Chicago and Cambridge

Last night I started off my new ambition to become a regular theatre-goer (as written about in this previous post).  And it started off in style, seeing Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre.

The first thing to say is that the theatre itself was delicious.  Walking into the foyer I had a little thrill as I looked around and saw we were in a 1920s/1930s theatre.  Goody!  I suspected it must be a listed building and I was correct, so I was able to get some information about it from English Heritage's website.  Built in 1929-1930, it is apparently "a rare, complete and early example of a London theatre adopting the moderne, expressionist style pioneered in Germany during the 1920s.  It marked a conscious reaction to the design excesses of the music hall and contemporary cinemas.  Theatres looked for a new style appropriate to the greater sophistication of their entertainment and found it in the Germanic moderne forms of simple shapes enlivened by concealed lighting, shiny steelwork and touches of bright colour; this was not taken up by cinema designers until 1935."  That observation thrilled and intrigued me, it must be said.

But enough of lofty architectural history mumbo-jumbo and onto the pretty pictures!  Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on me so I didn't get any of my own - an especial shame because my little white dress I had on would have looked very comfortable in the surrounds...  BUT I found some historic pictures on the internet (on this site here) so I can share those with you:

Painting of Cambridge Theatre in 1930 (note the lovely cars as well!)

This view of the foyer is what I was first confronted with and
is what gave me "a little thrill"

Frieze by Antony Gibbons Grinling, depicting Drama

Looking back the other way to the box office and front doors

Frieze by Gibbons Grinley, depicting Music.
I just adore this one - isn't it gorgeous?

The bar

Upper Circle corridor
(note the lovely font on the light boxes)

The auditorium

I was particularly enchanted by the wall-mounted ashtrays which have been retained in the corridors, running my fingers over the cut-out lettering which read "ASHES PLEASE" in the same beautiful font as seen above.  Perhaps I attracted funny looks but what's new there?  They were exquisite, and I'm sorry I don't have a photo of that particular detail.  What was it about the ashtrays in particular that appealed to me?  After all, the font was elsewhere.  I think it was the way the letters had been cut out of the metal rather than just lazily painted on.  And also the romance of imagining 1930s theatre-goers smoking in the corridors during intervals, rather than being shunted out onto the street.  I know, I know, there are many reasons it's best not to have people smoking indoors (preservation of the building fabric being one of them!) but it is still a romantic notion to me.

Oh, and yes, the show!  There I was getting all distracted writing about the architecture, I almost forgot the reason I was there!  I thoroughly enjoyed it - the songs and choreography were great.  And it's always fun when you see a famous show for the first time and finally realise where a song is from - in this case, All That Jazz:

So it was an entertaining and amusing romp back to prohibition America with saucy ladies and charismatic men, including a troupe of lovely dancers.  I definitely approved of Roxie's way of thinking when, talking about her dream act, she said "I'm going to get me a boy to work with...  I'm going to get me a whole bunch of boys to work with!"  Well, wouldn't you?

I still think I prefer Cabaret though - just drawing comparisons because they are set in the same period, both have showgirl characters and were first performed within one decade of one another so are from the same era of theatre.  I liked the fact that Cabaret was a bit meatier in terms of plot and themes, and drew on its setting and era as part of this.  But to be fair, Chicago unashamedly has a different agenda, which it certainly achieved - that it, to "give 'em the old razzle dazzle", as they sing.

I would recommend hopping along to see it but, completely unexpectedly and unintentionally, we ended up going to the last night!  I'm not sure whether it's going to be moving to another theatre or if that's the end of the London run.  Either way, I'm glad The Cat and I managed to catch it at the Cambridge just in time!

Southbank Stash

The Vintage Festival at Southbank!  Okay, I know that a lot of people had a disappointing day but I was fortunate enough to have a friend who was too skint for the main event and talked me out of buying a ticket so I could just spend a day in the free parts with her.  I had been slightly skeptical about whether the events in the Royal Festival Hall would really be worth the cost of the ticket anyway and, from reports here in blogland, it sounds like I was right to be so.

The publicly-accessible Vintage High Street, however, amounted to a really enjoyable day.  My date had grown to be a wee bevy of girls by the time the vintage weekend swung around and we all headed down for a girly day of browsing lovely stalls, sustained by ice lollies and cream teas.  Some of us bought more, some of us bought less, some of us bought none but all of us were happy exploring.

I (surprise, surprise) was one of those who bought.  Though it's a little late after the date, I've got my hands on a camera after ages without one, so I thought I'd share my finds with my readers as I was quite happy with the little stash I brought home.  It felt like a well-rounded little bundle of variety - a change from my tendency to bring home more and more dresses to my already over-flowing abundance of said clothing item.  So, without further ado...

Item 1 and 2 - white lacy gloves and blue turban:

I have several pairs of warm winter gloves and I have satiny evening gloves, but I don't have any gloves for daywear - you know, to sass up a pretty little dress whilst just out and about, as opposed to out on the town.  I thought these were lovely for that purpose and fitted, well, you know, like a glove. £3 - sold!

The turban, I didn't expect to like on me at all but one of my friends encouraged me to try it on.  It was love at first sight when I looked in the mirror!  I somehow thought it would work best on straight hair but I love the way my curls poke out from under it.  I might have to start keeping my eye out for a proper vintage one as this is a rather cheap, nasty fabric but it does the trick for now!

Item 3 - vanity case:

Luggage/an overnight bag was on my list of items for which to keep an eye out when I arrived at the Festival.  The other was furnishings of the non-essential but handy kind (e.g. coffee tables, side cupboards, that kind of thing).  I didn't end up with furniture, though I did drool over a 1930s "tub chair" which was super-comfy, upholstered in lush deep red fabric and had cute, itsy-bitsy legs so was awfully sweet and low.  But that was in one of the pricy stalls and though I did seriously consider it, I opted against it in the end.  I also eyed off a 1960s record cabinet for a little while but one of my friends was more committed to it and she got to take it home instead.  I somewhat regretted letting her take it afterwards!

But, I digress.  Back to the vanity case.  I checked out a few - some bigger, some smaller, one with decoupage on it and all the little bottles inside which was absolutely darling but damn heavy even with nothing in it.  This one I felt struck the right balance of size, weight and durability.  

Plus it has sweet checks inside:

Item 4 - blue 1950s glasses:

Well, I already mentioned these in my other brief post about the day but they are so damn cool that I thought they deserved their own close-up.  I'm really not sure how often I'll actually wear them but I couldn't resist.  I am hoping I'll find occasions and outfits for them, despite them being a tad tricky.  Anyway, they fitted in with my blue theme for the day so it was clearly meant to be...

So, that's my well-rounded stash from last month's Vintage Festival at Southbank.  But I do have to confess that I did end up with a dress as well...  Only right at the end of the day.  I'd almost made it out without buying one, the stalls were packing up, we were leaving, but I then found a lovely one in the last place we looked, just after I'd been commenting on my self-discipline in not buying one.  Spoke too soon!  Might share it some other time though as it needs a tiny bit of taking in.  It's going to be a good autumn/winter dress though so do keep your eyes peeled for an appearance in a future outfit post.  And rest assured, I stuck to my theme - it is blue!

Anyone else found any not-strictly-clothing vintage items recently?  Accessories?  Furniture?  Luggage items??

Distracted at the Imperial War Museum

As part of a current work project, I've been spending lots of days at the Imperial War Museum recently.  Considering how highly I regard the museum and its collection, I must say I'm feeling pretty chuffed about getting to work on it.  It's been quite a challenge to not get distracted by the exhibits though...  And the shop...  But I've been pretty good, just buying a couple of postcards to add to the little collection of pictures which adorn my desk at work.

I'd already had this poster up for a while, long before starting on this current job:

Now I've added these two:

The one below wasn't available as a postcard or poster...  So I have to confess I ended up buying a whole little book of British wartime posters in which it features.  It never actually got used as a recruitment poster because it was considered to be too risque - the blonde bombshell, it was nicknamed - but ain't it just fab?

All that aside, one of the definite perks of my job is getting to climb onto the roofs of all sorts of buildings.  Here's the view from the top of the museum, down into the central exhibition space... except I then realised you could get the same view from the top balcony inside the building, which is accessible to all visitors.  Plus, I caught my own reflection in the glass.  Oh well...