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Legmania

@legmania.bsky.social
120 followers 154 following 33 posts

Journaling the life of 19th century Music Hall dancers James & Lucy Allison, and their life between continents. All things music hall, eccentric dance, and outlandish costumes. Adrift Australian once found in London now Folkestone.

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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
#MusicHallVarietyDay The Alhambra Sandgate, by the seaside near Folkestone, saw many of the popular artistes in the early days of their career including Charles Coburn ‘The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo’ who wrote about it in his memoirs. #MHVD2026
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
I’ll see you for Souper at the Alhambra, Leicester Square. 1899 #MHVD2025 #MHVD
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
It’s Music Hall & Variety Day 🎭🎉 #MHVD #MusicHall @musichallsociety.bsky.social
Champagne Charlie. Cover of old sheet music showing man with top hat, long beard and red jacket with a bottle of champagne exploding in his hand
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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Lily Burnand was a music hall comedienne well know for comedy songs. She enjoyed a day out when not working and was an enthusiastic coachist. Was she driving? July 1906 her coach trip to Box Hill from her ‘charming residence’ on Loughboro’ Road was reported in the The Era. #MusicHallMonday
Black and white photo postcard of music hall comedienne Lily Burnand with a fluffy white dog The Era 21 July 1906 from British Newspaper Archives
Notice of Lily Burnand’s coaching party to Box Hill
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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Blanche’s sister, Lilian, was another acrobat, performing with family till she formed the glass pyramid acrobatic act, Victoria and Ramoo with her husband Alf. A bit here by @legmania.bsky.social about them www.layersoflondon.org/map/records/... #IWD2025 #musichall 2/4
layersoflondon.org
Victoria & Ramoo, 8 Mostyn Road [1914-1916]
Married couple, Victoria and Ramoo, whose real name was Alfred Edwards, lived for a while at 8 Mostyn Road while they were performing with their amazing crystal pyramid. The pyramid was made from glas...
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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
As those who know my posts from ‘the other place’ I have been a keen observer of the sub-category #MusicHallTeeth Here’s a clipping from the Music Hall & Theatre Review Aug 1906- The People’s Teeth Association, ‘Dainty Teeth for Actresses’ 🦷#MusicHallMonday
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
It’s #MusicHallMonday. Time for another selection of #MusicHall programmes 1895-1905. There’s a bit of competition for moustache of the week. @musichallsociety.bsky.social @youngalison.bsky.social @roadsw9.bsky.social @intothelimelight.bsky.social
Three music hall programme covers all with different graphic type face. The programme on right shows illustration of building. The centre programme showing small cameo photos of 3 men with moustaches
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Monomania @intothelimelight.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Let's do this. Perhaps go to a music hall. @frankmatchamsoc.bsky.social @musichallsociety.bsky.social #theatre #MusicHall
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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Fantastic start yesterday to 1st European Circus History Conference yesterday with a walk to visit Astley’s Amphitheatre and Hughes Royal Circus sites. #circus #circushistory
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British Music Hall Society @musichallsociety.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
As the 1st European Circus History Conference takes place this weekend, as a nod to that, for #SheetMusicSaturday here is the Hippodrome March by Theo. Bonheur feat. an equestrian show in the ring #MusicHall #circus
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Charlie Holland @charlieholland.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
It's raining in London today but the forecast is sunny for Friday and the Birth of the Circus walk! The speakers' presentations are arriving and look amazing. There are a handful of tickets left for the 1st European Circus History Conference so join us if you can circusconference.org. #c18th #c19th
illustration: a circular riding arena with an equestrian standing on a horse. There's a viewing gallery to one side and in the background are trees and an expansive sky. 1777 Astley’s interior by William Capon - © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
The 1890s Alhambra Theatre programmes were stylishly simple on the outside but had everything going on inside. #MusicHallMonday #MusicHall
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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
#MusicHallMonday
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Heather Tweed @heathertweed.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
#musichallmonday Music Hall Starter Pack reminder! 🔔 Great folk to follow for all your Music Hall requirements!🎶 🥾🎭 go.bsky.app/B9UJdQY
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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
How many ‘handsome’ cigar/cigarette/card cases did the #MusicHall profession dole out? 125 years ago #OTD The Era recorded these two #MusicHallMonday
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
It is a revelation @victurk that Brixton baths were advertised as both ladies & gents where others were gents only or ladies only. Thanks
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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
These are the ones. Opened, with plunge pool, by Earle Bird on 22 Oct 1892. Bought by Hy Wm Rance c.1900 who sold it to the amazing William Cooper in 1910. He added others to form the Savoy Baths chain. He initiated use of betowelled gentleman who appeared on London signs & sandwich-boards. 🗃️ #19thc
Photo of the exterior of the baths in Rance's time, with keyhole overlays over the upper floor windows. The general appearance, both inside and outside, was in a pseudo-Moorish style.Busy street scene with the baths, now part of Cooper's Savoy chain, visible centre background. The spindle decorations still show, but the sign has changed.Betowelled bather as a lifesize enamelled sign, with Savoy Turkish Baths in large type over the towel, and listing the branches that were still open in the 1920s.
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
I see see and raise you the magnificent Alhambra with the icky red Bartholomew’s baths in Leicester Square #MusicHall ❤️ #TurkishBaths
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Charlie Holland @charlieholland.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Here are the Turkish Baths in Leicester Square, pre-1872
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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Not seen that before—thanks for sharing. I have used 1st image below because the lettering shows clearly, & when the baths caught fire on 10 August 1930, the life of one of the attendants, Miss Evans, was saved when she hung onto a letter till the fire brigade rescued her. 🗃️ #MusicHall #TurkishBaths
Postcard showing Bartholomew's Turkish Baths and the Alhambra on the opposite side of Leicester Square, with people crossing the road in the foreground.Newspaper cutting (source unknown) with photo of the outside of Bartholomew's Turkish Baths after the fire in 1930, and another of part of the burnt out cooling-room.A second-class ticket for Bartholomew's Turkish Baths in Leicester Square, London, numbered 896.
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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Music Halls and Victorian #TurkishBaths don't seem to go together very often. I wonder if this will do?
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Well hello @victurk.bsky.social Here are the Stamboul Turkish baths just across from Brixton Empress #MusicHall and nearby Brixton theatre. Who knew we had so much in common 🎭 @musichallsociety.bsky.social @youngalison.bsky.social
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
'Gallery of the Old Bedford' (c.1895) by Walter Sickert (Walker Art Gallery)
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Charlie Holland @charlieholland.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
For #MusicHallMonday, here’s a later 1937 Variety Artistes’ Federation membership card (biro for scale) with subscription stamps and death levy stamps!
A small plum coloured booklet embossed with the VAF logo, 1937, and Coronation Year with a crown. It is two-thirds the length of a biro.Eight stamps filling the provided spaces on a page for Red Subscription Stamps. Eight stamps filling the spaces provided for Blue Death Levy Stamps
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Monomania @intothelimelight.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Have a look at the new blog post at intothelimelight.org featuring Maggie Duggan. Hope you like it. @musichallsociety.bsky.social
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
#MusicHallMonday More #MusicHall programmes. The Ardwick Empire, Manchester 1918, with photo of Oswald Stoll, the Australian born theatre manager who founded the Stoll Moss group; the Shepherds Bush Empire 1907, another Stoll theatre, & the Lewisham Hippodrome, 1911
Three Music Hall programmes showing front panel only. Each showing an illustration of the grand buildings housing the theatres. The Ardwick Empire cover shows photo of Oswald Stoll managing director
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Loughborough Road Histories @roadsw9.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
#MusicHallMonday a gaggle of music hall burial plots at Lambeth Cemetery. Sadly few headstones. Plan shows 3 Water Rats plots. Memorial stone to Burford, Medley, Coyne and Booker. No headstones for Le Brunn, Le Clerq and others in Rats plots. JW and Amanda Cragg with headstone nearby. 1/2
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
#MusicHallMonday 1903.The Royal Holborn Theatre of Varieties & The Middlesex Music Hall #MusicHall
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Some Music Hall programmes for #MusicHallMonday The vibrant colours and paper quality of the late 19th century changed as WW1 neared. #MusicHall #NineteenthCentury
Collection of 5 colourful covers of Music Hall Programmes with artwork
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Alison Young @youngalison.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
For #musichallmonday a programme for The Paragon on Mile End Road from the excellent ‘Cockney Rebels’ exhibition at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archive #musichall
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Charlie Holland @charlieholland.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Anyone know if it is by design or coincidence that the Coade stone lion, that originally topped a nearby brewery, now faces the site of the first circus, Astley’s Amphitheatre, on London’s Southbank? #MondayMusings as circusconference.org approaches.
The Coade stone lion from the rear, its head angled towards St Thomas’ Hospital and the site of the first circus.The front of the majestic lion
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Monomania @intothelimelight.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Carte de visite of unknown pantomime performer. @roadsw9.bsky.social @legmania.bsky.social @thevicsoc.bsky.social
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
'Piccadilly - Looking West (After Rain)' by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith (1846-1923) (Private collection)
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Women of South London @womenofsouthlondon.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Driscoll House, a landmark building in Old Kent Road built in 1913, was known as Ada Lewis Women’s Lodging House and provided accommodation for the many young women arriving in London to work. Ada Lewis, a wealthy widow, died in 1906 and bequeathed money to build this and other similar hostels.
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Larry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
The Christmas tree has arrived on Trafalgar Square! It's a gift to the people of London from the people of Oslo. A tree has been given annually since 1947. Thank you our Norwegian friends 🇳🇴 🎄
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
'London by Night in the Coronation Year of George The Fifth' (1911) by Fortunino Matania (Private collection)
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Charlie Holland @charlieholland.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Check out the awesome speakers and range of events at the 1st European Circus History Conference, in London, Fri 28/2 – Sun 2/3 2025. It focuses on the early evolution of European circus and its disciplines, c1760s – 1860s. Please spread the word! circusconference.org
A Polyorama Panoptique of the gas lit interior of the Cirque des Champs Elysées, circa 1850, with a rider holding a hoop whilst standing on a galloping horse. Image courtesy of F. Binetruy.
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Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Just because I miss some good images on here. Entry to The Strand from Charing Cross, plate twenty from Original Views of London as It Is (1842) - Thomas Shotter Boys (English, 1803-1874). Art Institute Chicago
A wide urban street scene, with an equestrian statue of Charles II on the right, a wide street ahead, and on the left St Martin in Fields church. in the foreground are two men hauling an odd carriage, spraying water. with more people on the left below the statue. There is also a couple on horseback, and a coach in the background heading across the scene.
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Charlie Holland @charlieholland.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Between you and I, Paris Musées have 372,542 rights-free images you can simply download, at hi-res, and use as you choose. Isn’t that just brilliant and please can UK institutions emulate them?
Portrait de Hanlon-Lee (les), acteurs
Atelier Nadar , Photographe
Entre 1860 et 1890
2e moitié du 19e siècle
Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris
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CC0 Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris
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Women of South London @womenofsouthlondon.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
1/2 Katie Seymour popular actress/’skirt dancer’ played many London theatres inc. Gaiety 1880s/90s. Toured US where she was first woman booked for speeding in NYC. Lived #Kennington Road with family 1991, later lived Burton Road #Brixton. On tour in S Africa 1903, she suffered renal failure ...
Katie Seymour as Blanche Darc in Joan of Arc
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
'A London Breakfast', Kensington (1935) by Nora Heysen (Private collection)
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Women of South London @womenofsouthlondon.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
#Brixton was a popular place for music hall performers to live & adverts for accommodation there were often aimed at ‘The Profession.’ An advert from The Era in 1906 for a house in Brixton Hill lists Vesta Tilley as a previous occupier to make it more desirable #MusicHall #LocalHistory #SouthLondon
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Lottie Walker @lotski79.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Are you London & interested in women’s place in early 20th century entertainment? Then you’re most welcome to join me on a guided walk in Islington. December 7th. 11am & 2.30pm There may be songs… Details here: linktr.ee/BlueFireThea...
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
'The Singer in Pink.' (1895) Like his close friend Edgar Degas, Jean-Louis Forain drew extensively from the world of entertainment, finding intriguing subjects amongst the spectators at the operas, concerts, and lively sporting events which took place around Paris in the last years of the 19thC.
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Good morning! This week's theme is London Homes. ----- 'Good Morning, Muswell Hill' (2014) by Nessie Ramm nessieramm.co.uk
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Dr Sarah Whittingham FSA @drfrond.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
In 2021 this photo of a rare survival of a once-common feature - a Victorian fern/window case in Bath - in a post in The Other Place, got over 2,000 likes. Somehow, I don't think that will happen again, but it shows the sort of thing featured in my books 'Fern Fever' and 'The Victorian Fern Craze'.
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
It’s lovely to get back on the bus and see so many old friends here.
Vintage photo of an Edwardian open top bus crammed with people. It says Stockwell to Reigate on the side and theatre advertising for The angel in the house.
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Heather Tweed @heathertweed.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
📣Are there any 19th C researchers, writers, artists, out there exploring Circus, Music Hall, performative costume, animals, fairgrounds, menageries etc? Feeling in need of a cosy book & chat nook. Trying to rebuild old 🐦 X days when things were fresh & open & opportunities came my way 😃🎪🎠 🎭
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Legmania @legmania.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Just arrived over from the other place. Happy days
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