Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-04
LONDON MUSIC HALLS.
Wakeman'S Pen Picture OF the
Haunts of English Actors.
DRINK THE REAL ATTRACTION
Of Many Places That Have Been Made
Popular by Thespians.
A PICTURESQUE WEEKLY AsSEMBLAGE
CORRESPONDENTS OF THE DISPATCH. ]

imagine greater contrast than exists be-
tween London actors and London variety
actors; between the legitimate London
stage and that vast and various collection
OF amusement establishments known as
music halls, in which music has never en-
tered, and between the audiences at London
theatres and the throngs which gather at
''the halls"
The London actor, as shown in nv last
letter. is man of good birth and breeding
He has had the advantage of the best of
early training and environment. His voca-
tion is one which requires manful effort, IN
tense application, many wears of apprentice
ship and study, and conduces to high moral
and intellectual ambitions He is a home
lover, builder and keeper. His social status
is the best. His associations are with men
and women of talent and achievement
And, in most cases, he passes from his days
of activity into long and mellow evening
of life, in which he is still often a public
favorite and is always sought after as a
companion and a reminiscentialist; and at
last, when the dark curtain is rung down
upon him. he enters well-merited repose,
embalmed in the loving memory of men, if
rot craven or painted In the inches of re-
nown.
4 Credit to Any Nation.
The London dramatic stage and its audi
ences, are a credit to any nation. As a
whole the morale, atmosphere and results
are good. believe that, as rule, English
players. plays and audiences together repre-
sent the best expression and receptivity of
genuine mirth and sentiment which can
anywhere be found And oD the large lines
of consideration, it may be safely said that
whatever may be presented, comedy, drama
or tragedy, upon the stage of London and
has met with public satisfaction, has been
the product OF dramatic authors having no
superiors, has been given Interpretation by
the ablest and most conscientious of actors,
and has reached the magic realm of success
through as cautious and severe criticism and
purgingl ly-healthful laggard approval, as are
necessary TO give something of real value to
the entire amusement world.
But good as all this surely is what can
be the secret OF that strange and inexplica-
bic national taste which not only makes
possible but stubbornly clings to and con-
tinues to develop with giant strides that in
comparably greater and ineXpressibly inane
and beastly form OF amusement found in
the LOndon music halls?
a reputable English writer once gave,
from the English standpoint, pleasant cue
to the secret in the proposition that ''the
greater height people touch in their de-
Yelopment the lower mostly are the depths
of their recoi- Unhappy, then, the nation
that has no appreciation of hopeless vul-
garity!'
More Than a Score of the Halls
There are at present in London score or
more OF great music halls into each of which
nightly crowd from 1900 to 5000 people.
There are hundreds upon hundreds OF lesser
affairs, ranging from the old time free-and-
easy, frcm which the modern music nall
1,r,.- -o@ @l,o
diences of from 100 to 800 persons may be
found Beside these. would almost ven
ture the assertion, there are thousands of
''pubs" or public houses, drinking rlaces
with assembly rooms behind the bar, where
free smoking concerts attract a perma-
nent nightly audience of a a score TO a hun
dred workingmen and the foul rabble hat
subsists upon their generosity and weak
ness.
OF all these places the 'Fpenny-gaff," or
oUtrageously ridiculous nantomine, or voice
less melodrama, or wordless tragedy, in
which there is indescribable murder, high
way robbery, and other lurid crime but all
enacted without spoken word to evade the
law governing dramatic representations, is
the least harmful, for it has no bar: and to
get his "penny 'orth" of play, the White
chapel barbarian is kept for at least two
hours away from public house. Drink is
the real attraction of all the others.
The wise lawmakers of London will not
permit any dramatic representation at any
place where liquor is sold. Something
which would appeal to the intellect might
lessen the demand for drink. So they make
it easy TO debauch the masses with a combi-
nation of sensationalism and drink, and from
the lowest free smoking concert to such
music-hall palaces as the London Pavilion,
Alhambra, Tivoli, Royal, Oxford and Tro-
cadero, not one in one hundred could exist
a fortnight on the merit of its performance
alone.
The Smok ing Concert Rooms
The great London music hall is simply a
larger and more insiduously hurtful type of
the free smoking concert room, in the
hands OF a stock company which profits 10
the extent OF % and 80 per cent, instead of
q single publican who is satisfied with 10.
i is practically a gigantic bar or series of
tiers OF bars, surrounding an auditorium
where thousands instead of scores can be ad-
mItted, at a merely nominal entrance fee:
where stage with speciality performers
suppiant the platform, the pianist and the
volunteer; and where the same classes. or
more vicious Ones with "Arrys and Ar
riets" of London fill the pit, while every
manner OF cad, fast fellow of the gentry and
nobility, including a good sprinkllng of
London Bohemia, saunter in the promenades
You can bring along your pipe and smoke
il Just the same as AT the other place The
constant explosion of scratched matches is
OF the same deadly odor and familiar sound
There the same sort of barmaids only
more OF them, scores of them, more bewitc4i-
ing and dangerous. The demimonde. ouiet
bur alert as falcons, are here in hundreds
in search of quarry. Dozens of gold-laced
lackeys and inspectors give semblance of re-
fined order and strict proprIetv. But all
the elements of mischief are here. Though
the mirrors decorations and all anpoint-
ments are gorgeous, all the opportunities for
making beast of ones self are provided
without stint You car become maudlin and
sing the performers ballad all your own
way. And the whole audience, bv mid
evening, is roaring along with the orchestra
at the catchlines, choruses and refrains.
Bound TO Have Their Moneys Worth
About 20 different acts called 'turns"
are done by as many different performers in
one evening, and each ''actor' will have
from one to four turns for the same even
ing, each at different halls, to which he
speeds IN every sort of conveyance, from q
coster's donkey cart to brougham. Pro.
grammes are furnished on payment. and
huge numerals, Sid into the proscenium
sides, corresponding with programme num-
bers. indicate that when the deafening
clang of the stage managers gong is next
heard, the turn is to done bv the Re-
nowned Signorina Splittavoce. Spaghetti
Siren to the Italian Court, bv the Climax
of Cloggists, by Nell Nellwood. Unap
proacEable Delineator of Dukes Dialogues.
bY the Slug Brothers, Kings of Knocka-
or bV Mile pa1ShapGs nroo,, -