ENTERTAINMENT once looked very different to how it does nowadays.
Long ago, way before the internet, video games, television or even radio, visiting the music hall was Southampton’s most popular night out.
Music halls were favoured, not only for their music and comedy, but were also popular because of their liquor availability.
Read more: Guidebook provides insight into Southampton in 1888 >>>
Those involved in the temperance movement argued that these halls encouraged heavy drinking, especially among “the lower classes”.
People in Southampton went to the music halls to enjoy a good, often rowdy, time - not to experience a muted atmosphere.
In the original music hall, waiters served drinks between acts in a concert room furnished with chairs and tables.
One historical account of the music halls described the scene: “The audience often joined in singing popular songs, and cheered on favourite performers.
“Mediocre acts were booed off the stage, but these rejections were more spirited than vicious. Those who were not tough enough to take such treatment soon sought other forms of employment.’’
Another feature of the music hall was the presence of the “Chairman’’ who sat with his back to the stage and orchestra.
He would frequently open the show with a song, and rapped on the table with an auctioneer’s hammer to announce the next performer.
The first entertainment of this ilk in Southampton took place at the Rainbow Tavern, which stood in French Street in the 1850s.
The interior of the tavern had been wiped out by fire, leaving an open area. This was the site of the first music hall in the area.
The Rainbow was eventually pulled down and another, more modern building was built on the site – Gordon’s Music Hall, named after the owner.
At the beginning of the 1880s, after many successful years, this was also destroyed by fire. It was replaced by the Gaiety which finally closed in the early 1900s.
As Southampton’s centres of business and population gradually moved from the lower part of the town to Above Bar, the music hall followed.
On the night of December 9, 1872, the curtain went up on the first night of the Royal York Pavilion Music Hall.
The building had originally been designed for a corn exchange but did not succeed, so it was converted into a music hall.
The streets in Southampton in those days were cobbled, and even the main thoroughfares were poorly lit, which made boots and shoes muddy in wet weather.
Due to this, straw or sawdust covered the floor of the Royal York Pavilion.
The seats in the music hall had small ledges behind, to hold glasses of refreshment, and the waiters darted in at the intervals between the turns, taking orders.
It appears that William Hyles was the first proprietor and, later, Fred Fordham, who was “a charismatic figure who had something of a circus about him”.
Known for his fine curling moustache, he was consistently immaculately dressed, wearing either a top hat or a grey bowler invariably.
A number of famous acts performed there, including Marie Lloyd, Harry Randall, Gus Elen and Lily Burnard, while Fred Bullen led the local orchestra and was popular with the crowd.
Special novelties were introduced on certain nights of the week, usually Fridays, to ensure a full house.
One of these consisted of a competition for the “urchins of the town’’ to see who could eat the most plum duff pudding with cash prizes for the first three.
One of the most popular music hall performers in Southampton was Jenny Hill, known across the nation as the “Vital Spark.”.
The artiste also took a liking to Southampton as she took over the lease of the old Gaiety on French Street.
The Royal York Pavilion was demolished in the 1890s and the Palace of Varieties Theatre was built on the site.
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