Visit to a Bygone Era

About three years ago, when I reviewed Derek Sculthorpe's book on Sydney Greenstreet, I remarked on the difficulty of painting a detailed portrait of an actor who'd been dead for some sixty years, and whose early career consisted primarily of live theater. Silly me. Little did I know how much Derek likes such a challenge. His latest, The Lost World of Music Hall: A Celebration of Ten Greats (BearManor Media) finds him profiling performers whose career achievements were often more than 100 years ago, and of whose work modern-day readers, with rare exceptions, have no first-hand memory. Does he let it daunt him? Not a bit.

Before reading this book, I knew little about the very British tradition of music halls, which flourished in an era roughly paralleling the heyday of American vaudeville houses. Here, Sculthorpe has selected ten performers -- Billy Bennett, Margaret Cooper, Bert Errol, Vivian Foster, Tom Foy, Charlie Higgins, Alfred Lester, Norman Long, Lily Morris, and Nellie Wallace -- who won acclaim with audiences of that long-gone time. They're a varied bunch -- comediennes, female impersonators, singers, pianists, and one fellow who got his laughs impersonating a vicar.  

Some of them were around long enough to make recordings, as well as appearing on radio or in the movies. But even if you can't experience them through one of those media, Sculthorpe is remarkably successful at conveying to a modern reader (and, in my case, not a fellow Brit) what audiences saw in these artists. They often persisted despite a variety of professional and personal challenges, and became favorites not only of theatregoers but even, in some cases, of the royal family. 

The book is thoroughly researched yet quite readable, and chock-full of rare illustrations that evoke the time period. It also provides excerpts from the performers' acts, and samples of the wit that audiences loved. The author doesn't bill his book as the definitive study of music halls, but as a supplement to earlier volumes, enthusiastically recommending several to the reader who wants to delve deeper. 

This book is well worth the attention of anyone who wants a look into a "lost world" that influenced the entertainment industry, and the generations of performers who followed, for years to come.

NOTE: I was furnished a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.