ARTICLE BY FRANK JAY (1921)
Peeps
into the Past; being a History of Oldtime Periodicals, Journals and Books.
Third
Series.
VIII. THE JUVENILE
THEATRES.
Fifty years ago, when most of
us “oldsters” were “youngsters,” our amusements in the evening were generally
confined to the home. Unlike the boys and girls of to-day, who are
allowed by unwise—some democrats will say “up-to-date”—parents to roam the
streets at all hours often to their disadvantage and worse, we were seldom
permitted out of doors after dark, and if it was not “home lessons,” then our
recreation was found in studying or reading books. I have already dealt
with the Brett publications at length, and those of my readers who took them in
will call to mind the advertisements that appeared in most of them announcing
the publication of “plays”—penny plain—twopence coloured. Having cut out
the characters we were induced to buy a “stage” on which to portray the
incidents contained in the book. I propose in a few short notes to deal
with this part of the boys’ literature of those days—in fact, most people will
be surprised to hear that these wooden theatres are still obtainable.
There is a certain small,
queer old-fashioned shop in Hoxton, not far from the celebrated Britannia
Theatre, the home of melodrama, where the writer saw not so very long ago, a
sight which he ventures to assert cannot be seen elsewhere in the British
Isles; nay, nowhere else in the wide world where English is spoken, namely, a
manufactory and establishment for the making, colouring and “fitting-up” of
those priceless gems of our happy boyhood days, the small wooden stages, sheets
of scenes and characters, footlights, slides and other necessary details for
the juvenile theatre.
In the window were displayed
stages, resplendent in colours of every hue, ready for use, with the orchestra
playing in front! The scenes were all set, and the little cardboard
figures in their correct places. In the interior of the shop, ranged
around the walls, were a number of boxes containing the sheets of scenes,
characters, books of words, etc. of some 40 to 50 plays, each denoted by a
scene-piece pasted on the front of the boxes. Around the upper part hung
exceedingly choice and rare specimens of the art of “tinselling” favourite
portraits and characters, some of which took months of patient labour on the
part of the owner to produce, and which nowadays command big prices ranging
from 5/- to £2 each (and which, short of the original picture, cost only “a
penny plain or twopence coloured”), from keen collectors.
Hanging from the ceiling were
stages in skeleton form, bundled of footlights, slides and other
accessories. In a small room adjoining was the workshop, where the
printing and colouring was being done. The courteous and genial
proprietor took a great pleasure in showing the writer his productions which
included, amongst many others, “Aladdin,” “Cinderella,” “The Corsican
Brothers,” “The Miller and His Men,” (of affectionate memory!), “Paul
Clifford,” “The Forty Thieves,” “Oliver Twist,” “The Waterman,” “Timour the
Tartar,” “The Blind Boy,” etc., sufficient in fact to please the heart of any
“Old Boy,” or even the present generation. The proprietor also recounted
the several visits he received from Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous
novelist, who was a great lover and collector of the juvenile drama, and who
wrote a masterful essay on the subject which appeared in “The Magazine of Art”
(and with which the writer will deal more fully later on); also of visits from
other celebrities.
This establishment and its proprietor
are the successors to the industry carried on formerly by Mr. Reddington, an
industry that flourished for over a hundred years and which embraces the works
of Green, Parker, Webb, Skelt and West. Skelt is perhaps the best known,
probably because there are more of his products in existence than the others,
but more than probably because he adopted a cheaper method of printing the
sheets and pushed their sale.
None of these publications had any
connection with the plays produced and sold by Edwin J. Brett, of “Boys of
England” fame, although the writer ventures to say that Brett’s publications of
this kind are more widely and popularly known and revered by those “Old Boys”
who have followed the series of “Peeps into the Past,” and it is in reality for
their benefit, as much as to place it on record, that the writer is attempting
a brief history of this favourite old pastime.
The first play produced by Mr. Brett
was given away with the first number of “Boys of England,” Tuesday, November
27, 1866, as per the following announcement on page 16:—
“GIVEN
AWAY.—To the Boys of England, a complete new Play entitled, ‘Alone in the
Pirates’ Lair,’ consisting of eight scenes, seven sheet of characters, six
wings, and foot-pieces, and a large stage front
N.B.—The
above entertaining gift is specially designed for our younger readers.”
(This was the title of the first
serial in the “Boys of England”).
The play was given away in sections
in Nos. 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9 as some encouragement to the sale of the “Boys of England.”
Subsequently it was produced in colours and sold in complete sets of 16 sheets
of characters and scenes at 6d. the set, and this was the commencement of
Brett’s plays. Mr. Brett also sold as a side line the wooden stages for
the plays, as thus announced in No. 12:—
“The Stage! The Stage!
We have great pleasure in informing our readers that we are now making
arrangements to supply them with large stages suitable for the new play of
‘Alone in the Pirates’ Lair,’ also with large stage fronts, designed and
engraved expressly for our boys. We believe the usual price would be
about 2/- each, but we have determined to supply our readers with the stage and
stage fronts for only 15 stamps (1/3). In the course of a week from date
we shall open agencies throughout the United Kingdom. Our boys are
requested not to send their stamps until our arrangements are quite complete.”
In the next number it was
announced:—
“Our theatres will be strongly
constructed of wood by the largest stage manufacturer in London. Each
theatre will consist of two modern sliding traps, place for lamp, roller for
green curtain, grooves for back and side screen, etc. Sawing and planing
machines are employed to prepare the wood, but as a short time must elapse
before our immense order for 50,000 of the stages is completed, our readers
will be wise if they send their orders at once to their bookseller, as they
will be supplied as each order is received.”
In No. 17 appeared the notice:—
“Our stages are not yet
completed. They will be ready in a few days. We must therefore
request our boys not to send any more stamps to our office for them, but to
order them of their newsagents, and they will receive the stages when ready
with their books. The price of the stages will be post free 1/3.”
Whether the stages were made at this
time or not the writer has not been able to discover, but one can imagine the
great disappointment to the boys when they could not obtain them. Their
very description used to “fire us up” with anticipated pleasure. I speak
personally and strongly on this point, for the pleasure these miniature stages
gave to us boys was immense and too great for words to express.
The writer is of opinion that the
stages were not forthcoming, as the announcements went to show that there was a
hitch somewhere, and he is strengthened in this opinion by reading a special
article in No. 21, April 13, 1867, under the heading of “The Young Mechanic,”
entitled “How to make a Stage,” illustrated with diagrams and description of
wood and tools required; anyway, the announcements respecting the stages were
dropped at this time, and they did not appear again for a great length of time.
The next play produced was “Jack
Cade; or, The Rebel of London,” consisting of seven large sheets of scenes,
eight large sheets of well drawn characters, a splendid new act drop,
orchestra, a sheet of mechanical effects, and two stages of side wings
especially prepared for “The Boys of England” theatre. These were
published in five gigantic sheets (per announcement) and sold at one halfpenny
per sheet. Non-subscribers were charged twopence per sheet, and the first
sheet was sold with No. 48, Vol. 2, October 19, 1867 of “The Boys of
England.” The machinery for producing the stages was probably inadequate
in those days and could not keep pace with the enormous demand that must have
resulted from the announcements in the widely-circulated Brett publications.
According to further announcements
in the later numbers of Vol. 4 of “The Boys of England,” the immense success which
attended the first issue of “Alone in the Pirates’ Lair” and “Jack Cade,”
induced Brett to reprint them “at great expense” and these did duty for the
winter months of 1869. With No. 3 of “The Boys of the World,” October 5,
1869, was given away the first sheet of characters of “the grand play” entitled
“Tom Daring; or, Far from Home,” and the gifts were continued in this
periodical to induce new subscribers. This play was followed by “the
grand historical one” of “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,”
which was likewise given gratis to the subscribers, the first two sheets out of
the complete set of 16 sheets being included with No. 36, Vol. 2, May 21, 1870,
in which appeared the opening chapter of a serial of the same title, by the
author of “Chevy Chase,” “King of the School,” etc.
It will be seen that Brett made use
of these plays to inaugurate his new periodicals.
The writer has, so far, not been
able to trace the date when the play of “The Miller and His Men” was first
published by Brett, but for the winter season of 1872 six plays,
including “Jack Cade,” “Tom Daring,” “Alone in the Pirates’ Lair,” “King
Arthur,” “The Skeleton Horseman; or, The Shadow of Death,” and “The Giant of
the Black Mountains; or, Harlequin Jack and his Seven Brothers,” were on sale,
each play consisting of sixteen sheets of characters and scenes, with stage
fronts 1d. plain, 2d. coloured, lamps and slides 1/7, wood stages 1/3; and for
the season of 1874 “The Miller and his Men,” and “Roland the Pirate,” an extra large
play, 8d. plain, 1/6 coloured, stage fronts, plain 3d., coloured 9d. and large
stages 2/6 were added to the list. Afterwards appeared “Robinson Crusoe,”
“The Forty Thieves,” “Blue Beard,” “Mazeppa; or the Wild Horse of Tartary,”
“Harkaway among the Brigands,” and “The Roadside Inn.” The prices of
these later complete plays were 6d. plain, 1/- coloured, or mounted and cut
ready for use 3/6, post free 3/9. Books of the play 1d. each, lamps 3d.,
post free 5d., slides 4d. per dozen, post free 7d., and new folding wood stage
1/6. This list and prices continued, I believe, whilst the firm existed
or, at any rate, whilst the stock lasted.
February 5, 1921.
A recital of these old plays
by Brett will doubtless bring many happy memories to the mind of a host of
readers of this paper, and the writer shares his pleasure with them. The
mere writing about them recalls many, many pleasant (and unpleasant) incidents,
when busy colouring and cutting out the various characters, mounting the
scenes, trying to induce the lamps to burn with colza oil, which was not always
a success, and gave more unpleasant smoke than flame, and then after going
through the performance, finishing off the last scene with blue or red
fire. What glorious fun we all had and how we enjoyed it! often inviting
our friends, mates and neighbours to “come and see the performance,” and then,
when we got tired of the Plays, we used to swap or exchange them for a cricket
bat, balls and stumps, books, or anything useful, in the Exchange and Mart column
of the Boys’ periodicals of the time, as a glance at them will testify.
By the way, this was a feature
that Brett would never permit in his boys’ periodicals, although there were
more offers of his publication for sale or exchange in the advertisements in
boys’ papers than of any other publisher’s. He had his reasons for his
objection, I suppose; possibly because he had the new stuff for sale, and did
not wish to assist his readers to obtain them more easily or cheaper than he
sold them for!
These “Advts.” only cost a few
pence each insertion, but some good business was done. The writer has a
copy of one of his own advertisements for “A Stage and Four plays all complete
and ready for use, 6/6, or exchange for books of equal value,” which appeared
in an old boys’ periodical over 43 years ago. I wonder how many of these
stages and plays all complete and ready for use are in existence at the present
time; not many, I venture to say; they would be priceless if only as a monument
to the Past.
It all brings our happy,
irresponsible boyhood’s days back again most vividly to our minds, and makes us
forget for a brief minute or two what we have gone through since then in the
great race of life, and what we are undergoing, good or bad, at the present
moment. Anyway, these reminders and memories make our “Peeps into the
Past” more enjoyable.
The writer has dealt largely
with Brett’s plays because, as before mentioned, they are the most remembered
and more widely known. They were exceedingly popular at the time. I
will now deal with the more superior class of Toy Theatres, which are not so
generally known.
According to “Varia,” by John
Ashton, 1894, William West, who was in business at 13, Exeter Street, Strand from
1811 to 1819, and afterwards at 57 Wych Street, Strand till 1832, when the
business was taken over by S. Stokes, was the first to introduce, print and
publish these old juvenile plays. They were literally works of art,
engraved and printed from copper plates, and all his plates bear the date they
were published and printed on the bottom edges. The writer possesses a
few, given to him by one of the best living authorities who has one of the
finest collections in England, the value of which amounts to several hundred
pounds, which he keeps preserved in specially made drawers, all tabulated and
in perfect order. The sheets vary in size, running from 6¾ in. x 8¼ in.
for a small stage to nearly double these sizes. Those in the writer’s
possession are dated from 1824 to 1826. West apparently was the only one
to date his sheets. The address in given as:— “London: Published
May 29, 1826 by W. West, at his Theatrical Print Warehouse, 57 Wych Street
opposite the Olympic Theater, Strand,” and if any reader obtains any so printed
he will know they are the genuine article. The characters and scenes of
some are coloured (possibly by hand); others are simply plain, but for
clearness and execution of detail they are really wonderful works of art.
West produced and published 107 plays, and needless to say these are very
eagerly sought for by collectors, and command very high prices. One
collector some time ago paid £5 for the book of words of “Guy Fawkes,” which
originally sold for 4d. The original price of West’s sheets was 1d., 2d.
and 3d., but Skelt sold his for ½d. and in this way he cut the trade up,
especially as he produced plates carelessly drawn on wood. Skelt was
originally a shoemaker and commenced business in the Minories about 1840; he
took three relatives of the same name into partnership. Some of the
sheets bear the name of M. Skelt, the original; others M. & B. Skelt; and
the latest B. only; the final one being E. Skelt, without any address. The
latter died about 1890. These are most essential points for collectors of
Skelt’s prints. Altogether the Skelts produced 53 plays, most of which
bear the address of 11 Swan-street, Minories, London. A few were printed
from copper plates, but the majority from wood and although they are more crude
and not so clearly defined in their execution as those by West, they are
infinitely superior to Brett’s productions, which are the commonest of all.
Another printer and publisher
was of the name of H. G. Jamieson, 13 Duke-street, Bow-street, London, who
published 34 plays between 1811 and 1820. These were from copper plates,
and there are not many now in existence. Hodgson & Co., 10
Newgate-street and 43 Holywell-street, Strand, also published some 25 plays
from 1822 to 1824. The other publishers with no record as far as the
writer can ascertain were:—
Mrs. M. Hibberd, 2 Upper
Carlton-st., Marylebone, 1811-14.
H.
Burtenshaw, 130 St. Martin’s-lane, 1812.
J. K.
Green, 1812.
G. Greed,
Exeter-street, Strand, 1819.
Thos.
Cristoe, 34 Drury-lane, 1819.
C. Hook,
33 Windmill-street, Tottenham Court-road, 1820.
W. J.
Layton, 10 Petty’s Court, Hanway-street, Oxford-street, 1820.
J. L.
Marks, 17 Artillery-street, Bishopsgate, 1814-1822. He engraved his own
plates if “Marks-fecit” on his sheets means anything.
W. Clarke,
265 High Holborn, 1821.
H.
Masters, Leigh-street, Red Lion-sq., 1822.
J. Smart,
35 Rathbone-place, Oxford-st., 1822.
W. Cole,
successor to Hodgson & Co. at 10 Newgate-street, City, 1819.
C. Lloyd,
1825.
J. Dyer,
Dorset-crescent, Hoxton New Town, 1828.
J. Bailey,
2 Slade’s-place, Sutton-st. and 65 Grays Inn Lane, 1830.
W. Stokes,
57 Wych-street, Strand, 1832.
A. Park,
47 Leonard-street, City-road.
J.
Fairburn, 160 Minories, 1837.
F.
Edwards, 49 Leman-st., Goodman’s Fields.
J. Godwin,
Pentonville.
B.
Perkins, 40 Marshall-st., Carnaby Market.
J. Quick,
4 Duke’s Court, Paviour’s Alley, Union-street, Blackfriar’s-road.
Of all the latter it is impossible
to fix any date of their engraving; possibly some of them merely acted as
agents and distributors for other printers and publishers.
In “Notes and Queries,” Oct. 18,
1873, appeared a query concerning one of West’s special pantomime tricks, to
which Mr. Ralph Thomas replied as follows: “I can testify to the
correctness of part of Mr. Husk’s note in reference to Bedford House and the
columns in Covent Garden. I have the Christmas pantomime trick to which
he refers. I recollected from his description that I had amongst my
collection of West’s scenes and characters something similar, and upon
searching I find what Mr. Husk describes including the inscription, except that
it is a greengrocer’s shop that is transformed into a representation of the
Column. The plate is entitled West’s New Pantomime Trick No. 42.
London: published June 13, 1825, by Mr. W. West at the Theatrical Print
Warehouse, 57, Wych-st., Strand. On the same sheet is a large plum
pudding which changed into a hobgoblin.
“For years I have collected West’s
Prints published for the toy theatre. They were once largely popular, and
among other men, now celebrated, who would not be ashamed to own they amused
many evenings of their boyhood, may be mentioned Mr. (afterwards Sir) John
Everitt, Millais, the great painter, whose father also took great interest in
painting or helping his son to paint the scenes and characters.
“Another name long familiar in
higher walks of histrionic art than West’s Prints aspired to, is that of Mr.
John Oxenford, who was a fond devotee and expressed thorough appreciation of
‘Poor Willy West.’ From some of the original drawings I have it is
evident that the artists went to the theatre and there made the sketches of the
scenes and costumes, so that West’s are copied from the plays as they were got
up at that time, and I suppose West published scenes and characters of every
play and pantomime of the time that obtained any degree of popularity.
“The scenes in ‘Ali Baba,’ ‘Blue
Beard,’ ‘The Elephant of Siam,’ are extraordinarily pretty and effective.
‘The Miller and His Men’—I have almost every size. In ‘Cusco Bay,’ the
characters and scenes are very good. On one or two scenes there was such
a run that these are, or were, very scarce; now I suppose they are not to be
had at all. All the nautical dramas are well got up, such as ‘Black-Eyed
Susan,’ ‘The Red Rovers,’ ‘The Pilot,’ and others. West’s Prints, for
execution and accuracy of drawing and general get-up carried the palm over all
the others, such as Layton, Marks, Spencer, Quick, Hebbert, Green, Jamison and
Hodgson, though some of the latter’s largest scenes sold at 2d. each were well
done. Some of them signed ‘G.C.’ which I believe stands for George Childs
(about whom I know nothing) and not George Cruikshank, though some of West’s
are executed by him (see Mr. Geo. W. Reid’s catalogue of that extraordinary
artist’s works).
“However, with popularity came the
imitators and plagiarists, and that destructive pest CHEAPNESS. Sheets as
large as those sold for a penny and twopence could be had for ½d. or even less;
at least, to boys they appeared the same. Amongst those who destroyed the
business and did a good trade was Skelt of the Minories. I should say he
was the foremost, though there were others too numerous to mention, whose
plates, instead of being well executed on copper, were roughly drawn on wood.
My collection includes specimens
from the beginning of the 19th century to the present time. But the great
time for Toy Theatricals was when West flourished; I should say from about 1815
to 1835, though he kept his shop in Wych-street, where he moved from 13
Exeter-street, open for upwards of twenty years, until, in fact, he died.
“Mr. John Oxenford, in an article in
the ‘Era Almanack’ for 1870, page 67, gives an interesting description of the
Toy Theatre, mentioning West’s Prints. He remarks ‘Poor Willy West’ has
long been gathered to his fathers, and his plates have long been broken up—a
complete collection would be invaluable.”
February 12, 1921.
Mr. Ralph Thomas continues:
“Now I have collected with great trouble, if not a complete, a nearly complete set
of West’s Theatrical Prints, small, large and medium characters, scenes and
pantomimes and tricks, and they are indeed of the greatest interest.
I have always been puzzled to
know whether West drew and engraved himself. From his putting ‘West
fecit’ on some, I imagine he did. Grimaldi figures constantly in all the
pantomimes, so do all the celebrated actors of the time, such as Edmund Keane,
Yates, O’Smith, ‘The Keelys,’ Blanchard, T. P. Cooke, Young, Kemble, Miss Ellen
Tree, Wallack, Miss Kelly and Liston. One of the tricks is a box with Mr.
Quiz, Haymarket, written upon it, which changes into Liston as Paul Pry.
Oxberry, Emery, Widdicombe, Astley and numerous others whose names I am quoting
from memory I do not remember. I should like to know who West was?
I have heard that he married a well-known actress, and that by his will he
directed that his plates be broken up. When and where did he die?
Who were the artists who worked for him? I have heard that he presented a
toy theatre most perfectly finished, with a stock of accessories complete, to
the Royal children, which event was duly chronicled in the newspapers.
Where is this at the present time? It would be most valuable.”
Further on, in “Notes and
Queries,” Nov. 1, 1890, Mr. Walter Hamilton writes, under “Skelt’s and Webb’s
Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured,” “It is only elderly or middle-aged men who
remember these names, and the phrase to which these works gave rise.
Skelt has long been dead and I have just heard that Mr. W. Webb died on January
13 of this year (1890). Many years ago Skelt started the idea of a mimic
theatre, with small scenes, side scenes and characters, sold as penny or
halfpenny sheets, of which twenty or thirty went to a play. These were
coloured by the juvenile purchasers, mounted on cardboard, and cut out and
placed on the stage; a book of words being provided for each distinct
play. Skelt’s place was in Swan Street, Minories, and another person in
the same business was Mr. Park, of Finsbury. Skelt and Park were
succeeded by W. Webb, who gradually got the whole business in his own hands,
and his plays were sold in nearly all parts of London. He was a clever
though not a well-educated man. He designed all the scenes and
characters, and drew them on the stone, and having in view a ‘clientele’ he had
to satisfy, the costumes and architecture were singularly accurate and
tasty. Of course the attitudes were stagey, but seldom ungraceful.
He also wrote the book of words, but these were not only devoid of all vulgarity,
but remarkable for the condensation and dialogue. I particularly remember
‘Robin Hood,’ ‘Aladdin,’ ‘The Miller and His Men,’ and ‘The Battle of
Waterloo.’ As a measure of affording innocent amusement to youngsters
these plays were admirable. They gave occupation for many a quiet hour in
colouring the pictures, and I remember that I used up many of the excellent
shilling boxes of the Society of Arts colours in so doing. Then comes the
grand ‘Field Day’ or night, when, surrounded by our youthful friends, the play
was produced and performed in the Theater Royal Back Parlour.
“When the climax was reached it was
usual to burn red and blue fire, which generally stifled everyone in the
room. Many mothers of to-day would be glad to find such quiet, harmless
and really instructive pastimes for their boys. When I last saw Mr. Webb
in his shop in Old Street, St. Luke’s, about a year ago, he lamented the decay
of this branch of his business. He attributed it partly to the increase
of cheap (and often nasty) literature for boys, but chiefly to the home lessons
children now have to study, which leave them little time, or inclination, for
quiet indoor pastimes.
“The Penny Plain or Twopence
Coloured Plates were rather different from what I have been describing.
Each sheet had but one large figure on it, such as ‘Wallace,’ ‘Richard Cœur de
Lion,’ ‘Saladin,’ or ‘Ivanhoe.’ These were gorgeously attired and the
purchaser, having selected one—either plain or coloured—had to set to work to
cover it with tinsel bosses and armour, and to inlay the costumes with silk and
gold laces. These having been done they were of no further use, and
except as show pieces, were consequently never so popular as the plays.
(The writer wonders how many of these are in existence to-day.) I fear
the whole art will now die out, and although the topic seems trivial, there
must be many like myself who will look back with pleasure to a favourite
recreation of their boyish days, and will regret to hear of the death of Mr.
Webb, who was withal a most respectable, worthy and amiable man.”
Mr. Ralph Thomas follows in “Notes
and Queries,” August 27, 1898, under “The Skelts,” “I wish to point out that
Mr. Walter Hamilton is in error in stating that Skelt started the idea of the
Juvenile Theatre. As there is no collection of his prints accessible to
the public this is a mistake that anyone is likely to make. In my notes
on ‘West’s Prints’ I say, among those who destroyed the business and did a good
trade, Skelt of the Minories, I should say, was foremost. Instead of
being satisfied with simply correcting Mr. Hamilton’s statement, I wanted to
write an article dealing with all the Skelts, but years have gone by and now
that it is too late I do what I ought to have done before. I say too late,
because I find the statement that Skelt started the idea has got into a
biographical dictionary. There were four Skelts—M., I believe, started
the business. He took another into partnership and their prints are
published by M. & M. Skelt. Then one of those ‘M’s’ left and the
prints again appear as published by M. Skelt. This ‘M.’ took a ‘B.’
(Benjamin, I believe) into partnership. Their prints are published by M.
& B. Skelt. Then ‘M.’ goes out and the prints are published by ‘B.’
alone, who, I presume, ‘burst up’ like the explosion in ‘The Miller and His
Men,’ but then we have salvage from the general wreck published by E. Skelt,
without any address. As neither books nor prints are dated it took me
several years before I was able to evolve these facts. E. Skelt is said
to have died about 1890 in a good situation. It is clear that he never
had sufficient capital to carry on the print business as very few prints bear
his name.
“When the Skelts were sold up I do
not know, but W. Webb had Skelt’s ‘Aladdin,’ and sold them with Skelt’s name
taken out and his own inserted but whereas Skelt printed from copper plates,
Webb had them published on and printed from the stone—a very inferior
thing. These remarks refer to Skelt’s halfpenny series, the penny plates that
bore the Skelts’ name were either Lloyd’s or Straker’s, or other
publishers. Bad as Skelt’s were, Webb’s own were far worse. The
Skelts were reputed to be of the Jewish faith. One was originally a
shoemaker and died in Stepney workhouse.
“It is needless to say that to get
all these details requires a pretty extensive collection, which I have in
fact. I have collected since a boy, and have probably over 5,000 distinct
prints from copper plates printed between 1811 and 1850, and as many
duplicates. Of the Skelts alone I have 1,000 different prints. The
collection is almost complete; much of it was originally collected by Captain
Frederick Hodges. The earliest I have is by W. West, dated February 26,
1811. I don’t think Skelt came on the scene until about 1840. There
are many collectors of Skelts and other publishers but I am told that nobody
collects W. West’s prints, simply because there are none to be bought. A.
Park, printer and publisher of theatrical prints, lived at 47 Leonard Street, Tabernacle
Walk, Finsbury. W. Webb, already mentioned, succeeded J. Webb, whose
place of business was qt 75 Brick Lane, St. Luke’s. J. Beddington,
formerly of 208 Hoxton Old Town, afterwards known as 73 Hoxton Street, was the
successor to W. Webb and A. Park, and he in turn was succeeded by his
son-in-law, the present printer and publisher of their old plays. The
writer has thus shown the History of the Toy Theatres and prints for more than
the last 100 years, and which, as you and he knows, is still flourishing and
going strong. The proprietor remembers Robert Louis Stevenson very well—a
tall man with dark hair, whose hat brushed against a toy stage, pendant from
the ceiling to often, that the proprietor suggested taking the stage down.
“ ‘Never mind,’ said R. L. S., ‘it
won’t happen again.’ But it did happen again, many times, and much to the
damage of the famous author’s headgear.
“Many other famous authors have
mentioned the juvenile drama in their writings. Charles Dickens in his
sketch entitled ‘A Christmas Tree,’ says: ‘The Toy Theatre—there it is
with its familiar proscenium, and ladies in feathers, in the boxes—and all its
attendant occupation with paste and gum and glue, and water colours, in the
getting up of ‘The Miller and His Men,’ and ‘Elizabeth; or the Exile of
Siberia.’”
February 19, 1921.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s matchless
essay, or article, “A Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured,” on page 227 of “The
Magazine of Art,” for April, 1884, commences: “These words will be
familiar to all students of the Juvenile Drama. That national monument,
after changing its name to Skelt’s, to Park’s, to Webb’s, to Reddington and
last of all to Pollock’s, has now for the most part become a memory. Some
of its pillars, like Stonehenge, are still afoot, the rest clean
vanished. It may be that the Museum numbers a full set, and Mr. Ionides
perhaps, or else his gracious Majesty may boast their great collection; but to
the plain private person they are become, like Raphaels, unattainable. I
have at different times possessed ‘Aladdin,’ ‘The Red Rover,’ ‘The Blind Boy,’
‘The Old Oak Chest,’ ‘The Wood Demon,’ ‘Jack Sheppard,’ ‘The Miller and His
Men,’ ‘Der Freischuetz,’ ‘The Smuggler,’ ‘The Forest of Bendy,’ ‘Robin Hood,’
‘The Waterman,’ ‘Richard the First,’ ‘My Poll and My Partner Joe,’ ‘The
Inchcape Bell,’ (imperfect) and ‘Three Fingered Jack, the Terror of Jamaica,’
and I have assisted others in the illumination of ‘The Maid of the Inn,’ and
‘The Battle of Waterloo.’
“In this roll-call of stirring names
you read the evidences of a happy childhood; and though not half of them are
still to be procured of any living stationer, in the mind of their once happy
owner they survive—kaleidoscopes of changing pictures—echoes of the Past.”
He speaks of a certain shop in
Edinburgh, in which he saw a Toy Theatre in working order, with a “Forest Set,”
“A Combat,” and a few robbers carousing in the slides; and below and about,
“dearer tenfold to me! the Plays themselves, those budgets of romance, lay
tumbled one upon another. Long and often,” he continued, “have I lingered
with empty pockets. That shop, which was dark and smelt of Bibles, was a
loadstone rock for all that bore the name of boy. They could not pass,
nor, having entered, leave it—it was a place besieged.
“I cannot deny that joy attended the
illumination; nor can I forgive that child who, willfully foregoing pleasure,
stoops to ‘Twopence Coloured.’ With crimson lake (hark to the sound of
it—crimson lake—the horns of elfland are not richer on the ear)—with crimson
lake and Prussian blue a certain purple is to be compounded, which for cloaks
especially, Titian could not equal. The latter colour with gamboge, a
hated name, although an exquisite pigment, supplied a green of such a savoury
greenness that to-day my heart regrets it. Nor can I recall without a
certain tender weakness the very aspect of the water where I dipped my
brush. Yes, there was pleasure in the painting. But when all was
painted, it is needless to deny it, all was spoiled. You might indeed,
set up a scene or two to look at; but to cut the figures out was simply
sacrilege; nor could any child twice court the tedium, the worry, and the
long-drawn disenchantment of an actual performance. Two days after the
purchase the honey had been sucked. Parents used to complain; they
thought I wearied of my play. It was not so, no more than a person can be
said to have wearied of his dinner, when he leaves the bones and dishes.
I had got the marrow of it and said grace.
“Then was the time to turn to the
back of the Play-book and to study that enticing double file of names, where
poetry for the true child of Skelt reigned ‘happy and glorious,’ like her
Majesty Queen Victoria. Much as I have travelled in these realms of gold
I have yet seen, upon that map or abstract, names of El Dorados that still
haunt the ear of memory and are still but names. ‘The Floating
Beacon,’—why was that denied me? of ‘The Wreck Ashore’? ‘Sixteen-String
Jack,’ whom I did not even guess to be a highwayman, troubled me awake, and in
a mask still visited my slumbers; and there is one sequence of three from that
enchanted calendar that I still at times recall like a loved verse of
poetry: ‘Lodoisak,’ ‘Silver Palace,’ ‘Echo of Westminster Bridge,’
names—bare names, are surely more to children than we poor, grown-up
obliterated fools remember.”
He continues further on, “The
scenery of Skeltdom—or shall we say the Kingdom of Transportonus?—had a
prevailing character, whether it set forth Poland as in ‘The Blind Boy,’ or
Bohemia with ‘The Miller and His Men,’ or Italy with ‘The Old Oak Chest,’ still
it was transpontus. A botanist could tell it by the plants; the hollylock
was all pervasive, running wild in deserts; the dock was common, and the
bending reed; and overshadowing these were poplar, palm, potato tree and
‘Quercus Skeltica’—brave growths. The caves were all embowelled in the
Surreyside formation; the soil was all betrodden by the light pump of T. P.
Cooke. Skelt, to be sure, had yet another, an oriental string; he held
the gorgeous East in fee; and in the new quarter of Hyeres, say in the garden
of the Hotel de Isles d’Or, you may behold these blessed visions realised.”
In conclusion, R. L. S. says:
“In Pollock’s list of publications I perceive a pair of my ancient
aspirations—‘Wreck Ashore’ and ‘Sixteen-String Jack,’ and I cherish the belief
that when these shall see once more the light of day, B. Pollock will remember
this apologist. But, indeed, I have a dream at times that is not at all a
dream. I seem to wander in a ghostly street—E.W., I think the postal
district—close below the fools-cap of St. Paul’s, and yet within easy hearing
of the echo of the Abbey bridge. There is a dim shop, low in the roof and
smelling strong of glue and footlights. I find myself in quaking treaty
with great Skelt himself, the aboriginal; all dusty from the tomb. I buy,
with what a choking heart—I buy them all—all but the pantomimes—I pay my mental
money and go forth; and lo! the packets are but dust.
ROBERT
LOUIS STEVENSON.”
The writer possesses a copy of this
extremely interesting and valuable article from the pen of so celebrated a
novelist and poet. Is it not possible that Stevenson was inspired not a
little, by his early association with the Toy Theatre when he wrote his
masterpiece, “The Treasure Island”? It is so full of romantic colour and
incidents that his boyhood fancies and dreams may have been brought into
play. Stevenson evidently did not know much if anything about West’s
Plays. Possibly because, as Mr. Ralph Thomas remarks, they are so exceedingly
scarce, or it may be that he made use of Skelt’s Plays when he wrote his
article because he purchased some of them from Skelt himself, and so this fact
would be uppermost in his mind. The article, which is illustrated with
reproductions of scenes and characters of the Toy Theatre, ranks amongst the
most cherished treasures of the writer.
Another well written article
(similarly illustrated and by Brander Matthews) appeared in No. 4, vol. 58, of “Scribner’s
Magazine,” October, 1915, under the title of “A Moral from a Toy
Theatre.” Another appeared in the “Evening News” of December 16, 1908,
which formed part No. 6 of the series of articles then being published under
the heading of “The Dying Trades of London.” It was entitled “Toy Theatre
Makers.” Another entitled “The Tinsel Tragedians,” by S. R. Littlewood,
appeared in “The Daily Chronicle” for Jan. 7, 1914. A previous one (fully
illustrated) by the same author appeared in the same newspaper of September 12,
1912. This was entitled “Twopence Coloured: the Juvenile Drama;”
whilst the “Ladies’ Pictorial” for November 21, 1914, published a special
illustrated article upon the same subject, all of which were evidently written
with a view to encourage the industry, and to let it be known that Toy
Theatres, Juvenile Drama, Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured could still be
obtained. The great war would no doubt interfere with the sales somewhat,
and possibly put an end to it, and this cannot be ascertained without making a
voyage of discovery to 73 Hoxton Street, not far from Old Street Police Court.
A great change has however, come
over the aspirations and pleasures of the modern boy. Boy Scouts, Boys’
Brigades and other excellent man-framing associations and institutions, as well
as the alluring Cinema Theatres, none of which existed in our old boyhood days,
have instilled a new form of life into the rising generation. What was
real pleasure and fun to us (“Old Boys”) does not appeal to them, only as
curiosities, and relics of “Peeps into the Past.”
FRANK JAY,
21, Fircroft Road,
London, S.W.7.
Transcript by Justin Gilbert
See his website at "Penny Dreadfuls"