Anna Pavlova at the Music Hall

When Bronislava-Nijinska saw the great Anna Pavlova dance at the famous music hall, the Palace Theatre, in London, tears came to her eyes.  She thought that appearing on the same bill as musicians, clowns and acrobats had ruined Pavlova's dancing.  (Our Albert Whelan, the 'great Australian entertainer', was sometimes on the same stage, so he might have been included in this indictment!) Some of the papers also looked down on Pavlova's appearing at a music hall.  One critic wrote that Pavlova had been 'rescued from the music-hall' when she joined Diaghilev's company again.

However, most ballet stars such as Adeline Genee did perform on the music-hall stages in the Edwardian era, and they helped ballet to become popular. It was part of Pavlova's mission to make ballet accessible to the ordinary people, so she saw nothing wrong with moving to the Palace. She would probably have been foolish to refuse the attractive salary that she was offered.  This started at 400 pounds a week, and it eventually rose to 1200 pounds - an enormous amount in the early 1900s.

Pavlova's most popular dance was probably the 'Bacchanal' from Autumn, which she performed with Michael Mordkin.  Mordkin looked like a 'Greek God', and, according to Kerensky, his strong and manly physique provided a dramatic contrast to Pavlova's ethereal fragillity and grace.  In this abandoned dance, Pavlova wore flimsy chiffon and danced wildly with her long dark hair tied in a scarlet ribbon. * ( Mordkin actually flung her onto the stage at the end of the dance.  Once he dropped her rather too hard, and she created a sensation by slapping him! (There were rumours of an affair, but Mordkin's widow didn't believe it). Perhaps he did it because he was jealous of her popularity - Pavlova performed more solos.  Once he complained that there were no dishes named after him, but some were named after her!

* Years later, some of the audience in Sydney complained that this dance was unpleasant.

(Anna Pavlova in The Dragonfly)

I have been neglecting the Australian music-hall singers! I will start off with Florrie Forde.

Florrie Forde was called 'the world's greatest chorus singer'. She was a quintessentially Australian music-hall singer with a broad Australian accent. She was proud of being Australian and helped other Australian singers, such as Billy Williams.

Forde, a Melbourne girl, was one of eight children. She had an unhappy home life and longed to go on the stage. When she was very young the ambitious girl ran away to her aunt in Sydney. She may have worked as an under-housemaid at Government House before being discovered by a theatre manager.

She began to sing and dance at the theatre and often appeared as a principal boy in pantomimes. She appeared at the Theatre Royal in Sydney. Forde also had seasons in Adelaide and Melbourne. She sang 'After the Ball' at the little Alhambra music-hall in Melbourne's Bourke Street for many weeks. She was also honoured to ride Tarcoola, the 1893 Melbourne Cup winner, onto the stage.

When Forde was only 21 the British comedian, G.H.Chirgwin, heard her and offered her a large sum of money for her work if she'd go to England. The irrepressible Florrie Forde agreed. She appeared on the stage at three music-halls on her first night!
She also continued to act in pantomimes.

Forde popularized the great songs: 'It's A Long, Long Way to Tipperary' and 'Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kitbag' during the First World War. She also sang 'Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy' and 'Down at the Old Bell and Bush'. Forde made many recordings and had small parts in films. I also read that she had a club in Shoreham, Sussex, where she lived that was notorious for drinking and rowdiness. The neighbours apparently frowned on it.

One wonders what her husband, who was an art dealer, thought of the club.

Florrie Forde was very popular and had a wonderful stage presence. Even Melba praised her strong, clear voice. She said that: "Florrie's is a voice of true Australian quality."

Forde became very plump - she eventually weighed over sixteen stone. This may have contributed to her death at sixty-five in 1940. The music-hall singer collapsed and died after singing for patients at a naval hospital in Scotland.