🎭 There'll Never Be Another. Post-war Britain: Max Miller, skiffle, rock & roll, and packed music halls. Then - silence. Dr Leo Bird explores the rise and fall of British variety theatre 1945–60. 📅 Tue 21 April | 7pm 📍 The Club for Acts & Actors🎟️ buff.ly/ndqjTCP #LiveComedy #VarietyTheatre

Our new issue is bursting at the seams 🎭 Pt 2 of Sally Barnes' story, a new series on the BMHS Archive, Brad Ashton on the comics he's worked with, Annie Bright's CSE tour memories, plus Ballard Berkeley, Buster Keaton & Shani Wallis All this-exclusively for members -JOIN UShttps://buff.ly/ofCswBZ

One place left on our tour of the Hackney Empire next Monday, 13th April at 2pm. Any takers? Book here: buff.ly/yWMTKIc

#MusicHallMonday - Who has been enjoying the repeats of the Good Old Days showing on Saturday Evening's on BBC4? It has been a real treat over the last few weeks to see the diverse range of performers and speciality acts. You can also catch up via @bbciplayer #MusicHall

Today we have Song Sheet Sunday for one week only and Flanagan and Allen with 'Down Forget Me Not Lane', a sweet and nostalgic springtime favourite released in 1932, today also marks Chesney Allen's 132nd birthday born in Battersea, London on this day in 1894. #MusicHall #Variety #SongSheet

What a joyous dance this lion enjoys 🦁😻Very uplifting on a damp and windy Easter Sunday 🐣😻🥰💖😻🐣

Join me 7pm Thurs 9 Apr @ uniquely wonderful Cinema Museum (old Lambeth workhouse) for #HardStreets @profilebooks.bsky.social Q&A + 1959 home movie of Chaplin visiting his childhood haunts in Lambeth & Southwark. Tix £5 nearest tube 🐘 & 🏰 books & beers too! 🎦 📚🎉 cinemamuseum.org.uk/scheduled/bo...

Not forgetting that today is #musichallmonday 🎭 An article published last week on @archiveshub about our fascinating archive - enjoy! #MusicHall #Archives buff.ly/LwsfsZU

A great afternoon at the BMHS AGM yesterday at the Water Rats. Welcome to our new Chair, Alison Young, & thank you to Dean Caston for his leadership. We also enjoyed a brilliant in-conversation with Gary Wilmot & Ben Stock - insightful, engaging, & full of great stories. Onwards to the year ahead!

#SongSheetSaturday 🎶 "He's Going to Marry Mary Ann!" — a music hall gem from 1885, composed by Joseph Tabrar and sung by the irrepressible Miss Bessie Bellwood. Bellwood made her debut in 1876 and was beloved by audiences for her saucy, quick-witted stage manner. #MusicHall #archive

I love this autograph in my collection. Betty Balfour #BOTD probably 1902, possibly '03. Big star of the silent film era. Fav film is 'Squibs' 1935. Also 'My Old Ditch' 1934. #MusicHall @musichallsociety.bsky.social

Blue Plaque Guidelines https://britishmusichallsociety.com/event/blue-plaque-guidelines

📢 Reminder: BMHS AGM is this Sunday, 29th March at 2pm! 📍 The Water Rats, 328 Gray's Inn Road, King's Cross, London, WC1X 8BZ Join us to review the past year's achievements, discuss future plans and approve the committee for 2026/27. See you there! 🍽️😄

It's #MusicHallMonday! 🎩 Here's a gem from our archive — the hat of Max Miller, "The Cheeky Chappie" and one of Britain's best-loved music hall comedians. Photographed by the renowned Andy Hollingworth #Archive #MusicHall

For those interested in the history of theatre, music hall & circus, my latest blog on the Compton dynasty is now available online at bit.ly/4ug0kgl @youngalison.bsky.social @musichallsociety.bsky.social @theatrestrust.bsky.social @theatreresearch.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social @roadsw9.bsky.social

#SongSheetSaturday 🎶 Wot Cher! Knock'd 'em in the Old Kent Road (1891) Born #OTD in 1861, Albert Chevalier was the self-styled "coster laureate" of #music hall and this gloriously daft cockney singalong about a man who inherits a donkey and cart is one of his most enduring hits

🎭 What did WW2 prisoner of war camps have to do with the golden age of British entertainment? To find out join us on Tues 24th March for a talk by historian & author Midge Gillies — 'The Barbed Wire University'. 🎟️ Book via Ticketsource:

#MusicHallMonday 📢 The Call for Papers for the 3rd BMHS Conference is now LIVE! buff.ly/zmJr3VX "Catering for People's Desires and Needs in the Music Hall" 🍺 🍷 🎟️ 🫦 We hope you can join us at The Cinema Museum in November.

3rd British Music Hall Society Conference - November 2026 https://britishmusichallsociety.com/event/3rd-british-music-hall-society-conference-november-2026

🌼 #SongSheetSaturday — the daffodils are out, the sun's made a brief but welcome appearance, and spring is attempting to get going. 'Put A Little Springtime (In The Winter Of Their Lives)' — Bud Flanagan & Teddie Knox, sung by Flanagan & Allen, a hit in 1933 and recorded by the BBC Dance Orchestra.

Setting up for our ‘archive on show’ afternoon… #womenshistorymonth #musichall

🎶 #MusicHallMonday From the BMHS Archive - now on display at Showtown in Blackpool - this small brown case once belonged to music hall legend Florrie Forde. Born Flora Flannagan in Melbourne, she arrived in London in 1897 & quickly became a star, famed as “The World’s Greatest Chorus Singer.”

#SongSheetSaturday – For the First Time (I've Fallen in Love) (1943), words by Charles Tobias, music by David Kapp. Brought to life by the incomparable Leslie 'Hutch' Hutchinson - a 1930s cabaret star who reinvented himself for the variety stage during WWII.

It's Monday, it's Music Hall! 🎭 #MusicHallMonday The legendary boots of Little Tich — whose Big-Boot Dance influenced everyone from Chaplin to Tati — are on loan from our #archive to Blackpool's Showtown Museum. Go and see them!

🔥 #SongSheetSaturday 🔥 "Jeremiah, Blow the Fire," from 1877, was performed by GH MacDermott. This cheeky tune gained popularity in music halls for its "doubtful character." Consider these chorus lines: 'Jeremiah, blow the fire, puff, puff, puff, First you do it gently, then you come it rather rough'

🎭 10th DAY BY THE SEA! Sat 6th June 2026 Online booking opens Mon 2nd March at 10am ⏰ The British Music Hall Society returns to the Royal Hippodrome, Eastbourne for a full day of Music Hall, Variety, Comedy & Nostalgia — featuring Amanda Barrie, Gyles Brandreth, & Tim Vine buff.ly/uNSMeEI

To mark Women's History Month, we're opening our doors for a hands-on afternoon with our archive. Explore original posters, programmes, costumes, scrapbooks & more — with a special focus on women in music hall & variety. 📅 Thursday 12th March | 🕐 2–4pm | 📍 Lambeth Archives

🌟 Our President's Lunch is on Sunday 22 March 2026. Join BMHS President Su Pollard for a three-course lunch, a glass of bubbly on arrival 🥂, and an afternoon with special guests Jeffrey Holland (her Hi-De-Hi! co-star!), panto pal Jamie Leahey & a mystery guest TBA! 🎭

🏰 #SongSheetSaturday 🏰 "It's a Bit of a Ruin that Cromwell Knocked About a Bit" (1921) Performed by the incomparable Marie Lloyd, Queen of the Music Hall who brought this witty number to life, poking fun at England's crumbling historical sites with her trademark cheeky charm #MusicHall

Join me at the fab Cinema Museum - occupying the old Lambeth Workhouse - on Thurs 9 April 7pm. Charlie, his brother Syd & their mother Hannah were “in-mates” here, as was my great-great grandfather William Partridge #HardStreets @profilebooks.bsky.social Tix here cinemamuseum.org.uk/scheduled/bo...

Last November, I gave a talk at The London Archives' Symposium on Music Hall, covering a tragic 'unrideable mule' incident that began on-stage at the Clapham Grand in 1906, now adapted as a blog post here 👇️ musichallalice.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/a...

Thank you to everyone who attended our 'In the Limelight' talk with Jan Hunt and Ben Stock. Our next event is on Tuesday, 24th March at 7 pm, featuring Midge Gillies discussing 'The Barbed Wire University' and how WWII PoW camps nurtured future performers. Book tickets here: buff.ly/f8SJxfk

Great BBC News London piece this evening on the National Centre for Circus Arts's Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) youth scheme that Olympic gold medal winner Tabby Stoecker was part of. 12'40" in to the programme. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

💕 #SongSheetSaturday meets Valentine's Day! 💕 "Lovetime (Any Old Time Will Do)" (1908), sung by George Lashwood with words by Harry Castling & music by Fred Godfrey. Forget fancy restaurants & overpriced roses - according to this Edwardian charmer, when it comes to romance, any old time will do!

For LGBTQ+ History Month we're highlighting George Williams (1910-1995) whose archive of scrapbooks & unpublished autobiography is held by the BMHS. After early success, George was imprisoned for homosexuality in 1952 but resumed his career in the 60s. buff.ly/xee50mu

The 3 #victorian incarnations of #Scarborough Spa as seen in paintings on display at Scarborough Art Gallery. First the Gothic Saloon by Henry Wyatt of 1839, then the music hall & observation tower of 1858 by Joseph Paxton & George Stokes, finally the current building by Verity and Hunt opened 1878

New blog post about Kate Castleton intothelimelight.org. Early music hall performer. Married a forger - twice! @musichallsociety.bsky.social #MusicHall #musichall

Next week - Tuesday 17 February 2026 7pm - the remarkable Jan Hunt in conversation with Ben Stock! Very few tickets left - book now to secure your place 👇️ buff.ly/phMWIvS

🎵 #SongSheetSaturday 🎵 A gem from 1901 "Come Out" by Austin Rudd. This piece, with both music and lyrics by Rudd, is complemented by HG Banks' whimsical illustration of a husband in the waves while his wife demands he "Come out!" For the full music, contact our #archive (details on our website)

Join us for our President’s Lunch on Sunday 22 March 2026 with our fabulous President, Su Pollard 💫 Enjoy a three-course meal, a welcome glass of bubbly, and an afternoon in the company of fantastic guest speakers and fellow members. 🎟 £60 members | £75 non-members ✨ BOOK HERE buff.ly/PYgPGV2

116 years ago today Belle Elmore went missing. Her husband, Dr Crippen told her friends, the Music Hall Ladies Guild that she had gone to America to deal with a family emergency. But she hadn’t. He’d poisoned her and buried her in the cellar. They would spend the rest of 1910 bringing him to justice

Check out our next 'Archives on Show' event at Lambeth Archives. To coincide with Women's History Month there will be an emphasis on women in #musichall & #variety. Book here:

Throwback to September 2025, in the latest @musichallsociety.bsky.social ‘Call Boy’, with a little piece about the excellent #MusicHall themed ‘Wax Fruit’ book launch at BAaD Glasgow Follow @waxfruittvseries on Instagram for more updates! @jamiemacdougall.bsky.social

Wishing a very happy birthday to our Patron, Jools Holland! Throwback to 2013 when he joined our then-President Roy Hudd at Wilton's Music Hall to celebrate 50 years of our Society. Images: Doug McKenzie.

Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's 'In the Limelight' talk at The CAA! Our next event is on Tuesday, 17th February at 7pm with Ben Stock and Jan Hunt, who will share stories from her 55-year career. Book tickets here:

The Winter edition of The Call Boy will be arriving with members this week...if you want to receive your own copy of our journal (published 4 times a year) then JOIN US! Membership details HERE - britishmusichallsociety.com/join-us

A music hall classic for #songsheetsaturday - Two Lovely Black Eyes - first published in 1886 with lyrics by Charles Coborn. Coborn reckoned he performed this number more than 250,000 times throughout his long career. 'Two lovely black eyes, Oh what a surprise, Only for telling a man he was wrong.'

🎭 In the Limelight Talk: The Story of Showtown 📅 Tuesday 20 Jan 2026 ⏰ 2pm @jillc86.bsky.social Exhibitions Manager at Blackpool’s Showtown, shares how the museum was created & the stories behind its galleries ✨ 1st talk in our new venue. Book here www.ticketsource.co.uk/bookings/evt...

Our first #SongSheetSaturday of 2026 – “Come & Cuddle Me”. As the temperatures drop, this might be a solution for seeking that extra warmth. A 1915 #panto hit for Dorothy Ward, composed by Clifford Harris & Jas W. Tate (Clarice’s husband).

Happy New Year from the British Music Hall Society. Thank you for all the support you gave us in 2025 - here's to 2026. Check out what we have on offer on our website britishmusichallsociety.com #MusicHall #Variety #History #Archive