File:A wanderer in London (1906) (14579896969).jpg

Identifier: wandererinlondon00luca (find matches)
Title: A wanderer in London
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall), 1868-1938
Subjects: Art -- England London London (England) -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York : The Macmillan company London, Methuen & co.

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the time tables of the two or three otherswhither the comedian is bound like an arrow immediatelyhe has acknowledged the applause. London, however, bows to the pluralising system. Heraudiences, being infinitely stronger than managers, couldstop it instantly if they wished; but the ordinary Londonaudience neither uses its strength nor is aware that it hasany. Instead, it grumbles a little, and composes itself forthe next turn. The conservatism of the Hall is an interesting study.Although this class of entertainment has so grown inpopularity that it may now be said to draw all classes, thearticulate performers still address one class and one only—the class to whom the old vulgar jokes alone appeal; theclass for whom every low comedian in pantomimes all overthe country toils every Christmas, and for whom the comicscenes in melodrama are invariably written. The theatreshave room for illustration of every variety of life, and intheir pits and galleries at even the most intellectual plays
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THK SIIIMMI (.IKI. AFTEK TIIK IlrTIRK l!V llO(;.\ l;l II IN I UK NATmNAI. (iAM^KRY LONDON STREET HUMOUR 61 many representatives of the typical Music Hall audiencemay be found; yet in the Halls themselves no effort ismade to depart from such tried and trusted topics asdrunkenness and infidelity, the disillusionments of marriageand the dark constitution of sausages, the embarrassmentof twins and fleas and mothers-in-law, — the imaginaryscene of trouble being always some such small meanstreet as Berraondsey or Kentish Town abounds in. It is rather odd, this persistence, this unfaltering appealto one type of bosom. It means I suppose that a visit tothe Music Hall is looked upon by all as sheer recreation,and any kind of thought in even so limited a degree aswould be set up by the faintest suspicion of novelty in thesubject-matter of even a tuneful song would be resented.The eye and the ear alone are involved: the mind never. The contrast between the finish and eflBciency of thejugglers

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