Lion Comique
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Lion Comique
The ''lion comique'' was a type of popular entertainer in the Victorian music halls, a parody of upper-class toffs or "swells" made popular by Alfred Vance and G. H. MacDermott, among others. They were artistes whose stage appearance, resplendent in evening dress (generally white tie), contrasted with the cloth-cap image of most of their music-hall contemporaries. According to Michael Kilgarriff, it was J. J. Poole, manager of the South London Music Hall, who first described the performer George Leybourne as "a Lion of a Comic". Victorian fashion then led to the use of the French words, ''lion comique'', which in turn became a generic term for all performers with an imposing appearance and personality.Michael Kilgarriff, ''Grace, Beauty and Banjos: Peculiar Lives and Strange Times of Music Hall and Variety Artistes'', Oberon Books, 1998, , p.158 The songs the ''lions comiques'' sang were "hymns of praise to the virtues of idleness, womanising and drinking", perhaps the most w ...
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Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the '' Belle Époque'' era of Continental Europe. There was a strong religious drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodists and the evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Ideologically, the Victorian era witnessed resistance to the rationalism that defined the Georgian period, and an increasing turn towards romanticism and even mysticism in religion, social values, and arts. This era saw a staggering amount of technological innovations that proved key to Britain's power and prosperity. Doctors started moving away from tradition and mysticism towards a science-based approach; medicine advanced thanks to the adoption ...
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Music Hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous ''Music Hall'' and subsequent, more respectable ''Variety'' differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts. Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences. So much so, that during the 1850s some public houses were demolished, and specialised music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so that people could consume food ...
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Alfred Vance
Alfred Peek Stevens (1839 – 26 December 1888), best known by his stage name of Alfred Vance, was a 19th-century English music hall singer. He was also known as ''The Great Vance'', and ''Alfred Grenville''. Early life Vance was born in London in 1839. He worked initially as a solicitor's clerk before appearing in music halls. Career His first solo appearance was at the South London Palace in 1864. He had earlier performed in a blackface act with his brother in 1860. His act, initially as a Cockney singer, evolved into comedy. Throughout the 1860s, Vance, along with contemporaries Arthur Lloyd and George Leybourne, was instrumental in developing a new style of music hall performer known as the ''lion comique'' or ''swells''. In this style, performers relied less on copying burlesque, and instead sought inspiration in their everyday experiences and the colourful characters of daily street life. Audiences loved to join in the chorus and " give the bird". Vance was a great ...
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Evening Dress
Evening dress, evening attire, or evening wear may refer to: * Evening gown or evening dress * Full evening dress or white tie, a formal Western dress code * Black tie, a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events * Evening Attire (horse), an American Thoroughbred racehorse * Evening Attire Stakes, an annual Thoroughbred horse race in Queens, New York See also * Full dress uniform, a permitted supplementary alternative equivalent to the civilian white tie for evening wear * Mess dress uniform Mess dress uniform is the most formal (or semi-formal, depending on the country) type of uniforms used by military personnel, police personnel, and other uniformed services members. It frequently consists of a mess jacket, trousers, white dr ...
, a permitted supplementary alternative equivalent to the civilian black tie for evening wear {{disambiguation ...
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White Tie
White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is the most formal in traditional evening western dress codes. For men, it consists of a black tail coat (alternatively referred to as a dress coat, usually by tailors) worn over a white dress shirt with a starched or pique bib, white piqué waistcoat and the eponymous white bow tie worn around a standing wing collar. Mid or high-waisted black trousers with '' galon'', a braid of trim consisting of two silk stripes to conceal the outer seams of the trousers, along with court shoes complete the outfit. Orders, decorations and medals may be worn. Acceptable accessories include a black top hat, white gloves, a white scarf, a pocket watch, a white pocket square, and a boutonnière. Women wear full-length ball or evening gowns with evening gloves and, optionally, tiaras, jewellery, and a small handbag. The dress code's origins can be traced back to the end of the 18th century. New fully black-coloured justaucorps styles em ...
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Michael Kilgarriff
Michael Kilgarriff (born 16 June 1937) is an English actor, author and pianist from Brighton. As an actor, he is well known for his rich voice and height. His film and television roles include ''The Dark Crystal'' (1982) as the General, and the ''Doctor Who'' serials ''The Tomb of the Cybermen'' (1967), ''Robot'' (1974–75) and ''Attack of the Cybermen'' (1985). For details of publications and BBC Radio productions see website. Career Acting At tall, he is sought for certain roles, such as the Cyber Controller in ''Doctor Who'', a role he played in 1967 and 1985. He also appeared in the series as an Ogron (1973) and as the eponymous K1 Robot in the story ''Robot'' (1974–75). He returned to play the K1 robot in the Big Finish Productions Bernice Summerfield audio adventure '' The Relics of Jegg-Sau''. He also did voice work for ''The Twelve Tasks of Asterix'' as Obelix, the Jim Henson movie ''The Dark Crystal'' (1982) as SkekUng, the Garthim master (Named "The General" ...
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George Leybourne
George Leybourne (17 March 1842 – 15 September 1884) was a ''Lion comique'' of the British Victorian music hall who, for much of his career, was known by the title of one of his songs, " Champagne Charlie". Another of his songs, and one that can still be heard today, is "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze". His 1867 hit "Champagne Charlie" led to the first major success of the music hall concept in Britain, and he remains among the best known music hall performers. Early life George Leybourne was born Joseph Saunders in Gateshead; however, at an early age he and his family moved to live in London. Before he went on the music halls he worked as an engineer in, amongst other places, the South West England. For his early music hall appearances in the Northern England, including Liverpool and Newcastle he used his real name - Joe Saunders - a fact which, in the past, caused much confusion as to his real name. His first documented appearance in London using the stage-name ...
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French Language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents, most of which are members of the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'' ...
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Champagne Charlie (song)
"Champagne Charlie" is a music hall song from the 19th century composed by Alfred Lee with lyrics by George Leybourne. Leybourne popularised the song which premièred in August 1866 at the Princess' Concert Hall in Leeds. For the act, he caused some controversy when he appeared in a cut down top hat, similar to a style worn by the murderer Franz Muller. It was one of Leybourne's most famous songs and he would later be nicknamed Champagne Charlie. Leybourne's rival Alfred Vance introduced a number called " Cliquot", starting a fierce competition between the two men. Enthusiasm for the song was increased with its use in November 1866 in the new "Operatic Burlesque" called "The Latest Edition of Black-Eyed Susan", or "The Little Bill that was Taken Up". The song was sung by the crowd at the public execution of Michael Barrett in 1868, the last public execution in Great Britain. It later featured in the play '' Champagne Charlie'' and, with changed lyrics, the 1944 film '' Cham ...
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Music Hall Performers
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect of all human societies, a cultural universal. While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions. The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance, though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, and psychology. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice. In some musical contexts, a performance or composition may be to some extent improvised. For instance, in Hindustani classical music, the performer plays spontaneously while following a partially defined structure and using characteristic motifs. In modal jazz the p ...
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