Historian Barry Anthony provides a fascinating perspective on the inspiration behind Chaplin’s genius, as he tells how Chaplin’s film career was shaped by a childhood immersed in music hall. Songs this evening will be performed by Lillian Henley, who will also be taking the role of Charlie’s mother in spoken extracts.

Charlie Chaplin grew up in and around the music hall, with his parents Hannah Hill and Charles Chaplin, his aunt and their friends all earning their precarious livings on the stage. Charlie had irregular contact with his father after his parents separated, when he was still an infant, but it was Charles Chaplin Senior who got him into “The Eight Lancashire Lads” troupe, his debut as a professional performer. The elder Chaplin was well known as a comic singer, with songs made famous by him including “Oui! Tray Bong!”, “Eh! Boys?” and the self-penned “The Girl Was Young and Pretty”.

Chaplin’s experiences of the culture of the music hall shaped his style of acting and the films he made, most famously Limelight, which evoked his painful past in telling the story of a failing variety performer.

Barry Anthony has managed to bring back to life the often remarkable and dramatic lives of the performers who once entertained the British public in the many music halls throughout the country. Michael Chaplin, from the foreword to Barry’s book Chaplin’s Music Hall: The Chaplins and their Circle in the Limelight, published last year by I. B. Tauris. (Copies will be on sale at this event.)

Barry Anthony has written extensively about popular culture and entertainment of the Victorian and Edwardian period. He is the author of The King’s Jester: The Life of Dan Leno, Victorian Comic Genius (2010) and co-author, with Richard Brown, of a groundbreaking study of the early British cinema, A Victorian Film Enterprise (1999).

Doors open at 18.30 for a 19.30 start. Cafe/bar.

Tickets & Pricing

Spring Season 2013 ticketing applies. Advance tickets may be purchased from WeGotTickets, or direct from the Museum.