Brown's Bioscope

A Bioscope shows started as fairground attractions consisting of a travelling cinema. The heyday of the Bioscope was from the late 1890s until World War I.

Bioscope shows were fronted by the largest fairground organs, and these formed the entire public face of the show . A stage was usually in front of the organ, and dancing girls would entertain the crowds between film shows

Films shown in the Bioscope were primitive, and the earliest of these were made by the showmen themselves. Later, films were commercially produced. Bioscope shows were integrated, in Britain at least, into the Variety shows in the huge Music Halls which were built at the end of the nineteenth century.

Lowry refers to Brown's Bioscope in his short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour';  "While the Argyle announced Harry Champion, Brown's Bioscope. It was melancholy to be bidding adieu to these familiar placards which were like friends." (Psalms Pg. 233). The Argyle Theatre claimed to be the first theatre outside London to show animated pictures, running electric cables through Birkenhead in 1896 to the theatre, where the films were projected onto a sheet. The bioscopes were still be shown at the theatre in the 1920s as can be seen in the advertisement from 1925 above.

Little Tich

Harry Relph (1867 – 1928), known on the stage as "Little Tich", was an English music hall comedian. He was noted for the characters of The Spanish Señora, The Gendarme and The Tax Collector, but his most popular routine was his Big Boot dance, which involved a pair of 28-inch boots, commonly called "slapshoes" in the days of vaudeville. He was also popular as a pantomime dame; in one season he appeared with Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno also in the cast. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to Little Tich in his short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour';  "An advertisement for the Hippodrome said Little Tich, 6:30, 8:30." (Psalms Pg. 233)

Harry Champion

William Crump (1865 – 1942), better known by the stage name Harry Champion, was an English music hall composer, singer and Cockney comedian, whose onstage persona appealed chiefly to the working class communities of East London. His most famous recordings include "Boiled Beef and Carrots" (1909), "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" (1910), "Any Old Iron" (1911) and "A Little Bit of Cucumber" (1915). Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to Harry Champion in his short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour';  "While the Argyle announced Harry Champion, Brown's Bioscope. It was melancholy to be bidding adieu to these familiar placards which were like friends." (Psalms Pg. 233).

Hippodrome Theatre, Birkenhead

The Hippodrome Theatre, originally known as Ohmy's Grand Circus, was built in Grange Road, Birkenhead in 1888. This venture was not successful and within 2 years it became the Gaiety Music Hall which lasted until 1898 when it became The Metropole Music Hall. In 1908, it was totally renovated, having been closed for three years becoming known for its drama productions.

Dennis J. Clarke, who ran the Argyle Theatre, took over in 1916, and changed the name to The Hippodrome. In 1934 it was sold to the Birkenhead Co-operative Society and replaced by a store.

According to Lowry's biographer, Gordon Bowker, Lowry cherished the memory of a visit to The Hipprodrome with his family to see a production of Shakespeare's Richard II in the early 20's. (Pursued By Furies Pgs.16-17 )

Lowry refers to the theatre in his first novel Ultramarine; "His whole being was drowning in memories, the smells of Birkenhead and of Liverpool were again heavily about him, there was a coarse glitter in the cinema fronts, children stared at him strangely from the porches of public-houses. Janet would be waiting for him a the Crosville bus stop, with her red mackintosh and her umbrella, while silver straws of rain gently pattered on the green roof..."Where shall we go? The Hippodrome or the Argyle? ..... I've heard there's a good show on at the Scala - (Pg. 27); "A little imagination and this was home. One of those Saturday nights with Janet at the Birkenhead Hippodrome. Twice nightly, 6:30, 8:40! Two two-and-fours please! The first house. The orchestra tuning up, like tired men snoring in different keys. The gathering rush of the falling curtain. When there is a fireproof screen of the proscenium opening it must be lowered at least once during every performance to see that it is in proper working order..." (Pg.98).

Lowry did attempt to write musical hall songs and this is documented in his interview with the Liverpool Echo before he set sail for the Far East in 1927. Lowry may have held ambitions to one day have his songs played at the likes of the Hippodrome. He certainly gave these ambitions to the character Hugh, another of Lowry's many alter-egos, in Under The Volcano; Hugh recalls the "advertisments for music halls up north. Birkenhead Hippodrome: twice nightly 6.30, 8.30..." and  "But above all there were his songs, which would now be published. What did anything matter when back home at that very Birkenhead Hippodrome perhaps, they were being played and sung, twice nightly, to crowded houses?" (Pg.168). Lowry also mentions the theatre in his short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour': "An advertisement for the Hippodrome said Little Tich, 6:30, 8:30." (Psalms Pg. 233)

Bermondsey Music Hall

Lowry refers to a music hall in Bermondsey in his novel Ultramarine; "'This reminds me of the Bermondsey Music 'All Bill.' 'No boy, you can't beat it'." (Pg.99).

There were 6 music halls in Bermondsey:

1853-1878 Old Rose Music Hall
1861-1893 Jolly Tanners Music Hall
1862-1871 Crown And Anchor Music Hall
1867-1878 First Surrey Light Horse Music Hall
1867-1919 Star Music Hall
1874-1875 Red Lion Music Hall

The one which Lowry is referring is most likely - the most famous and long-lasting. Originally part of the Star and Garter pub, the Star Music Hall opened in 1867 in Abbey Road, Bermondsey, London. The original seating capacity was for 1,395, with 364 in the orchestra stalls, 233 in the balcony and 224 in the gallery. It was altered in 1883 to the designs of architects Smith & Stock. The proscenium was 24 feet wide, the stage 20 feet deep and there were two dressing rooms, one for men, the other for women. Some films were shown as part of the programme from 1908. By November 1919 it was not licensed as a music hall or theatre and had been renamed Star Kinema.

In 1920, the Star Cinema is listed as being operated by Vitagraph Theatres Ltd. Equipped for sound films in 1930, single screen and seating for 590, it was advertising pictures and variety. The Star Cinema was closed during World War II, probably due to the German bombing raids on the nearby London Docks. The building went to other uses and was demolished in 1963.

Lowry could not have possibly attended the music hall. He may be recalling an unidentified catchphrase of a performer or a song as Dana is thinking of a performance at an unnamed theatre in Liverpool.

Stanley Lupino

Stanley Lupino (15 May 1893 - 10 June 1942) was an English actor, dancer, singer, librettist, director and short story writer.

Lupino began his career as an acrobat and made his stage debut in 1913 and first became known as a music hall performer and played in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Between the wars, Lupino wrote and performed in several shows, including Phi-Phi (1922) and From Dover Street to Dixie (1923) at the London Pavilion, and several at the Gaiety Theatre in London, including Love Lies (1929), Hold my Hand (1932), and Sporting Love (1934), which ran for 302 performances. He also wrote and starred in So this is Love (1929) at Drury Lane. He also performed extensively for BBC radio. Later, he turned to screenwriting and films, although he also continued on stage in works like Lady Behave (1941).

In a letter to his teenage friend Carol Brown in early May 1926, Lowry mentions Stanley Lupino who was a comedian who Lowry must have seen in pantomine or at a music hall; "And then you fairly rubbed it in about being in love with love and not with me. Do I need telling that? Why, as Stanley Lupino says, Why Naow." (Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry Volume 1 Pg.25 )