The Bedford Music Hall

This short piece was inspired by my mum’s memories of being taken to see shows at the Bedford in Camden Town as a girl. She remembers going there with her mum, brothers and sister at the age of about 9 (1941) and sitting up in the gods (9d a ticket), watching magicians, tap dancers, chorus girls and all the famous acts of the day: Tommy Trinder, Two-Ton Tessie O’Shea, Max Miller etc. A highlight she particularly remembers was a high wire act over the heads of the audience down onto the stage (no safety net in those days!). And, of course, the chance to sing along to the patriotic songs designed to lift everyone’s spirits….  

The Bedford 1904

In the second half of the 19^th century, music hall was the predominant form of working-class entertainment. In 1878 London boasted 78 large music halls and over 300 smaller venues. The halls had their origins in the Theatre Regulation Act of 1843 which prohibited drinking in theatre auditoriums but allowed it in saloon theatres, i.e. small venues attached to public houses (like the Bedford). Before long, professional ‘chairmen’ were introduced to manage proceedings and book acts. Unlike mainstream theatres, which enjoyed ever higher levels of respectability, music halls stayed closer to their working-class roots. With alcohol flowing freely, the entertainment became increasingly risqué, relying on liberal use of puns and innuendo.

Bedford Theatre 1949

Camden Town actually boasted two music halls, both in the high street. The building that was once the Royal Camden Theatre at Mornington Crescent dates from the turn of the century and still exists (now Koko’s nightclub!) The other, the Bedford, is now sadly long gone but had an interesting history. The original venue, known in later years as the “Old Bedford”, opened in 1861 as a music hall in the garden of the Bedford Arms pub. Its main entrance was via a small and highly impractical entrance off a narrow courtyard. This building was destroyed by fire in 1896.

The second hall opened in 1899 as the “Bedford Palace of Varieties” and soon gained a reputation as one of London’s premier music halls. It had a grand French Renaissance frontage facing onto the high street, with mansard roofs and a copper dome rising some 60feet above street level. This fancy theatrical style was very much in vogue for the end-of-century music halls, which were generally larger and finer than most West End theatres. Often packed to the rafters, the auditorium in music halls at this time invariably became filled with cigarette smoke. Perfume was sprayed around in an attempt to offset the odour; many premises dating from the 1880s onwards (the “New Bedford” was one of them) also incorporated a useful design feature - a sliding roof that was opened periodically to allow the fug to escape!

Marie Lloyd

Many of the big music hall stars appeared at the Bedford: Charlie Chaplin, Gracie Fields and, of course, Marie Lloyd who declared it to be her favourite venue. Lloyd is known to have had two versions of songs such as ‘She’d Never Had Her Ticket Punched Before’ – one where the real meaning was made absolutely  clear, and another reserved for the ears of the licensing authorities!

The Old Bedford, Sickert 1895

Although little photographic material remains of the Bedford in its heyday, we can get an idea of the sumptuous interior through the paintings of the Camden Town Group, notably those of Walter Sickert. Influenced by Degas’ paintings of Parisian life, Sickert started painting music halls and the Bedford, known for its raucous performances and boisterous audiences, became one of his favourite haunts. So keen was he to capture the atmosphere of the theatre that he returned night after night to sketch there. In 1907, he was renting four properties in close proximity to the Bedford, including studios on Mornington Crescent and Brecknock Road.

 

Sickert made no secret of the fact that he preferred the seedy atmosphere of the “dear old oblong Bedford” to the modern, plusher theatres of the West End. At first not so keen on the new hall, he eventually became a regular visitor again and began to paint the opulent interior with its decorative figures, masks and cupids in plaster and gilt, finished in rich blue plush and red velvet draperies. Sometimes he painted the performers on stage, but often it was the animated faces of the crowd, lit up in the flickering gaslight of the theatre’s gloomy interior, that captured his imagination.

Awaiting demolition in the 1960s

But already by the last quarter of the 19^th century the music hall tradition was taking a downturn. Its demise was hastened firstly by new LCC fire regulations under which many premises were forced to close and, secondly, by rising prosperity and a taste for luxury which led to larger, more sumptuous halls providing entertainment for a whole district rather than local neighbourhoods. And of course, the birth of cinema was just round the corner….

By 1903 there were only 44 halls left, compared to nearly 400 a quarter of a century before. The Bedford’s fortunes also declined. It was used as an ABC cinema from 1933 to 1939, when it was converted back to a variety theatre. In 1939 it was used as the location for the film ‘Trottie True’, the tale of a young girl’s rise to fame as a music hall star.

The Bedford’s doors finally closed in 1951 and the building was demolished in 1968-9.

 References:

London in the Nineteenth Century Jerry White (2007)

London Overlooked Geoffrey Fletcher (1964)

Camden Town and Kentish Town Then and Now in Colour Marianne Colloms & Dick Weindling (2012)

The Music Hall & Theatre History Website: www.arthurlloyd.co.uk