Local Studies - Illustrated Lecture on the History of the Victorian Music Hall by Tom Carradine

u3a Bromley members were "down at the Old Bull and Bush" on 3 February, enjoying a fabulous musical interlude with Tom Carradine who made a return visit to tell us about the History of the Music Hall along with piano accompaniment. About 110 members sang along to various medleys of very recognisable songs and enjoyed an absorbing story with photographs of how it all began and why, who the key players were, including performers, impresarios, influencers (yes we had them then), male impersonators, song writers or creators (who bought the song rights, so a form of early copyright), people who went on to become cinema stars e.g. Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and how every city had a music hall until well into the 20th Century when other musical entertainment appeared in the form of cinema, radio, gramophone records, TV, etc. The really high water mark for the Victorian Music Hall was the First World War when popular songs included Pack up your Troubles and It's a long way to Tipperary, both of which aided military recruitment. Then of course after the War everything changed. "The Good Old Days", a TV Music Hall programme from Leeds Theatre which many of us remembered, nicely embraced both Music Hall and TV mediums from 1953-1983.