LONDON FRIVOLITIES

Evening Post, Volume CVIV, Issue 2, 3 January 1925, Page 11

LONDON FRIVOLITIES

THE MODERN MUSIC HALL

RIVALRY OF

The-drama and the dance are 'recognised art forms, but it wpuid be idle to pretend that they are cb;extensive with popular amusement in England. Here (says the London correspondent of the Melbourne '.'Argus") is a, review of the frankly inartistic entertainments of LondoiTTown, "where the .millions of "the metropolis are content if they get a good laugh, and go home with a.jolly- chorus humming in ; their heads. Much water has passed, under London Bridge since the music .hall came into existence as a go-as-you-please variety enteitainment at the Cave of Harmonies:in the "sixties." In those far-off days the Tivoli in the ' Strand was the "Tivoli Beer Garden," arid its Germanic proprietor indulged his patrons , with lager- and delicatassen. as well as song and dancei The golden days of variety have passed, but there are still 17 mueic halls in' London which carry on the tradition of .the Cave- of -Harmonies. ' Dropping into one of these halls one may find Miss Clarice .May ne mimicking' well : known theatrical >''stars," or Mr. Harry Tate lending: his audiences into convulsions with the humours of "Broadcasting," which has . superseded the once famous "Motoring"; and "Fishing." Helen and Josephine, the* Tiix Sisters, with their jazz) songs; : Frank Tinney with' "Ernest" ;'/.Great Gerard,, who lifts astounding weights; and Will Fyffe.as a.seedy gentleman who has enjoyed a.funeral too -well, are other favourites of the music hall world tb-d ay, inheriting, the; fame which Dan Leno; Herbert- Campbell, Marie Lloyd, and Lottie enjoyed in years gone by. Harry Lauder,. George Robey, and Nora Bayes are at the top of the profession-to-day, and draw enormous subs on sharing terms, based on the amount of they attract to the . big 1 halls. I suppose George Robey earns £500 or £600 a week. Most leaders in the variety world,.however, earn £30 or, £40 a week, and are-lucky if they .work 26 weeks a year, and from these earnings agent's fees, author's royalties,, gravelling expenses, arid printing, bills have to be paid. Even .the income tax collector recognises that the salary; of a 'music hall "star'',ia gross and not net, and allowß him to deduct half the amount as a rebate before the salary is taxed at all. It has been estimated that a dozen music hall "stars"'- earn more than £200 a week, and .as many between £100 and £200, while;4o to 50' may earn between £50 and' £100. The majority are lucky if they clear £5 a week'all the year round. <■ CABARET COMPETITION. . Originally the music halls were drinking shops, where song or dance was permitted. ■ They have suffered under recent licensing reforms, and nowadays have no license to sell drink's, so they are troubled by the growth of cabarets where drinking is; permissible throughout the evening. To remedy this unfair competition the 17 London music halls have asked the London City. Council to allow them.to sell: drink in their, bars, if not in the auditoriums. They argue that the cabarets sell supper and adda variety entertainment; why should not the music halls.retail entertainments and add supper? There^are at present about a dozen cabarets in the West End of London, .where'a guinea or thirty shillings is charged for supper and a short. variety entertainment. Not is it entertainments of the music hall type alone which suffer from cabaret competition. Cabarets aro a serious menace to all the lighter forms of theatrical entertainment, such as musical comedy and revue. At the Trocadero Mr. C. B. Cochran is producing a, version of Dehbes ballet.V "Coppelia, 1 V with a full band and ; corps de ballet, and such a popular French singer as Parisys is appearing with the Midnight Follies at the Hotel Metropole, • singing five songs and ending with the "Sur les Boulevards," which made her famous. In 1915 when Parisys first sang this' ditty, she was making. 250' franca a month. V In a fortnight she,was.earning,250 frauds a rtiglit To-day who - can estimate the youiic woman s worth? ' Certainly she would h% an attraction at any London music- halJ or reviic. : " . . ■ , ,t

revues claim that they suffer,an additional wrong because the restaurant; cabarets pay no entertainment tax. The revenue authorities apparently assume that the songs and dancing are negligible, extras m; a cabaret entertainment, and that the midnight supper is all-important. Tliis was so when cabarets came into, existence during the. war, but it is not so certain now when 20 or 40 people take-part in an entertainment fit Prince's or the Piccadilly. The manager of the Shaftes,bury Theatre feels this competition so keenly that he has determined to change his, musical go-as-you-please- "Toni" into a cabaret show, and so escape the entertainment tax, which is costing him £400 a week.' On Monday next he proposes to give away seats for the Shaft'esbury Theatre with boxes of chocolates. Instead of charging Is 3d for a seat in the gallery, he will charge Is 3d for a box or "gallery chocolates.'' The admission rates at the Shaftesbury henceforth will be :— . - - '■■.■.. " . .. la 3d Box of Chocolates—Gallery : ■: ■2s 6d Box of Chocolates—Pit - ; 5s Box of Chocolates—Upper Circle. ; ■'■■ In 5<? T Box °* ChocolatesH-Dress Circle 10s 6d Box of Chocolates-^Stalls. i No doubt.tße. Shaftesbury Theatre management hopes to precipitate a Jaw: smt if is not,successful in avoiding the crippling entertainment tax of £400 a week. Compared with cabaret shows at restaurants, managers who run reviles have. to^ : pay rent . which '■ probably amounts to £350 or £400 a week . while i M) 5& of- ?>' revue- Coßts anythirig.from £3000 to £8000, apart from thl weekly outlay of. about £900 to cover, the salaries of comedians, leading actresses, and'chorus. But the hotels and res-' taurants also have, their expenses,' arid, can claim that they also contribute large-' ly to the national revenue, if not in entertainment fax, in other directions. The Piccadilly Hotel alone pays £50,000 a year in direct and indirect taxation./ It; is easy to exaggerate the competition between different forms of amusement. Probably theatres and cabarets each have their public, and. really interfere little the one with the other. , " ' ."■■■: LONDON REVUES. ' The revue houses of London are of two. types. At the Hippodrome or the'Palla-^ dmm big spectacular revues, are staged resembling those at the leading Parisian halls, .-orißnch^a place 'as the Ziegfeld Follies, New York. ■ More intimate revues are given at email theatres Buch as the Vaudeville, in the Strand, the Prince of Wales, in Leicester Square, the Duke of York's in, St. Martin's lane, or the Kmgsway Theatre., Here the! fun resembles the Rip revues in. Paris : each show being written around a popular.; comedian or actress, such as Alfred Lester, Maeie.Gay, or Gwen Farrar. The leaders <afe helped by a dozen or 15 chorus girls,, sprightly little bits of mischief, known' in the profession, as "ponies "-' Perhaps the best revue' of the autumn is "Chariot's Revue," at the Prince of . Wales, for which no fewer than 20 writers are responsible; Masie Gay does wonderful things as an. elderly cocotte of the Parisian Moulin Rouge, beplumed for conquest in the manner pictured by Degas or Felicien Rops. Ugly, but very clever. ■ . . ' \ ' ■

The Co-optimists; are the successors of the well-known "Follies," and established themselves during the 'war, with, no more backing than £1000 subscribed by. the members of the company and their friends; The Co-optimists are now in their eighth season and seem destined to "run" for ever. This year they had the pluck to rent the Palace Theatre at £750 a -week, the Palace.being the biggest theatre in London except Drury Lane and Co vent 'Garden.' It /was built as the English Opera House out of the profits gained from Gilbert and Sullivan opera. It failed as an opera house, but later proved a goldmine as a music hall, and is now crowded nightly by "admirers of Co-tfptimists. ! Melville, Gideon, Gilbert, ;. Childs, Stanley' Holloway' and Dave Burnaby are the'male stars a'mon" the Co-optimists, the best of- the girls be° ing little Hermione Baddeley, a girl of 18, who jumped into fame a year or two a?o as the coster girl in the "Likes of 'Er." Miss Baddeley has shown that she is a worthy successor of "Phyllis Monkman. With Mr.- Childs, she plays a tiny sketch called 1 "Missing the Bus.'" As a. lived, bedraggled Cockney wife, returning .with her husband from a musical evening, and laden with the gramophone and records, Miss Baddelev puU in a truly gf«»<• t?'«* c Mj miwlug, aijjs young. .aetjrjsas abouili 1° ife i.. : ._ : . ,