The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-13 00:00:00

THE CHEAP SHOWS OF LONDON.

The following is an extract from an interesting article in
the Pictorial World on the Cheap Shows of London, by "The
Teetotum." He says
- -

. . . Ido not believe there is any city in the world
where you may get so much amusement for nothing as
you can in London. Look, for instance, at Christie
and Manson's sale-rooms. From January to August
you see there some of the finest exhibitions of works
•of art you can desire to look at. There is no charge
for admission or for catalogue. You may stop as
long as you please, come in as many times in the course
of the day as you like; there are no vexatious regula-
tions with regard to sticks and umbrellas. And the best
of it is, the show is always changing. At the Royal
Academy, where you have to pay a shilling every time
you enter, there is precisely the same exhibition from the
beginning of May till the end of July. At Christie's
you have a different show nearly every day. At one
time it will be a collection of pictures by famous Old
Masters; at anotligr it will be a number of paintings
by the most celebrated modern painters. Monday
you may find rare silver plate, Tuesday marvellous
antique furniture, Thursday rare china, and Saturday
valuable musical instruments. A constant attendant
at Christie's has the opportunity of seeing some of the
finest works of art, of all descriptions, in England, and
many of them he will never have the chance of seeing
again. The account of this gale-room and the sales
that have taken place in it would form a most valuable
addition to the history of art. As a cheap show, how-
ever, Christie's is not to be equalled anywhere. . .
The streets of London are possibly some of its beat
shows. There is a distinct character about each, as
equally marked as the difference between one county
and another. Take Regent-street, the Strand; take
Pall Mall, Cheapside, Piccadilly, Oxford-street, Corn-
hill, Bond-street; or take any street you please of
greater or less note, and you will find it has a strongly
defined character of its own. The London streets are
inexhaustible in the amusement they provide for the
pedestrian. I do not mind which you take, whether
it be the aristocratic St. James's-street, or some dis-
reputable slum in the worst part of Soho, you will be
sure to find something that will delight you. I have
studied the London streets for many years past, and
I discover even in those I know best some new feature
turning up, some fresh phase developing itself, some
unexplored corner remaining, even when I fancied I
had exhausted all their resources. The London streets
are absolutely inexhaustible even to one who has
studied them constantly and lovingly from his youth
up. .

Possibly one of the most successful of our gratuitous
shows is the Park. The Park in the height of the
season is certainly a sight that if ten shillings. or a
guinea were charged for chairs people would think a
great deal of it. You not only see all the best known
people in town, all the beauty, rank, and fashion of
the metropolis, but you see an exhibition of horse-
flesh and magnificently appointed carriasges which
is unequalled all the world over. xOU mav
gaze for nothing as long as you please on a scene which
were it represented with a quarter of its magipl_ficence
on the boards of a theatre would shave all London
raving about it. Going beyond the strict limits of
town, what a cheap show ic is to go by steamer from
London Bridge to Chelsea! For a few pence you can
enjoy a most complete panorama of a portion of
London. You get marvellous effects of light; you
pass beneath all the bridges; you see the Thames
Embankment, the Houses of Parliament, St. Thomas's
Hospital, the quaint new building, close to the river
at Chelsea. If you went into a stuffy lecture-room
and saw this panorama, indifferently painted, for a
couple of shillings, you would consider it a cheap
show. How much cheaper it is when you see the real
thing, out in the open air, with all the charm that sun
and shadow can invest it with. It is, I suppose,
because it is so cheap and within the reach of every-
body that we are inclined to think so little of it. . . .