What A Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment - Thursday 2100, BBC Four TV

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    What A Performance! Pioneers of Popular Entertainment - Thursday 2100, BBC Four TV

    Episode 1 of 3 - Music Hall

    Comedian Frank Skinner and music presenter Suzy Klein step out in the first part of this highly entertaining and thought-provoking three-part series which explores a century of popular entertainment from the Victorian age of the music hall, through the golden age of 20th-century variety to the working men's clubs of the 1950s. The first episode looks at the birth of 19th-century music hall, the colourful 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. Episode 2 will look at "Variety".


    #2
    Thanks for the link, L-L. I saw a trailer for this and was keen to see it but we've had guests over the last couple of days.

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      #3
      Originally posted by pastoralguy View Post
      Thanks for the link, L-L. I saw a trailer for this and was keen to see it but we've had guests over the last couple of days.
      Erm,...The programme is not due to be scheduled until, Thurs, 3 Dec,BBC4, 21.00hrs!

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        #4
        Alas, after several weeks of incisive documentaries, it was disappointing to see this dud programme last night. I did a fair stint of learning my craft in 'rep' throughout the 60s and always grabbed the opportunity to work in revue, Victorian/Edwardian music hall or pantomime as it provided a rare opportunity to break through the parameters of 'the fourth wall', the imaginary area between the pros arch and the auditorium and have direct eye contact with the audience as you acquire the confidence to 'be yourself' on a one- to- one basis; you learn how to time a line, point a number, how to move and, most of all, use adrenalin for the essential energy quotient which reaches the furthest point in the theatre, you 'draw 'em in' in the process with a sense of scale and a rare sense of casual intimacy. You sense the warmth surrounding you. At the back of my mind, always, was an indelible memory of seeing as an 8 year old, the great Florrie Forde, in the late thirties; immaculate and assured in presence as she sang, Down at the Old Bull and Bush, with such panache and affection for the ballad - and she must have sang it hundreds of times over the years.

        Last night, Frank Skinner gave us a few glimmers and a sense of a bygone era but the programme never got off-the-ground, "flat, stale and unprofitable.."

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          #5
          Originally posted by Stanley Stewart View Post
          ... it was disappointing to see this dud programme last night ... never got off-the-ground, "flat, stale and unprofitable.."
          [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

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            #6
            Yet another Suzy disappointment.

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              #7
              As the critics have also criticised the programme, I am not going to watch it on I-Player.

              Disappointing!

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