The Lost World of Music Hall

    After several years and a number of false starts, my book about music hall has now been released. The Lost World of Music Hall is published by Bear Manor Media. It covers ten individuals who each represented some aspect of the national character during the heyday of the halls and the way they adapted to the many and rapid changes of the twentieth century. Among the names are Nellie Wallace, Lily Morris, Billy Bennett, Charlie Higgins and Norman Long. Several found a new lease of life on radio and others recorded extensively. Included is an in-depth discography and catalogues of the songs they sang but never committed to shellac. I hope the book stands as a fitting tribute to some forgotten stars and an introduction to the subject for those intrigued to know more about our entertainment past.

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Margaret Cooper The Diva of the Humorous Song

 

   Margaret Cooper (1877-1922) was an entertainer at the piano, popular in the first quarter of the twentieth century and at one time reputedly the highest paid female star. She sang her light and witty ballads in a light soprano, but much of her appeal was in the way she presented her art, which was a performance in itself. There has hitherto been no substantial profile of any kind about her, since she published her own slim volume of memoirs in 1909. Until now, that is, because she is one of the principal subjects of my book The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021). La Cooper was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, who found success against all the odds on the vaudeville stage. See details here

 Alfred Lester "Always Merry and Bright"

One of the subjects of my forthcoming book The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021). Excerpt below:

"Alfred Lester was a lugubrious comedian who avoided the jolly idiot approach and perfected the persona of the ultimate pessimist. It could be argued that he channelled the underlying fatalism of Music-Hall into his stage characters, although much of that outlook was decidedly his own. He found his greatest popularity in Britain on the revue stage from the Great War up until his sudden death in 1925. If he had been reincarnated as a film comedian it would have been one in the Buster Keaton mould. Unlike Keaton, Lester is almost completely forgotten and liable to remain so. However, he was a good example of a different type of comic approach and one who successfully straddled the music hall and revue stage, pointing the way forward for others."

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Lily Morris 

Much-loved Cockney Comedienne 

Lily Morris was one of the great Variety artistes who is celebrated in my forthcoming book, The Lost World of Music Hall (Bear Manor Media, 2021)

"Lily Morris was a great Cockney comedienne. On stage from childhood, she was something of a teenage phenomenon. She was a doyen of pantomime and enjoyed her greatest popularity on the variety stage in the immediate post-war era. In her prime she presented a blousy figure and had a great way with a song, in the tradition of Marie Lloyd, with whom she was often compared. Usually, Morris in character was one over the eight, and delivered her songs in a disarming way but they were true gems of social comment, and she did full justice to them."  

(From the introduction)

Above right: Lily in character, c1922. Left: A young Lily during her years as a pantomime favourite.

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