What a Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment
Suzy Klein and Frank Skinner look at the century-long history of music halls and variety theatre between 1850 and 1950 and recreate famous acts from Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno to Vera Lynn and Max Miller.
- 2015-2015
- 1 season
- Documentary, Music
Suzy Klein and Frank Skinner look at the century-long history of music halls and variety theatre between 1850 and 1950 and recreate famous acts from Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno to Vera Lynn and Max Miller.
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Cast & Crew
Season 1 Episode Guide
Episode 1
The Birth of Music Hall
60 mins
Looks at the birth of 19th-century music hall, the colorful and sometimes dangerous world of its entertainers and the audiences whose lives were changed by what was Britain's first mass entertainment industry. Together, Suzy and Frank get under the skin of some of its greatest stars - some of whom, like Marie Lloyd and Champagne Charlie, are household names to this day, while the eccentric Victorian comic Dan Leno, later copied by Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, have fallen into obscurity. Not only do Frank and Suzy dig into the history of these stars and the world from which they emerged, but they also study their acts and try their hand at performing them at the end of the show.
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