British Music Hall Society: Home of Music Hall & Variety

27/08/2026

🎭 ONE WEEK TO GO 🎭

The British Music Hall Society turns 63 next Thursday - and there are just a few tickets left for our very special birthday celebration!

📅 Thursday 3rd September 2026
🕖 7pm
📍 Phoenix Arts Club, London

🌟 Miss Ada Campe - award-winning comedian, magician, cabaret star and member of The Magic Circle. Expect charm, razor-sharp wit and plenty of surprises!

🎡 The End of the Pier Show - a joyful 50-minute musical journey through the history of Brighton Pier, packed with seaside favourites and modern hits.

With Mr Simon Bashford as compere and Mr Robert Hazle at the keys.

It’s a celebration of 63 years of the British Music Hall Society - and a wonderful evening of music, comedy, variety and nostalgia.

🎟️ Just one week to go - don’t miss out! Book your tickets now:
https://phoenixartsclub.com/events/british-music-hall-society

Every ticket helps us keep the great British Music Hall tradition alive.

🎭 The British Music Hall Society Turns 63 – Come Help Us Celebrate in Style!

24/08/2026

Tom Leamore was born 1866. Singer, wood carver, clog dancer and boxer he was said to be second only to the great Dan Leno in terms of his comic dancing. Here he is singing his hit Hi Hi Hi!

A typical jolly music-hall song, sung with tremendous energy by Tom...

22/08/2026

"Ain't We Got Fun" by Gus Kahn, Raymond B Egan & Richard A Whiting. Published in 1921, the song features in the Great Gatsby novel and was quoted by George Orwell as a symbol of working class unrest. This songsheet shows the singer Dorothy Ward but the song has been recorded by many singers including Peggy Lee and, more recently, Seth McFarlane.

17/08/2026

A lovely throwback to 2021. It wasn't all lockdown gloom. - 17 August - Jim Carter unveiled the blue plaque in honour of Ronnie Ronalde. Sheila Harrod whistled, and the current owners of the house even let us picnic in the garden!

15/08/2026

Charles Handel Rand Marriott was a prolific composer of music for Victorian music hall and parlour. This piece is named for the Swedish dramatic soprano Christine Nilsson,

10/08/2026

A talk about Ivy Benson, Britain's forgotten wartime bandleader, who broke new ground for female musicians in the 20th century. In this long-awaited session, Clair Wordsworth draws from her acclaimed BBC radio documentaries. Born in Leeds in 1913, Ivy Benson first rose to fame during the Second World War, yet still continued to run her ground-breaking all girl dance band until the 1980s. She ended up giving countless generations of women a real start in the music industry, when no one else would.

08/08/2026

Today's song sheet is the cheeky little ditty "You Show Me Your Slate" by C.G. Cotes and Felix McGlennon. It was sung by Madge Ellis who, according to the quote below seems to have been great fun!

"Madge Ellis came on the stage with bare legs. Mrs. Reed, who followed, showed exactly the length to which a mind, bent on seeing evil, can go"
Published: Friday 16 October 1896
Newspaper: Music Hall and Theatre Review

03/08/2026

As it's now August and the height of holiday season let's take a nostalgic trip back to when Summer Seasons really were Summer Seasons. This video is delightful!

https://youtu.be/5L11jLBpF6M?si=y9U54akZCWIaRvB-

Have you ever noticed when you're by the seaThe things that you ca...

01/08/2026

Here's a jolly little ditty inspired by the 1923 silent movie "Ashes of Vengeance". The film is about the day Catherine de Medici ordered the extermination of the Huguenots.
Has anyone heard the song? You can view the movie, starring Norma Talmadge online.

25/07/2026

- A Spanish theme to the last Saturday of July with Billy Merson's mock-operatic 'The Spaniard Who Blighted My Life'. Merson (1879-1947), born William Henry Thompson in Nottingham, composed and first performed the number in 1911, the song being later performed and recorded successfully by Al Jolson in 1913 who sold in excess of 1 million copies of his version. Merson actually sued Jolson and lost leaving him bankrupt however the action did prevent further use of the his signature song in Jolson's next film. Bing Crosby and Jolson would however re-record another hit version together in 1947 after Merson's death. Other later recordings in the Music Hall style and tradition were made by Stanley Holloway (1890-1982) and Roy Hudd .