Chaplin's Music Hall

Barry Anthony is a historian with a particular interest in the Victorian and Edwardian period who has written extensively about popular culture and entertainment. He is the author of The King's Jester: The Life of Dan Leno, Victorian Comic Genius (I.B.Tauris, 2010) and co- author, with Richard Brown, of a groundbreaking study of the early British cinema, A Victorian Film Enterprise (1999).

• Overture – The Road to Ruin‘Dashing’ Eva Lester – The Californian GemLittle Lily Harley – Original and RefinedKitty Fairdale – The Crème de la Crème of Terpsichorean Serio-ComicsCharles Chaplin – Descriptive SingerArthur West – Topical and Extempore VocalistLeo Dryden – The Kipling of the HallsWill Godwin – Dramatic Sketch ArtistThe Eight Lancashire Lads – Characteristic and Champion Clog DancersJessie Macnally – The Dublin GirlCasey’s Circus – A Ragged BurlesqueFred Karno and his Colossal Combination of Comedians13. The Great Calvero – Master of Pantomime and Comic Songs

'Barry Anthony has managed to bring back to life the often remarkable and dramatic lives of the performers who once entertained the British public in the many music halls throughout the country.' Michael Chaplin, from the Foreword to this book 'Chaplin's work is rooted in music hall. That is not surprising since both his father and his mother earned their living on the halls. As a writer examining Chaplin's links with music hall, Barry Anthony could not be bettered. A recognised expert on early cinema and the music halls, he paints a vivid account of a crucial part of Chaplin's extraordinary career.' Richard Anthony Baker, author of British Music Hall: An Illustrated History and editor of Music Hall Studies 'I have learned such a lot from this book. It is meticulously researched and well written; an important addition to music-hall history and to Chaplin studies.' Max Tyler, historian of the British Music Hall Society