singers. There is a finesse about Arthur Lloyd's fun that is carefully studied, and it is never too broad. A certain amount of slang and double entendre a comic singer is obliged to indulge in, or he will hardly hit the taste of his audience. Yet, of most music-hall favourites, Arthur Lloyd is least given to attempts to win ill-merited applause by questionable methods. But, at present, the chief and real attraction of the Canterbury programme is the carefully arranged and charmingly mounted ballet of Pat in Paradise. Miss Nelly Power, whose name has been so long associated with " the Hall over the water " that it would hardly seem the Canterbury at all if her name were not displayed upon the posters, sustains the part of Larry O'Leary with all that fun and vivacity which have invariably distinguished her among leading actresses of burlesque. The songs that fall to her share are delivered with the most dainty archness, and her dancing is as spirited as it is graceful. Larry finds a most fairy-like little Nora in Miss jonghmans. But the interest in the ballet commences with the Enchanted Scene in the Fairy Dell, when Erina, Kevin, and Shamroc accompanied by their fairy, court, appear under the lime-light. By a most careful contrivance the powerful rays of the electric lamp are tinted with divers hues, and flash across the stage in different directions, so that while from the right falls a vivid blaze of blue, from the left streams an equally dazzling flood of green. The effect is most bizarre and striking, and reflects the highest credit upon Mr. Sabin, the optician and electrician of the establishment. The dancing in the ballet is admirable. Mlle. Ada, the fair premiere danseuse has all the grace and marked finish of style of Mlle Gillert. Although somewhat apt to linger over each pose, she is yet never absolutely at rest, and her style is full of memories of the ballet in its older and better days She attempts no wonders, but thoroughly deserves the credit of never failing in what she does attempt. Miss Phyllis Broughton as Kevin, King of the Fairies, dances with much spirit, and is evidently a favourite with Mr. Villiers' audience. The setting of the ballet is as good as it can be, and the harmonies of colour effected by the aid of the variegated limelight are most artistic. In the second ballet, Etherca, is introduced a new and Startling effect. Mlle Ariel, the danscuse, floats like a bird through the air, now mounting from the stage to the flies, now again descending, and now, crossing from right to left, or left to right, apparently without the least exertion. That mechanical assistance is somehow rendered to this most fascinating lady must be obvious; but the strongest field-glass fails to detect either rope or wire, and for the present, at any rate, the flight of Ariel is a "quaint apparition," the mystery of which is unsolved. With two such ballets, an evening can be very pleasantly passed. Indeed, the Canterbury is one of the pleasantest of our London lounges. The sliding roof preserves the atmosphere fresh, cool, and pleasant. The fauteuils ale Most comfortable The attendance is all that could, be wished. What better praise can one bestow upon a music-hall than to say that in it the visitor is cornpletely at his ease. A
description of the new hall is given in J. E. Richie’s contemporary
survey of the capital’s amusements, The Night Side Of London:
Above Right - Nostalgia Postcard 1951. Courtesy Mr. John Moffatt. Back of card reads: 'Canterbury Music Hall, 1912 A large audience attend the last performance. The popularity of the music halls never recovered from the First World War and the rise of the cinema. Some music halls operated part-time as cinemas, but gradually they were converted to cinemas and the great live music hall tradition disappeared altogether.' Bright
Lights, Big City. London Entertained 1830-1950, by Gavin Weightman ...At this time new music halls, not necessarily on the lines of the Canterbury, were springing up on the sites of old singing saloons in many parts of London. The entertainment was a moveable feast – the same stars could do the rounds – and it was in the comfort and lavishness of the surroundings that the new impresarios competed. They came to draw more and more of their profits from the entrance fee, though the sale of drink and food remained important and was one reason why music halls were generally more profitable – and thus attracted greater investment – than theatres. See also May's Special Feature
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CANTERBURY
MUSIC-HALL, London, in the Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth. The first
of the great MUSIC-HALLS, it was erected by 
The
Canterbury occupies a peculiar position. Whatever it may be it is
neither regarded as a theatre nor a music hall. It is, in fact, a
melange of the Aleazar, the Eldorado, and the London 
...A
well-lighted entrance attached to a public house indicates that we
have reached our destination. We proceed up a few stairs lined with
handsome engravings, to a bar, where we pay sixpence if we take a
seat in the body of the hall, and ninepence if we ascend into the
gallery. We make our way leisurely along the floor of the hall, which
is well lighted, and capable of holding 1,500 people. A balcony extends
round the room in the form of a horse-shoe. At the opposite end to
that at which we enter is a platform, on which are placed a grand
piano and a harmonium on which the performers play in the intervals
when the previous singers have left the stage. The chairman sits just
beneath them. It is dull work for him, but there he must sit drinking
and smoking cigars from seven to twelve o’clock. The room is crowded,
and almost every gentleman has a pipe or cigar in his mouth. Evidently
the majority present are respectable mechanics or small tradesmen
with their wives and daughters and sweethearts. Now and then you see
a midshipman, or a few fast clerks and warehousemen. Everyone is smoking,
and everyone has a glass before him; but the class that come here
are economical and chiefly confine themselves to pipes and porter.
