Music Halls
Music Hall
Music hall grew from the entertainment enjoyed by those who historian William Robertson called "the inferior order". At first people gathered together in their own homes or public houses to listen to local storytellers and singing. The pub version of these events became known as "smoking concerts" or "free and easies".
Rochdale's first music hall was named Jeffreys Music Hall and opened on 19th April 1865 on Drake Street. Just like Rochdale's first theatre, this building was originally a chapel.
Then there was Th'Owd Circus in Newgate, a wooden building heated by two open coke stores, the metal chimneys of which can be seen sticking up through the roof in the picture. You can also see the Town Hall in the top left-hand corner. TH'Owd Circus was erected by an acrobat with the wonderful name of "Ohmy!". (presumably this was what the audience shouted when he performed his acrobatic feats) and held an an audience of 2,800. It opened in 1883 mainly as a venue for music-hall acts and in 1903 showed the first animated pictures to be seen in Rochdale. Gracie Fields made her first appearance at Th'Owd Circus, sharing the first prize of 10/- (50p) at the age of seven in 1905, and two years later Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel performed there in Fred Carno's company in a sketch called "Casey's Court".
Th'Owd Circus closed in 1908 when the owners, the Jackson family, demolished it to make way for The Hippodrome, a brick built , modern music hall which opened on 16th November of the same year. The Jackson family issued souvenirs of the last night on the 30th May. The caption read "Say au revoir, but not goodbye".
The Empire on the Town Hall Square (now a public house) and The Palace on Great George Street (now demolished) were also music halls for a while. Both were later converted into cinemas.
Hippodrome tickets
The Hippodrome
Circus and Hippodrome
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