Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To ...) • Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon • I'm In Love With My Car • You're My Best Friend • '39 • Sweet Lady • Seaside Rendezvous • The Prophet's Song • Love Of My Life • Good Company • Bohemian Rhapsody • God Save The Queen
The Music Room s a breathtaking venue that exudes elegance and grandeur. With its intricate woodwork, lavish chandeliers, and rich tapestries, the hall is a true work of art. As a center for culture and the arts, it has hosted performances by renowned musicians and artists, making it an important part of Romania's history and heritage.
London Music Halls where once extremely popular and one of the best known stars was Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12th February 1870 – 7th October 1922). Professionally known as Marie Lloyd she was one of the most well known and popular London Music Hall singers. She was also a comedian and music theatre actress. She received both criticism and praise for her use of innuendo and double entendre during her performances, but enjoyed a fairly long and prosperous career, during which she was affectionately called the Queen of the Music Hall.
Born in London, she was showcased by her father at the Eagle Tavern in Hoxton aged just 14 in 1884, and she later made her professional début as Bella Delmere but she changed her stage name to Marie Lloyd the following year. In 1885, she had success with her song "The Boy I Love Is Up in the Gallery", and she frequently topped the bill at prestigious theatres in London's West End. She was extremely popular in the war years 1914-18 where the authorities let her sometimes raunchy and risky performances go.
Maries life was cut short in 1922 at the age of just 52 after collapsing on stage. Following the announcement of her death, thousands later lined the London streets for her Funeral.
These two performances featured here are "A Little of What You Fancy Does You Good" and "When I Take My Morning Promenade (Do You Think My Dress Is A Little Bit?)".
For their time both these songs where seen as being risky, how times have changed. Please listen to the lyrics and have little chuckle. Please enjoy.
On 26th February 1950 the entertainer and songwriter, Sir Harry Lauder, died.
Born in Portobello,the first of seven children. His father died in 1882 and their mother moved them up the coast to the village of Arbroath where he worked in the mills aged just 12 before spending ten years in the coal mines after the family went to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
Lauder often sang to the miners in Hamilton, who encouraged him to perform in local music halls. While singing in nearby Larkhall, he received 5 shillings—the first time he was paid for singing. He received further engagements including a weekly "go-as-you please" night held by Mrs. Christina Baylis at her Scotia Music Hall/Metropole Theatre in Glasgow. She advised him to gain experience by touring music halls around the country with a concert party, which he did. The tour allowed him to quit the coal mines and become a professional singer. Lauder concentrated his repertoire on comedic routines and songs of Scotland and Ireland.
Lauder's range varied, from When I Get Back Again to Bonnie Scotland to Roamin' in the Gloamin'. He frequently took his act abroad, touring the United States no fewer than 22 times, in addition to tours to other English-speaking countries, e.g. Australia and South Africa.
During World War One Lauder worked tirelessly to organise and recruit performers for shows given to troops serving abroad. His own son, Captain J.C. Lauder, was killed on the Somme shortly before New Year 1917.
Despite his son's death he continued to publicly rally support for the war, ending each of his wartime shows with his theme tune, Keep Right on to the End of the Road. He once again entertained the troops on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
Radio City Music Hall - New York - Opened December 27th 1932
Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes, the precision dance company. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style.
In December 1951, Chaplin sent for him to discuss a scene in his new film, a drama of the English music halls called Limelight. The two men embraced; there was always great affection between them.
“That sequence was a very, very difficult sequence to do, the two of them together,” said Jerry Epstein (Chaplin’s assistant) “Buster came on the first day wearing his Buster Keaton hat, ready to go, and Charlie took him aside and said, ‘Buster, this is not that kind of picture. We’re playing different parts now. We’re not playing the old thing.’ And he said, ‘Yes, Charlie, of course. Sure. Of course. Anything you want.’ Which is what was sweet about him. It was like his first picture. He had all this enthusiasm of starting in pictures again, and that was terribly endearing….The crew just loved it, seeing Keaton and Chaplin working together.”
There was this kind of unconscious communication that went on,” said Norman Lloyd. “Not much talk. They would look and do something, then do it again. No talk. There was a kind of communication between them that was unspoken. But it happened as they would adjust the routine—maybe more music or maybe Charlie wanted to pull the pants up higher or whatever. But then—‘No, we’ll do it again.’ And Buster would keep adding stuff at the piano with having more music falling all over the place.”
The routine ends in applause and death, Calvero working himself into such a lather he tumbles off the edge of the stage and lands in a bass drum, from which he continues to play. They haul him up and carry him off, drum and all, to the laughs and the cheers of the audience. He has hurt his back, he thinks, but as he lies on a couch in his dressing room, the doctor determines he’s had a heart attack. While an ambulance is summoned, he asks to be carried to the wings to watch the performance of a ballerina he’s mentored. And there he dies. As the body is covered with a sheet, the camera pulls back to include those surrounding him, principally Keaton, Sydney Chaplin, Norman Lloyd, and Nigel Bruce. It continues out onto the stage where Claire Bloom, in mid-performance, twirls into the shot.
It was a deceptively complicated movement that momentarily summoned the filmmaker in Keaton. “The camera,” said Lloyd, “was on Charlie—centered on him—and, as we were going backwards, with no dialogue, just music, I heard a voice, very quiet, just above a whisper, saying, ‘It’s okay, Charlie. You’re right in the center of the shot. Yeah, you’re fine, Charlie. It’s perfect. Right in the shot. Right in there…” That was Buster. He just volunteered that. He had nothing to do with the making of the shot at all, but he was directing that scene. He wanted to make sure that camera never got off Charlie. And he’s making certain that Charlie gets his shot.”
Excerpts taken from - Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life by James Curtis 2022
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