Music Hall Memory Box
Women and the Halls
The experience of women on the halls, both as audience members and performers, is complex and conflicting. It was originally frowned upon for respectable women to enter a music hall. If they were found to be in one, it was assumed they were a prostitute. However, with the opening of the Canterbury in 1852, which set a tone of respectability and aimed to attract both young men and women, the habit of ladies frequenting music halls became increasingly acceptable. While pubs remained exclusively male dominated spaces, music hall culture became inclusive of women.
Indeed, during the later decades of the 19th century, many of the major stars of the halls were women. The historian John Mullen states that Ellen Caufield became the first female music-hall professional in 1860, and by 1914, approximately 29% of artists working in the sector were women, and amongst the top billed stars, the percentage was higher. Many of these female stars, such as Marie Lloyd (1870-1922), presented themselves on stage as strong willed and independent. Lloyd played a leading role in the Music Hall Strike of 1907 and spoke on behalf of the working-class performers of the halls who themselves had limited agency. At a time when women were silenced more generally from public discussion, the active role that she, and other female music hall stars like her played in society, combined with their financial independence, made them an inspiration for other women, particularly considering most of the female stars had themselves come from humble backgrounds.
Some of these female music hall stars, most notably Vesta Tilley (1864-1952) and later Hetty King (1883-1972), specialised in impersonating men during their performances. In doing so they held up a mirror to the patriarchal British society. During their performances, they acted out behaviour that was normally unthinkable for ‘respectable’ women to engage in publicly, such as drinking excessively, gambling and partying until the early hours. They also impersonated judges, clergymen and soldiers; all professions which women were excluded from. Therefore, the hypocrisy of the female stars only being able to engage in such behaviours while dressed as a man was presented to music hall audiences.
The halls undoubtedly produced strong female role models. However, this did not mean the halls were a supportive environment for women’s rights. The songwriters of the halls were almost entirely male, meaning the lyrics sung on stage presented male struggles and experiences over those of women. When women were mentioned, it was generally only in relation to male characters; for example, as objects of desire. Negative stereotypes, such as nagging wives and mothers-in-laws, were also frequent. Moreover, in the early 20th century, anti-suffrage songs were popular on the halls. The song, ‘The Land Where the Women Wear the Trousers’ (1910), negatively hypothesised a world where women were in control, and by doing so mocked the women's suffrage movement. In general, suffragettes were portrayed as hysterical on the halls and the movement was treated as a threat to the natural order.
Yet, despite not being a supportive environment for women's political rights, the music hall industry relied on women to ensure its economic survival during the First World War. Women took up jobs on the halls to allow men to go and fight, and had they not done this, the halls may have closed for the duration of the war. Their roles ranged from playing instruments in the orchestra to being stage hands, but it was always on the understanding that they would relinquish their roles to the men returning home from war.
Evidently, music halls became an outlet for women to gain some independence, but this independence was restricted and when the social order was challenged by the women's suffrage movement, the halls staunchly expressed their traditionalist nature.
