Hello Elva + Karen I found this info and though it might be of interest VAUDEVILLE AND MUSIC-HALL. The music-hall and the presentation of variety programmes have their origin in hostelries and public-houses in England, where, from the 18th century onwards, 'turns' in the bars and tap-rooms and, in the absence of halls or theatres, performances of various kinds in the dining-rooms became customary. This custom was followed in South Africa from about the middle of the 19th century onwards and was greatly stimulated when a large population flocked to Kimberley when diamonds were discovered in 1871. The 'turns' of individual performers or of small companies (usually the members of a family travelling by ox-wagon) began the staging of vaudeville, and when gold had been discovered on the Witwatersrand and the town of Johannesburg arose in 1886 the music-hall proper appeared. By then, with several sizable towns in existence, it was feasible to import expensive variety artistes and this was pioneered by the firm Hyman Bros. & Alexander. Aubrey Hyman chose the turns in London while Edgar Hyman and his partner, Moss Alexander, managed the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg, which they opened in 1894 on the premises of the old Globe Theatre in Commissioner Street in Ferreiratown. Traditionally, this little theatre was distinguished more by the size of its bar than by its stage facilities, and many of those who patronised it neither entered the auditorium nor paid any attention to the performances. The music-hall in Johannesburg in these early days was a social centre for mining men of every rank, including the magnates. On a Saturday night 200 bottles of champagne would be sold at the first Empire Palace of Varieties and miners, already being paid up to ?120 a month, would seek no change from a ?5 note for the price of a drink. It was a place for men, and women seldom attended. The temper of the times was best measured by the uproarious music-hall song 'Ta-ra-ra boom-de-ay', first sung in London in 1891 by Lottie Collins. Robust gaiety immediately characterised the second Empire Theatre of Varieties, which the Hymans opened in 1896 on the corner of Kruis and Commissioner Streets (the site of the third Empire Theatre, built by I. W. Schlesinger, opened in 1937 and demolished in 1973). Johannesburg was booming and taking an active part in the 'naughty nineties' by providing adequate recompense for the importation of the most eminent and expensive variety stars. Among them were Marie Lloyd, the juggler Cinquevalli, the prestidigitator Carl Hertz, who brought the first projected motion pictures, and the famous Jenny Hill. 'I recollect' wrote an eye-witness forty years later, 'when Jenny Hill, the great vital spark, made her appearance. She was then getting on in years and very ill. A chair was placed in the middle of the stage and when the curtain went up she was sitting there. The house went mad with cheering. She could not sing but simply sat there. . ..' Adulation of popular performers and of all female entertainers belonged to the period. It was stated that the 'stage-door Johnnies' in Johannesburg (including some very eminent men) waited for their favourites at the Empire 'with a bouquet of orchids in one hand and a diamond bracelet in the other'. Some notabilities kept permanent boxes and others were always to be found at a specific place at the bar or in a stall. Professional pugilistic contests, forbidden in the Transvaal Republic, were sometimes held on the stage after the variety performance had concluded. No institution in South Africa could rival the Empire Theatre of Varieties in Johannesburg and it was, in fact, the only music-hall worthy of the name until the 20th century. In 1898 the Pekin Palace of Varieties was opened in Mostert Street, Cape Town, by an entrepreneur named Dawes, but its survival would have been doubtful without the outbreak of war. In 1899 the Hymans evacuated the whole Empire company to Cape Town, where it played in the Good Hope Hall before returning to England. Over- sea artistes were afraid of visiting South Africa under war conditions but there existed a large public composed principally of soldiers. A number of music- halls therefore arose in the coastal towns, mostly served by local talent and of increasingly unsavoury reputation. It was said of the Pekin Palace of Varieties in Cape Town that the leather seats of its chairs were full of either beer or blood every night. The Masonic Hall in St. John's Street, Cape Town, became successively the New Palace of Varieties, the Empire, the Alhambra, the New Alhambra, and the Gaiety all purveying vaudeville. Even the Odd- fellows Hall in Plein Street became the Cambridge Music Hall (owned by J. L. Sacks, who was later connected with the opening of the Palladium in Johannesburg). The demand for variety entertainment reached its zenith and in 1903 the Tivoli Theatre was opened in Cape Town with a company intended for the reopening of the Empire Palace of Varieties in Johannesburg. There was then increased opportunity for profit on imported stars, and in the larger towns the Hymans introduced Sandow and Cinquevalli (1904), La Tortajaga and R. G. Knowles (1905), Ada Reeve and George Robey (1906), Eugene Stratton and Connie Ediss (1907) and many others. Ada Reeve visited South Africa three more times in 1909 (when Wee Georgie Wood was also on the programme), in 1913 (when she was instrumental in persuading I. W. Schlesinger to enter the theatrical business) and in 1919-20, when she played the lead in Winnie Brooke, widow and The merry widow. By then vaudeville had lost ground to musical comedy and drama. The severe post-war depression from 1903 onwards affected all forms of entertainment, including the music-hall, but the Empire in Johannesburg and the Tivoli in Cape Town continued to provide variety. Drama almost disappeared and at times entertainment was sustained almost entirely by the circus, which itself presented a form of vaudeville with imported acrobatic and other turns. Itinerant exhibitions of moving pictures, at comparatively low cost to purveyors and public, became increasingly popular, and by 1910 cut-throat competition had developed between the music-halls and the new 'electric theatres', which films being short and imperfect were forced to add turns to their programmes in order to maintain public interest. These turns were often of indifferent quality and consisted of local singers, Indian club swingers, whistlers, instrumentalists, elocutionists and 'child prodigies'. 'Bio-vaudeville' had the country in its grip, and 'bioscopes' opened and closed with extraordinary rapidity in all the larger towns. The music-halls tried to ride the tide by establishing 'circuits' throughout the country in order to obtain a fuller return on the very high cost of artistes from abroad, but their programmes were no longer pure variety, as they contained films. In March 1913 a new bio-vaudeville house, the Palladium, was opened 'between the chains' on the site of the old Stock Exchange in Johannesburg, but by then the whole structure of entertainment had collapsed and soon afterwards even the Empire Theatres group with its extensive circuit went into liquidation. The Palladium followed within a few weeks. Its programme of variety artistes (led by Daisy Wood, sister of Marie Lloyd, at a salary of ?150 a week) cost ?650 a week, which it was impossible to recover in the face of cheap 'bioscope' competition. I. W. Schlesinger re-organised the whole entertainment business (one of his first steps was to close a large number of bio-vaudeville houses) and the music-hall as such virtually disappeared. Variety persisted in a number of forms, notably in the revues and musical comedies which characterised the period of the First World War, and in special vaudeville companies which were occasionally presented by African Theatres and other entrepreneurs. Thus South Africa saw W. C. Fields (then a comedy conjuror and later a famous film star) in 1914; Beth Tate, J. W. Rickaby, and Harry Lauder, in 1920; Wilkie Bard in 1921; Clive Maskelyne in 1925, followed by other companies led by conjurors such as Nicola, Chefalo, etc.; George Robey in 1929; and many other famous music-hall stars. The popularity of variety programmes (even in the form of jazz and other bands, choirs, and concert parties) steadily dwindled and, despite their periodic revival, they never regained the hectic adulation and heady atmosphere of the nineties, nor was the music-hall as a form of public entertainment ever re established THELMA GUT5CHE EIBL. J. Langley Levy ('Gadabout'): reminiscences published intermittently in Sunday Times; Ada Reeve: Take it for a fact (1954); Carl Hertz: A modern mystery merchant (1924); Hedley Chilvers: Out of the crucible (1929); Lou Cohen: Reminiscences of Johannesburg and London (1924); T. Gutsche: Motion pictures in South Africa 1895-1940 (1972). Source Standard Encylopeadia of South Africa Copyright Learnining on Line kind regards Heather Visit South Africa's premier Genealogy + Family History Web sites : www.familytree.co.za <http://www.familytree.co.za> + www.ancestry.mweb.co.za <http://www.ancestry.mweb.co.za> -----Original Message----- From: Elva Hanly [mailto:theaviary@bigpond.com] Sent: 22 May 2005 05:17 AM To: SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [South-Africa-Cape-Town] Re: Newspaper information Hi Karen, I wonder if the 2 night's entertainment would have been held at the Tivoli Music Hall on cnr of Plein and Darling Sts in Cape Town? Apparently overseas artists used to perform there. Perhaps someone living in CT may know if this venue was in operation around 1830-33. Regards, Elva > From: "Karen Reynolds" <kamp4@optusnet.com.au> > Date: 21 May 2005 9:49:58 AM > To: SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Newspaper infomation. > > > Hi all, > I was wondering is there a newspaper archive that would mention a ship > wreck from the 1830-1833. > As the cinema gave 2 night entertainment to raise money for the > shipwrecked people be clothed and fares paid back to England. It > would/could be possible that it was advertised. > Also Abraham should have advertised his horses, mules and sheep for > sale. This could also be in the paper. > Is there anyway i could find this out? > Thanks for your time as Im sure its as precious as mine is. > Karen > ==== SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN Mailing List ==== www.sagenealogy.co.za - passenger lists, genealogy links,CDs and books ============================== Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. New content added every business day. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx

Hi Elva and Karen again I found this in amongst my goodies: THEATRICAL HISTORY. The lot of the first soldiers and workmen at the Cape was extremely hard and they had neither time nor inclination for any but immediately available relaxation. Later, when a settlement grew round the Fort and menial work could be done by imported labourers, the garrisoning troops had more opportunity for organised leisure. In the 18th century these troops were mostly mercenaries - especially German - and Cape Town having established itself as a port of call for the ships of many nations by the middle of the 18th century, cultural life in the town was stimulated by the contact. The Dutch colonists and officials did not incline toward frivolous entertainment, but officers of the garrisoning regiments readily took part in dramatic performances. In 1795 the British came, stayed a few years and returned in 1806 for more than a century of sovereign administration. They had a profound influence on the evolution of the theatre in general and of drama particularly. During the first occupation the British troops felt the lack of distraction among a community that spoke mostly Dutch and was covertly antagonistic. There were by then a few sports such as hunting, racing and assaults-at-arms, but little else, and they had to organise their own leisure. Some of the more enterprising officers began to stage amateur theatricals in what came to be known as the Garrison Theatre in Cape Town. A few of these men had considerable talent, both as playwrights and as players, and before long they had so stimulated a nostalgic public demand for the drama that the Governor, Sir George Yonge, was successfully petitioned to sanction the licensing of a theatre. This 'African Theatre' remained open from 1802 until 1839 and subsequently became, and still remains a church (see St. Stephen's Church). The first companies to play on its boards were quasi- amateur and mostly recruited from the garrison. Plays of every kind were staged, although sometimes long intervals separated performances which, in the absence of all facilities, required prodigious efforts. All the female parts were taken by officers and it was not until well into the century that women appeared on the stage. They were nearly all married ladies and participated fully in the terrible struggle to make a living from the theatre which characterised the first non-military performances. At first English plays predominated, but there were sometimes sessions of French plays; possibly inspired by these successful examples, the Dutch community sponsored performances of Dutch drama in their own hall. Many pieces were translated into Dutch for them. When they came to the Cape in 1816 Lord Charles Somerset and his lady had a box at the African Theatre and gave their patronage willingly to the performances produced by the military and by the few professionals who began to attempt dramatic entertainment. Sundry civilians now offered dramatic presentations, interspersed with variety turns. Two or three short plays would be staged on one night in a reconstructed warehouse or store, accompanied by recitations, musical interludes or even a tumbler or acrobat. Regimental bands often provided music for these non-military enterprises, which were often of inferior quality and attended by stage calamities, but they filled a need in a community hankering after a tradition and with a European culture still fresh in mind despite long exile. The men and women who tried to present drama at this time were often rendered penniless and friends sometimes organised 'benefit nights' to save them from starvation. The struggle to provide theatre for the sophisticated though mostly transient section of the Cape community was sometimes assisted by passing players on their way to a more populated Australia or to Mauritius and India. They would be seized from their ships, lying in Table Bay for watering and revictualling, and induced to perform in Cape Town for the few days of their stay. Despite the occasional presence of these professional players, theatrical conditions remained crude in the extreme, with few encouraging features, particularly as the country's economy was disastrously deflated. The advancement of the drama in South Africa has always been stimulated by historical calamity, through the need to raise funds for its victims. As early as 1835 theatrical performances were given in Cape Town to provide relief for the people - mostly 1820 settlers - ruined by the Fifth Frontier War. Some years later the same efforts were made for the dependants of those lost on the troopship Birkenhead in 1853. Every war in which South Africa has been implicated has had the effect of stimulating the theatre, although post-war depressions have almost killed it. By the middle of the 19th century two factors had emerged to stimulate the development of theatrical entertainment. As the borders of the Colony were continually extended and settlers introduced from overseas, little towns began to appear - Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, King William's Town and Durban, where English traders established themselves soon after the 5820 Settlers had come to strengthen the thin population of the Eastern Province. New inland villages, such as Cradock and Colesberg, were founded, and the existing ones, such as Graaff-Reinet, increased in population. Farther afield, settlements had been established at Bloemfontein, Pietermaritzburg and Pretoria, which gradually acquired English-speaking inhabitants. The second factor was that the people began to be more truly South African. Where before the population had consisted for a large part of transient Europeans, either military or administrative, backed by a comparatively small number of uncultured burghers deep in the hinterland, there now was in existence a public claiming South Africa as its own and ready to vary its existence by dramatic and other diversions. The immediate effect was a burgeoning of local talent, largely in the field of concerts but also in amateur theatricals. Talented singers and instrumentalists could sometimes be counted among the inhabitants of remote villages and frequently gave concerts, usually to raise funds for their church or school. The desire for professional entertainment in the towns and villages was more often met by the early circus, consisting of a few animals, an acrobat and a juggler, and by travelling bands of quasi- professional players. These usually consisted of a former actor and his wife, with such hangers-on as were prepared to share their precarious existence. With high-flown names, usually French, these performers presented programmes of musical items and dramatic sketches in stores, rooms at inns or any available space, moving on, often for reasons of expediency, to the next village as soon as possible. Their transport was mostly by ox-wagon, since few could afford the expense of horse and cart. Their advent marked the beginning of professional entertainment throughout the country. Hardly any theatres existed and even in Cape Town dramatic companies were forced to play in converted warehouses. Extraordinary enterprise was shown by the first pioneering players, both men and women, and small touring companies began to increase, travelling always by ox-wagon. It was on this basis that Captain Disney Roebuck, the outstanding pioneer of the 70S and 80's, later built. His energy in presenting plays in Cape Town and touring the towns and villages greatly helped to habituate the public to drama. There were also the professional players on their way to Australia (where there was a gold rush) who consented to perform in Cape Town and were often acclaimed by sizable audiences. In the larger villages such as Grahamstown the garrison also stimulated the drama and officers sometimes staged a series of plays in halls or public rooms in inns. However, drama had hardly penetrated to the hinterland, where variety programmes of musical items, acrobats and stunt performers were more likely to gain favour than melodramatic sketches requiring scenery and other features difficult to transport. The picture of amateur effort was suddenly changed by the discovery of diamonds at the river diggings on the Orange River in i866 and at the dry diggings in 1870-71 in the Northern Cape and the Orange Free State. A huge influx of more sophisticated adventurers not only stimulated trade in all the towns along the routes to the diggings, but also provided an eager audience for any kind of entertainment. Even so small a place as Colesberg suddenly boomed with the coach, cart and wagon trade and the manufacture of sieves, cradles and other digging requirements; while the coastal towns, such as Port Elizabeth, hummed with commercial activity. The new population provoked the emergence not only of a host of itinerant entertainers but the building of new theatres, such as the wood-and-iron Theatre Royal in Kimberley. Although there was money to be had in the booming villages and in the new camp towns, where thousands of diggers, buyers, speculators and officials congregated, the first touring dramatic companies endured daunting difficulties. There were virtually no roads, the old tracks having been destroyed by sudden heavy traffic, so that even the big stage-coaches often travelled across the veld. Few theatrical entrepreneurs could afford horse-wagons, and most travelled slowly and painfully by ox-wagon. The village stores and warehouses in which the little companies played had no stage, dressing-rooms, curtains, seating, lighting or any other facilities - everything had to be improvised. When droughts and floods came, rinderpest and sickness, there were sometimes deaths among the small pioneering bands, apart from frequent desertions or marital differences which sapped the whole enterprise. The theatre-going public of the eighties preferred variety to straight drama, and in the diamond-camp towns much was provided by local talent of Cockney and other origin, performances being given by potential magnates such as Barney Barnato. But even the amateurs occasionally provided dramatic sketches or excerpts from famous plays, and they were usually included in the programmes offered by the touring ensembles, short domestic dramas being presented with the entrepreneur and his wife in the lead. It was never certain whether they would be greeted with hoots or approbation. The prosperity following on the discovery of diamonds encouraged more ambitious theatrical enterprises, particularly by Roebuck and others at the Cape. Apart from occasional cryptic mention in the first newspapers, there is no written record of the many little theatrical companies which sought to exploit the situation; but in A show through Southern Africa Charles du Val, a pioneering theatrical manager, recorded his experiences of touring almost the whole country by horse-wagon in 1880-8i. There was hardly a village too small for him to visit and he tells how the townsfolk, now used to the arrival of 'shows', would during the day place their own chairs in the store or warehouse destined for the evening's performance. When Du Val, after participating in the war of 1881 in the Transvaal, left the country there were already several others in the field. An early pioneering theatrical enterprise, travelling by ox-wagon throughout the country, was operated by the Wheeler family - Benjamin ('Daddy') Wheeler, his wife, and their little son Frank, who later became one of South Africa's most energetic impresarios. It might he said that they put on a show rather than staged a play, but indisputably they helped to inculcate a love of theatre in remote places. The pieces offered were of the type of the sentimental East Lynne (by Mrs. Henry Wood), broad farce or melodrama. The biggest incentive to the development of the drama and theatrical entertainment generally was the building of theatres which occurred at this period. The Theatre Royal in Cape Town, built by Roebuck, was destroyed by fire in 1883; but others took its place, such as the Vaudeville Hall in Loop Street and other halls. In 1882 the old Trafalgar Theatre in Durban was replaced by a Theatre Royal, and in Kimberley the wood-and-iron Theatre Royal and Lanyon Theatre became features of the town. In the smaller towns improved facilities were available for touring companies, which now tended toward light operatic and musical presentations. The discovery of gold in the Transvaal during the seventies and eighties, which established Johannesburg as a town and not a transient mining camp, provided South Africa with another enormous access of population, and the entertainment field with unprecedented stimuli to development. Entrepreneurs who had struggled at the coastal towns with vaudeville, musical and dramatic programmes now flocked to the Witwatersrand, where finance was soon found to accommodate them. One of the first dramatic enterprises was launched by the remarkably versatile Luscombe Searelle who, successfully performing in Durban at the time, transported his entire company, effects and corrugated-iron theatre by ox-wagon to Johannesburg and established the Theatre Royal in 1889. It was quickly followed by numerous music- halls and by the imposing Standard Theatre, which after many vicissitudes opened in 1891. Elsewhere the same burgeoning in the entertainment field was seen in the opening of the Good Hope Hall and the Opera House in Cape Town, Scott's Theatre in Pietermaritzburg, the Opera House in Port Elizabeth; and later the Grand Theatre in Bloemfontein, the Opera House in Pretoria and many other venues, including music-halls such as the Tivoli in Cape Town after the Second Anglo-Boer War. There was by now a large pleasure-loving and affluent public throughout the country and appropriately equipped buildings in which they could be entertained. These provided an incentive for the importation of entertainment companies of every kind of both local impresarios (notably the Wheelers and Frank de Jong) and oversea interests, and for the presentation of drama and light opera by early pioneers such as Searelle, A. Bonamici, and later Leonard Rayne. During the late eighties and early nineties theatrical entertainment was extremely varied. Although artistes of the standard of the famous actress Mrs. Lewis Waller, Madame Albani (the singer) and Edward Terry appeared at the same time as the Moody-Manners Opera Company and the Wheeler Edwardes Gaiety Companies, music and drama fought a losing battle against variety and the informal atmosphere of the music-hall with its bar and promenade (of which, in Johannesburg particularly, there were a large number). The tension of the times and the ready availability of money among a crowd of adventurers and speculators produced conditions requiring excitement rather than culture. Much of the early theatre was vaudeville and light opera. The circumstances of its presentation could vary from men leaping from the boxes on to the stage and fighting over the reigning footlight favourite, to the theatre catching fire (as sometimes happened owing to faulty wiring). The visiting vaudeville stars commanded high salaries, and gaiety rather than merit ruled the scene. After the diamond- and gold-rush years and the period of extremely rapid development which diamonds and gold made possible - particularly the introduction of amenities such as electric light and trams, railways, water-supply systems, better roads and other improvements - came a more settled population, with higher standards, and requiring something more than mere distraction. From the early nineties onwards the theatre proper began to assert itself. The Wheelers now imported first-class stars and organised country-wide tours for their companies. Frank de Jong brought out the famed Sass-Nelson musical and dramatic companies and many others. Leonard Rayne, arriving in 1896 as an actor-producer, began to develop his own organisation and to establish dramatic stock companies. There began to be a profusion of theatrical entertainment of high quality, presented in typical Victorian theatres of red plush, shining chandeliers and rows of boxes. The music-hall or 'palace of varieties', which it was not considered seemly for ladies to attend, continued to be dominant, however. This very varied entertainment, overshadowed by vaudeville, continued until the outbreak of the war in 1899. The immediate effect, especially of the influx of troops demanding entertainment, was to stimulate the theatre in the non-belligerent areas and also to cause the opening of a host of disreputable music- halls at the ports. Large numbers of dramatic companies were imported from England and legitimate drama flourished. In 1901, for instance, the Wheelers imported the famous American actress Nance O'Neill. In one month in South Africa she played the lead in Sudermann's Magda, Dumas 's Camille, Sardou's Tosca and Fedora, Queen Elizabeth, Sheridan's School for scandal, Peg Woffington and The Jewess. Later star performers were Lily Langtry (1905) and the famous Mrs. Brown Potter (1907). After the war a gradual decline set in on account of the withdrawal of troops and administrative officials, and the fact that South Africa, still split into four separate units, entered a phase of drastic political and economic depression. Eventually circuses and the new travelling 'bioscopes' became the only consistent forms of theatrical amusement. Only Leonard Rayne with his company at the Standard in Johannesburg represented the drama. By 1909, with the promise of the solution of political problems by unification, the theatre suddenly began to improve and drama proper began to vie with vaudeville. An increasing number of companies playing straight drama were imported and Shakespeare became a vogue. In 1911-12 Matheson Lang appeared in Shakespearean plays and in Jerome K. Jerome's The passing of the third floor back. In 1911, and again in 1913, Henry Herbert and his Stratford-on- Avon Players presented many of Shakespeare's plays in the main towns; while H. B. Irving acted in a season of Shakespeare and other plays in 1913. The renascence of the legitimate theatre was accompanied by the first resounding success of a local dramatist, Stephen Black, whose topical Love and the hyphen, presented by Frank de Jong with a South African cast including the author, was first produced in 1909 and rapturously acclaimed in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and other centres. It was followed with al most equal success by Helena's Hope, but less happily by Jannie Kortbroek and, later, The flopper and Van Kalabas does his bit. Also after Union, concert parties such as the Steele- Payne Bellringers, the Royal Besses o' the Barn and the Royal Welsh Choir, Gaiety companies and renowned singers and instrumentalists came in increasing numbers, while old-fashioned variety in the cities fought to withstand new competition. The first permanent cinemas appeared, catering for new strata of society at very low prices and meeting cut-throat competition by presenting their programmes of grotesquely-animated films with intervening vaudeville turns. In this rich field drama continued under healthy conditions; but the bioscope-vaudeville business, over-exploited and over-capitalised by the importation of expensive artistes for whom no mensurate return could be expected from the public, wavered and collapsed. Early in 1913 bankruptcy faced the music-hall owners, who had provided entertainment from the earliest theatrical days. They appealed to an insurance magnate, I. W. Schlesinger, to save their business and in May 1913, together with other administrative companies, he formed the African Theatres Trust Ltd., later African Theatres, and still later African Consolidated Theatres Ltd., which undertook the administration of theatres and the provision of dramatic and other entertainment. At the same time the Australian firm of J. C. Williamson entered the South African field and presented oversea companies in dramatic and musical pieces in theatres controlled by Schlesinger. The period of the First World War wrought fundamental changes in the structure of entertainment in South Africa. The attractions of the legitimate theatre came into competition with new forms of entertainment such as the musical revue with topical songs, which attained high popularity, with the new phenomenon of jazz, and with the cinema proper, now organised on a sound basis by Schlesinger. The value of the cinema as inexpensive distraction was greatly enhanced by its presentation of war news- reels. It was no longer possible to import dramatic companies with the same ease as previously (although the war ended with Marie Tempest and a London company playing Good gracious, Annabelle by Glare Kummer in Johannesburg), and it was indeed largely through the consistent efforts of Leonard Rayne and his local stock companies that drama survived. Afrer the First World War, when the public became tired of escapist frivolity and inclined more toward worth-while entertainment, the theatre again experienced considerable prosperity, despite the competition of the burgeoning cinema, now patronised by all strata of society. The ten years that followed the First World War saw many companies of merit, led by some of the best-known performers in the oversea theatre. They included Allen Doone with his very popular Irish plays, Ada Reeve in musicals such as Lehar 's Merry widow and, later, Floradora (by Leslie Stuart), Sir Frank Benson declaiming Shakespeare in traditional style, Gertrude Elliott (Lady Forbes- Robertson) playing in Paddy the next best thing (by W. Gayer Mackay and Robert Ord), Irene Vanbrugh, Maurice Moscovitch with his memorable The outsider (by Dorothy Brandon) and The merchant of Venice, the Macdona Players staging Bernard Shaw (then a provocative force in drama), and many others. In addition, Leonard Rayne toured with his companies, in which the immensely popular Freda Godfrey was leading lady, throughout the country and remained in continuous occupation of the Opera House in Cape Town. Afrer this glorious decade, and long before the advent of 'talkies', the theatre began to decline. Copyright Family Tree.co.za kind regards Heather Visit South Africa's premier Genealogy + Family History Web sites : www.familytree.co.za <http://www.familytree.co.za> + www.ancestry.mweb.co.za <http://www.ancestry.mweb.co.za>

Just for the record, there is a wonderful book out 'there' called "The Story of South African Theatre 1780 - 1930" by Jill Fletcher - well worth a read! Regards P ----- Original Message ----- From: "Heather MacAlister" <heather@ancestors.co.za> To: <SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 1:28 PM Subject: [South-Africa-Cape-Town] Theatrical History of SA > Hi Elva and Karen again > > I found this in amongst my goodies: > > > THEATRICAL HISTORY. The lot of the first soldiers and workmen at the Cape > was extremely hard and they had neither time nor inclination for any but > immediately available relaxation. Later, when a settlement grew round the > Fort and menial work could be done by imported labourers, the garrisoning > troops had more opportunity for organised leisure. > In the 18th century these troops were mostly mercenaries - especially > German - and Cape Town having established itself as a port of call for the > ships of many nations by the middle of the 18th century, cultural life in > the town was stimulated by the contact. The Dutch colonists and officials > did not incline toward frivolous entertainment, but officers of the > garrisoning regiments readily took part in dramatic performances. > > In 1795 the British came, stayed a few years and returned in 1806 for more > than a century of sovereign administration. They had a profound influence > on > the evolution of the theatre in general and of drama particularly. During > the first occupation the British troops felt the lack of distraction among > a > community that spoke mostly Dutch and was covertly antagonistic. There > were > by then a few sports such as hunting, racing and assaults-at-arms, but > little else, and they had to organise their own leisure. Some of the more > enterprising officers began to stage amateur theatricals in what came to > be > known as the Garrison Theatre in Cape Town. A few of these men had > considerable talent, both as playwrights and as players, and before long > they had so stimulated a nostalgic public demand for the drama that the > Governor, Sir George Yonge, was successfully petitioned to sanction the > licensing of a theatre. This 'African Theatre' remained open from 1802 > until > 1839 and subsequently became, and still remains a church (see St. > Stephen's > Church). > > The first companies to play on its boards were quasi- amateur and mostly > recruited from the garrison. Plays of every kind were staged, although > sometimes long intervals separated performances which, in the absence of > all > facilities, required prodigious efforts. All the female parts were taken > by > officers and it was not until well into the century that women appeared on > the stage. They were nearly all married ladies and participated fully in > the > terrible struggle to make a living from the theatre which characterised > the > first non-military performances. At first English plays predominated, but > there were sometimes sessions of French plays; possibly inspired by these > successful examples, the Dutch community sponsored performances of Dutch > drama in their own hall. Many pieces were translated into Dutch for them. > When they came to the Cape in 1816 Lord Charles Somerset and his lady had > a > box at the African Theatre and gave their patronage willingly to the > performances produced by the military and by the few professionals who > began > to attempt dramatic entertainment. > > Sundry civilians now offered dramatic presentations, interspersed with > variety turns. Two or three short plays would be staged on one night in a > reconstructed warehouse or store, accompanied by recitations, musical > interludes or even a tumbler or acrobat. Regimental bands often provided > music for these non-military enterprises, which were often of inferior > quality and attended by stage calamities, but they filled a need in a > community hankering after a tradition and with a European culture still > fresh in mind despite long exile. The men and women who tried to present > drama at this time were often rendered penniless and friends sometimes > organised 'benefit nights' to save them from starvation. The struggle to > provide theatre for the sophisticated though mostly transient section of > the > Cape community was sometimes assisted by passing players on their way to a > more populated Australia or to Mauritius and India. They would be seized > from their ships, lying in Table Bay for watering and revictualling, and > induced to perform in Cape Town for the few days of their stay. Despite > the > occasional presence of these professional players, theatrical conditions > remained crude in the extreme, with few encouraging features, particularly > as the country's economy was disastrously deflated. The advancement of the > drama in South Africa has always been stimulated by historical calamity, > through the need to raise funds for its victims. As early as 1835 > theatrical > performances were given in Cape Town to provide relief for the people - > mostly 1820 settlers - ruined by the Fifth Frontier War. Some years later > the same efforts were made for the dependants of those lost on the > troopship > Birkenhead in 1853. Every war in which South Africa has been implicated > has > had the effect of stimulating the theatre, although post-war depressions > have almost killed it. > > By the middle of the 19th century two factors had emerged to stimulate the > development of theatrical entertainment. As the borders of the Colony were > continually extended and settlers introduced from overseas, little towns > began to appear - Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, King William's Town and > Durban, where English traders established themselves soon after the 5820 > Settlers had come to strengthen the thin population of the Eastern > Province. > New inland villages, such as Cradock and Colesberg, were founded, and the > existing ones, such as Graaff-Reinet, increased in population. Farther > afield, settlements had been established at Bloemfontein, Pietermaritzburg > and Pretoria, which gradually acquired English-speaking inhabitants. > The second factor was that the people began to be more truly South > African. > Where before the population had consisted for a large part of transient > Europeans, either military or administrative, backed by a comparatively > small number of uncultured burghers deep in the hinterland, there now was > in > existence a public claiming South Africa as its own and ready to vary its > existence by dramatic and other diversions. The immediate effect was a > burgeoning of local talent, largely in the field of concerts but also in > amateur theatricals. Talented singers and instrumentalists could sometimes > be counted among the inhabitants of remote villages and frequently gave > concerts, usually to raise funds for their church or school. The desire > for > professional entertainment in the towns and villages was more often met by > the early circus, consisting of a few animals, an acrobat and a juggler, > and > by travelling bands of quasi- professional players. These usually > consisted > of a former actor and his wife, with such hangers-on as were prepared to > share their precarious existence. With high-flown names, usually French, > these performers presented programmes of musical items and dramatic > sketches > in stores, rooms at inns or any available space, moving on, often for > reasons of expediency, to the next village as soon as possible. Their > transport was mostly by ox-wagon, since few could afford the expense of > horse and cart. Their advent marked the beginning of professional > entertainment throughout the country. > > Hardly any theatres existed and even in Cape Town dramatic companies were > forced to play in converted warehouses. Extraordinary enterprise was shown > by the first pioneering players, both men and women, and small touring > companies began to increase, travelling always by ox-wagon. It was on this > basis that Captain Disney Roebuck, the outstanding pioneer of the 70S and > 80's, later built. His energy in presenting plays in Cape Town and touring > the towns and villages greatly helped to habituate the public to drama. > There were also the professional players on their way to Australia (where > there was a gold rush) who consented to perform in Cape Town and were > often > acclaimed by sizable audiences. > > In the larger villages such as Grahamstown the garrison also stimulated > the > drama and officers sometimes staged a series of plays in halls or public > rooms in inns. However, drama had hardly penetrated to the hinterland, > where > variety programmes of musical items, acrobats and stunt performers were > more > likely to gain favour than melodramatic sketches requiring scenery and > other > features difficult to transport. > > The picture of amateur effort was suddenly changed by the discovery of > diamonds at the river diggings on the Orange River in i866 and at the dry > diggings in 1870-71 in the Northern Cape and the Orange Free State. A huge > influx of more sophisticated adventurers not only stimulated trade in all > the towns along the routes to the diggings, but also provided an eager > audience for any kind of entertainment. Even so small a place as Colesberg > suddenly boomed with the coach, cart and wagon trade and the manufacture > of > sieves, cradles and other digging requirements; while the coastal towns, > such as Port Elizabeth, hummed with commercial activity. The new > population > provoked the emergence not only of a host of itinerant entertainers but > the > building of new theatres, such as the wood-and-iron Theatre Royal in > Kimberley. > > Although there was money to be had in the booming villages and in the new > camp towns, where thousands of diggers, buyers, speculators and officials > congregated, the first touring dramatic companies endured daunting > difficulties. There were virtually no roads, the old tracks having been > destroyed by sudden heavy traffic, so that even the big stage-coaches > often > travelled across the veld. Few theatrical entrepreneurs could afford > horse-wagons, and most travelled slowly and painfully by ox-wagon. The > village stores and warehouses in which the little companies played had no > stage, dressing-rooms, curtains, seating, lighting or any other > facilities - > everything had to be improvised. When droughts and floods came, rinderpest > and sickness, there were sometimes deaths among the small pioneering > bands, > apart from frequent desertions or marital differences which sapped the > whole > enterprise. > The theatre-going public of the eighties preferred variety to straight > drama, and in the diamond-camp towns much was provided by local talent of > Cockney and other origin, performances being given by potential magnates > such as Barney Barnato. But even the amateurs occasionally provided > dramatic > sketches or excerpts from famous plays, and they were usually included in > the programmes offered by the touring ensembles, short domestic dramas > being > presented with the entrepreneur and his wife in the lead. It was never > certain whether they would be greeted with hoots or approbation. > > The prosperity following on the discovery of diamonds encouraged more > ambitious theatrical enterprises, particularly by Roebuck and others at > the > Cape. Apart from occasional cryptic mention in the first newspapers, there > is no written record of the many little theatrical companies which sought > to > exploit the situation; but in A show through Southern Africa Charles du > Val, > a pioneering theatrical manager, recorded his experiences of touring > almost > the whole country by horse-wagon in 1880-8i. There was hardly a village > too > small for him to visit and he tells how the townsfolk, now used to the > arrival of 'shows', would during the day place their own chairs in the > store > or warehouse destined for the evening's performance. When Du Val, after > participating in the war of 1881 in the Transvaal, left the country there > were already several others in the field. An early pioneering theatrical > enterprise, travelling by ox-wagon throughout the country, was operated by > the Wheeler family - Benjamin ('Daddy') Wheeler, his wife, and their > little > son Frank, who later became one of South Africa's most energetic > impresarios. It might he said that they put on a show rather than staged a > play, but indisputably they helped to inculcate a love of theatre in > remote > places. The pieces offered were of the type of the sentimental East Lynne > (by Mrs. Henry Wood), broad farce or melodrama. The biggest incentive to > the > development of the drama and theatrical entertainment generally was the > building of theatres which occurred at this period. The Theatre Royal in > Cape Town, built by Roebuck, was destroyed by fire in 1883; but others > took > its place, such as the Vaudeville Hall in Loop Street and other halls. In > 1882 the old Trafalgar Theatre in Durban was replaced by a Theatre Royal, > and in Kimberley the wood-and-iron Theatre Royal and Lanyon Theatre became > features of the town. In the smaller towns improved facilities were > available for touring companies, which now tended toward light operatic > and > musical presentations. > > The discovery of gold in the Transvaal during the seventies and eighties, > which established Johannesburg as a town and not a transient mining camp, > provided South Africa with another enormous access of population, and the > entertainment field with unprecedented stimuli to development. > Entrepreneurs > who had struggled at the coastal towns with vaudeville, musical and > dramatic > programmes now flocked to the Witwatersrand, where finance was soon found > to > accommodate them. One of the first dramatic enterprises was launched by > the > remarkably versatile Luscombe Searelle who, successfully performing in > Durban at the time, transported his entire company, effects and > corrugated-iron theatre by ox-wagon to Johannesburg and established the > Theatre Royal in 1889. It was quickly followed by numerous music- halls > and > by the imposing Standard Theatre, which after many vicissitudes opened in > 1891. Elsewhere the same burgeoning in the entertainment field was seen in > the opening of the Good Hope Hall and the Opera House in Cape Town, > Scott's > Theatre in Pietermaritzburg, the Opera House in Port Elizabeth; and later > the Grand Theatre in Bloemfontein, the Opera House in Pretoria and many > other venues, including music-halls such as the Tivoli in Cape Town after > the Second Anglo-Boer War. > > There was by now a large pleasure-loving and affluent public throughout > the > country and appropriately equipped buildings in which they could be > entertained. These provided an incentive for the importation of > entertainment companies of every kind of both local impresarios (notably > the > Wheelers and Frank de Jong) and oversea interests, and for the > presentation > of drama and light opera by early pioneers such as Searelle, A. Bonamici, > and later Leonard Rayne. > > During the late eighties and early nineties theatrical entertainment was > extremely varied. Although artistes of the standard of the famous actress > Mrs. Lewis Waller, Madame Albani (the singer) and Edward Terry appeared at > the same time as the Moody-Manners Opera Company and the Wheeler Edwardes > Gaiety Companies, music and drama fought a losing battle against variety > and > the informal atmosphere of the music-hall with its bar and promenade (of > which, in Johannesburg particularly, there were a large number). The > tension > of the times and the ready availability of money among a crowd of > adventurers and speculators produced conditions requiring excitement > rather > than culture. Much of the early theatre was vaudeville and light opera. > The > circumstances of its presentation could vary from men leaping from the > boxes > on to the stage and fighting over the reigning footlight favourite, to the > theatre catching fire (as sometimes happened owing to faulty wiring). The > visiting vaudeville stars commanded high salaries, and gaiety rather than > merit ruled the scene. > After the diamond- and gold-rush years and the period of extremely rapid > development which diamonds and gold made possible - particularly the > introduction of amenities such as electric light and trams, railways, > water-supply systems, better roads and other improvements - came a more > settled population, with higher standards, and requiring something more > than > mere distraction. From the early nineties onwards the theatre proper began > to assert itself. The Wheelers now imported first-class stars and > organised > country-wide tours for their companies. Frank de Jong brought out the > famed > Sass-Nelson musical and dramatic companies and many others. Leonard Rayne, > arriving in 1896 as an actor-producer, began to develop his own > organisation > and to establish dramatic stock companies. There began to be a profusion > of > theatrical entertainment of high quality, presented in typical Victorian > theatres of red plush, shining chandeliers and rows of boxes. The > music-hall > or 'palace of varieties', which it was not considered seemly for ladies to > attend, continued to be dominant, however. > > This very varied entertainment, overshadowed by vaudeville, continued > until > the outbreak of the war in 1899. The immediate effect, especially of the > influx of troops demanding entertainment, was to stimulate the theatre in > the non-belligerent areas and also to cause the opening of a host of > disreputable music- halls at the ports. Large numbers of dramatic > companies > were imported from England and legitimate drama flourished. In 1901, for > instance, the Wheelers imported the famous American actress Nance O'Neill. > In one month in South Africa she played the lead in Sudermann's Magda, > Dumas > 's Camille, Sardou's Tosca and Fedora, Queen Elizabeth, Sheridan's School > for scandal, Peg Woffington and The Jewess. Later star performers were > Lily > Langtry (1905) and the famous Mrs. Brown Potter (1907). > > After the war a gradual decline set in on account of the withdrawal of > troops and administrative officials, and the fact that South Africa, still > split into four separate units, entered a phase of drastic political and > economic depression. Eventually circuses and the new travelling > 'bioscopes' > became the only consistent forms of theatrical amusement. Only Leonard > Rayne > with his company at the Standard in Johannesburg represented the drama. > > By 1909, with the promise of the solution of political problems by > unification, the theatre suddenly began to improve and drama proper began > to > vie with vaudeville. An increasing number of companies playing straight > drama were imported and Shakespeare became a vogue. In 1911-12 Matheson > Lang > appeared in Shakespearean plays and in Jerome K. Jerome's The passing of > the > third floor back. In 1911, and again in 1913, Henry Herbert and his > Stratford-on- Avon Players presented many of Shakespeare's plays in the > main > towns; while H. B. Irving acted in a season of Shakespeare and other plays > in 1913. The renascence of the legitimate theatre was accompanied by the > first resounding success of a local dramatist, Stephen Black, whose > topical > Love and the hyphen, presented by Frank de Jong with a South African cast > including the author, was first produced in 1909 and rapturously acclaimed > in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and other centres. It was followed > with > al most equal success by Helena's Hope, but less happily by Jannie > Kortbroek > and, later, The flopper and Van Kalabas does his bit. > > Also after Union, concert parties such as the Steele- Payne Bellringers, > the > Royal Besses o' the Barn and the Royal Welsh Choir, Gaiety companies and > renowned singers and instrumentalists came in increasing numbers, while > old-fashioned variety in the cities fought to withstand new competition. > The > first permanent cinemas appeared, catering for new strata of society at > very > low prices and meeting cut-throat competition by presenting their > programmes > of grotesquely-animated films with intervening vaudeville turns. In this > rich field drama continued under healthy conditions; but the > bioscope-vaudeville business, over-exploited and over-capitalised by the > importation of expensive artistes for whom no mensurate return could be > expected from the public, wavered and collapsed. > > Early in 1913 bankruptcy faced the music-hall owners, who had provided > entertainment from the earliest theatrical days. They appealed to an > insurance magnate, I. W. Schlesinger, to save their business and in May > 1913, together with other administrative companies, he formed the African > Theatres Trust Ltd., later African Theatres, and still later African > Consolidated Theatres Ltd., which undertook the administration of theatres > and the provision of dramatic and other entertainment. At the same time > the > Australian firm of J. C. Williamson entered the South African field and > presented oversea companies in dramatic and musical pieces in theatres > controlled by Schlesinger. > > The period of the First World War wrought fundamental changes in the > structure of entertainment in South Africa. The attractions of the > legitimate theatre came into competition with new forms of entertainment > such as the musical revue with topical songs, which attained high > popularity, with the new phenomenon of jazz, and with the cinema proper, > now > organised on a sound basis by Schlesinger. The value of the cinema as > inexpensive distraction was greatly enhanced by its presentation of war > news- reels. It was no longer possible to import dramatic companies with > the > same ease as previously (although the war ended with Marie Tempest and a > London company playing Good gracious, Annabelle by Glare Kummer in > Johannesburg), and it was indeed largely through the consistent efforts of > Leonard Rayne and his local stock companies that drama survived. > > Afrer the First World War, when the public became tired of escapist > frivolity and inclined more toward worth-while entertainment, the theatre > again experienced considerable prosperity, despite the competition of the > burgeoning cinema, now patronised by all strata of society. The ten years > that followed the First World War saw many companies of merit, led by some > of the best-known performers in the oversea theatre. They included Allen > Doone with his very popular Irish plays, Ada Reeve in musicals such as > Lehar > 's Merry widow and, later, Floradora (by Leslie Stuart), Sir Frank Benson > declaiming Shakespeare in traditional style, Gertrude Elliott (Lady > Forbes- > Robertson) playing in Paddy the next best thing (by W. Gayer Mackay and > Robert Ord), Irene Vanbrugh, Maurice Moscovitch with his memorable The > outsider (by Dorothy Brandon) and The merchant of Venice, the Macdona > Players staging Bernard Shaw (then a provocative force in drama), and many > others. In addition, Leonard Rayne toured with his companies, in which the > immensely popular Freda Godfrey was leading lady, throughout the country > and > remained in continuous occupation of the Opera House in Cape Town. Afrer > this glorious decade, and long before the advent of 'talkies', the theatre > began to decline. > Copyright Family Tree.co.za > > kind regards > Heather > > > Visit South Africa's premier Genealogy + Family History Web sites : > www.familytree.co.za <http://www.familytree.co.za> + > www.ancestry.mweb.co.za <http://www.ancestry.mweb.co.za> > > > > > > > > > ==== SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN Mailing List ==== > www.sagenealogy.co.za - passenger lists, genealogy links,CDs and books > > ============================== > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for > ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx > >