Stars of the British Music Hall on Film
“British Music Hall was the mother of American Vaudeville; it created performers of luminous quality who sang and joked for audiences from the mid-1800s to the present. The stars of Music Hall were entertainers in every sense of the word. Tonight's program includes some from Music Hall's early years, captured on film in their dying days, such as eighty-year-old Charles Coborn singing his 1891 hit, ‘The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo,' or Florrie Forde, the greatest exponent of chorus songs such as ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush.' From the twentieth century, the program includes Music Hall performers who rose to even greater fame on screen, notably Gracie Fields and George Formby. Other stars of the Music Hall to be seen tonight include Gus Elen, Stanley Holloway, Stanley Lupino, George Robey, and Ella Shields.” Anthony Slide