Early revue

Revue developed in the 1890s and was a collection of short sketches, songs, dances, comic interludes and even short plays. It differed from variety in that the acts were linked by a topical idea or theme.

  • Florence Mills



    Florence Mills
    Mid 1920s
    Black and white photograph
    © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

    London first saw Florence Mills in C.B.Cochran’s revue Dover Street to Dixie in 1923. There were rumours that an anti-coloured demonstration was planned, but after one song, London was at her feet. Cochran later presented her in the smash hit black revue Black Birds. Mills never overtly wooed her audience, yet always aroused them to wild enthusiasm. Cochran remembered her voice, ‘bird-like, with a throb in it such as I have never heard in any other. In her quietest moment her eyes would suddenly flash, her beautiful little vibrant face would light up, and her frail, lithe limbs would become animated with a sort of dancing delirium’. He considered Mills one of the greatest stars he ever presented. She was born in 1895, to ex-slaves in a Washington, D.C. slum. By the age of four, she was performing on stage. By the 1920s, she was the toast of Broadway and London and the first black woman featured in Vogue. She became a role model and her success helped audiences accept black performers. Her trademark song, ‘I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird’ was a protest against racial inequality. Mills died in 1927, aged only 31. At her funeral the mourners sang her hit song ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’.

  • Scene from André Charlot's revue Keep Smiling



    Scene from André Charlot's revue Keep Smiling
    1913
    Royal Alhambra Theatre, London
    Sepia tone photograph
    © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

    The revue Keep Smiling was another success for André Charlot who, in 1912, introduced spectacular revue to the Alhambra programmes. Rather than being a story set to music, the revue presented a series of songs, dances, sketches and burlesques, linked by a common theme or a topical reference. Revue was very fluid. Even after the first night, if a number didn't work it would be dropped and another tried. 'The Girl Who's Followed in the Street' was added early in 1914 into a scene called 'Tango Tease!', a pun on Tango teas. The Tango, with its sultry, sexy overtones, was the dance sensation of the time and Tango teas were held in all the fashionable hotels where respectable couples could follow the new craze. The photograph shows Marguerite Haney dressed in the height of 1913 fashion, with eight boys from the chorus.

  • 'The Cakewalk' dance in the revue All the Year Round



    'The Cakewalk' dance in the revue All the Year Round
    1904
    Royal Alhambra Theatre, London
    © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

    The picture shows 'The Cakewalk' dance in the Bank Holiday scene of All the Year Round. Topicality was an important feature of revue. Given the craze for the Cakewalk following its introduction to London in In Dahomey, it was inevitable that it would turn up in the Alhambra revue, All the Year Round at the Alhambra Theatre in 1904. It was introduced into the riverside August Bank Holiday scene.

  • The Railway Porters on Parade scene from Keep Smiling



    The Railway Porters on Parade scene from Keep Smiling
    Produced by André Charlot and M. V. Leveaux
    1913
    Royal Alhambra Theatre, London
    © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

    This photograph shows the scene Railway Porters on Parade from the Alhambra's 1913 spectacular revue Keep Smiling, produced by André Charlot and M.V.Leveaux. The scene involved an American Girl, played by Lee White, her eight Maids, and eight Porters. The trunks on which the maids are standing were typical of those used at a time when there were no aeroplanes and all transatlantic travel was by ship. It was very prestigious to have lots of luggage labels over your trunks, to show how well-travelled you were. This Girl is clearly very rich (with eight maids) and well-travelled. Revue titles didn't necessarily give you much idea of what the show was about. They were just labels for bright, swift-moving, spectacular entertainments. As long as they were short, catchy and, therefore, easily remembered, most producers were happy. When he eventually went into management on his own, Charlot developed a more intimate form of revue, depending more on wit and topicality than spectacle and big numbers.

  • Chorus members, In Dahomey



    Rhoda King, Jessie Ellis, Birdie Williams and Ida Gigas
    Members of the chorus in the first all black musical comedy In Dahomey
    1903
    Shaftesbury Theatre, London
    The Sketch magazine pp.10
    Museum no. NAL 131655
    © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

    In Dahomey boasted a cast of over one hundred and starred the famous double act Williams and Walker. It was a huge success and the Cakewalk, and Buck and Wing dances featured in the production became the latest dance hall crazes in the UK. The show was heavily publicised. Photographs of the production showing the prettiest chorus girls appeared in all the illustrated magazines and the front of the theatre was covered with posters and photographs. At this time, there were few black people to be seen in the West End, so the management made sure that the performers were seen walking up and down Shaftesbury Avenue to increase public interest in the show.

  • A scene from André Charlot’s revue Kill That Fly!



    A scene from André Charlot’s revue Kill That Fly!
    1912
    Royal Alhambra Theatre, London
    Sepia tone photograph
    © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

    Kill That Fly! was one of André Charlot’s first revues in England. It opened in 1912. Charlot went on to create a string of successes at the Alhambra and other leading London theatres. He produced 36 revues between 1915 and 1935. His only close rival was C.B.Cochran.

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