The popularity of music halls was already fading by the time Agatha Christie started publishing novels, but they were still an entertainment option and Christie mentions them twice in the 1920s books. Tommy suggests relaxing at a music hall to Tuppence in “The Unbreakable Alibi” and Arthur Hastings’ love interest in Murder on the Links seems to have been a music hall performer.
Taverns have long been a gathering place to conduct business and socialize while enjoying refreshment – and that goes for both men and women. Research suggests that in the mid-1600s, at least a third of women worked in alehouses as brewers or servants and another third patronized these establishments. ("Women, Ale, and Company in Early Modern London" by Tim Reinke-Williams)
With mugs in hand, customers entertained each other with stories and group sings. Naturally, some folks had better stories and better voices than others, and tavern-keepers were not slow to encourage them to share their talents to boost repeat customers. From offering entertainment in the main room, tavern owners moved on to building “song and supper rooms” in the early 1800s that adjoined their main places of business.
In addition to singers, these venues also showcased mimes, comedians, and other entertainers, but while working-class women were welcome in the public house, song and supper rooms were mainly for men’s amusement.
By the mid-1800s, the first real music halls were popping up across the country, particularly in urban areas where factory jobs were also increasing. For a nominal fee, both men and women could enjoy a wide variety of short performances while ordering food and drink. A typical program might include a dramatic monologue or short play, singers, musicians, comedians, gymnasts, and more.
Similar to American vaudeville, music hall performances featured a series of diverse acts on stage, but the English versions retained their neighborhood tavern roots by continuing the group sings. A sort of master of ceremonies might lead the audience in old favorites and some halls even provided lyric sheets so everyone could sing along.
Music halls differed from theaters in that patrons would eat and drink during the performances rather than adjourning to a refreshment room at intermission. Music halls were also squarely aimed at a middle-to-upper working-class audience. Wealthier people already had their own venues and poor citizens were usually discouraged by the modest ticket price. To appeal to this sector, the most popular comedy acts and songs tended to mock the upper classes and their pretentious habits.
Variety theaters, a step up from music halls, started appearing in the early 1900s. More elegant, these theaters used rows of seats rather than tables and no longer served refreshments during performances. Music halls, however, were still in vogue when World War I started, and many music hall performers held fundraisers to help support the troops.
It wasn’t the War, however, or even the variety theatres that caused the fall of the music hall. It was cinema.
While many of the old halls were immediately repurposed as movie theaters, English music hall entertainment lasted longer in public popularity than American vaudeville did. Perhaps it was the vestiges of tavern comradery with its group sings which other theater options didn’t offer that helped it hang on until the mid-1900s.
Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings go to see the Dulcibella Sisters at the Palace in Coventry in Murder on the Links, published in 1923. While there were several theaters in Coventry at that time, there doesn’t appear to be one called the Palace. The Palace may have actually been a variety theater, but Hastings says of the Dulcibella Sisters:
Their voices were fresh and true, rather thin and music-hally, but attractive.
“The Unbreakable Alibi” was published a few years later, first as a special edition of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News in 1928, and then in Partners in Crime the following year. Tommy and Tuppence talk with familiarity about spending the evening at a music hall, although they are not exactly working class. Maybe they took to this cheap entertainment during the post-war days when they were broke, but it was also a trend among “bright young things” to try unfamiliar experiences such as jazz joints in rough neighborhoods. Or maybe the line between music hall and variety theater was just blurrier in real life than in history books.
Variety shows are still not unheard of today, although they tend to be televised contests featuring odd and exceptional acts. One can only wonder how much more fun these shows would be with a mug of ale and a good singalong added!