The Performer was certain about the success of the show. Unfortunately, Lester was in the middle of changing - with very little to cover his blushes! The distraught entertainer is quoted as crying out, "It's awful - I can't shake hands with my future sovereign in my pants and vest!" After the show, the Prince came back-stage, eager to say how much he had enjoyed the performance. He was in luck - Ronnie found the one given to Queen Mary, with its specially hand-embroidered jacket - a real collector's item.Īlfred Lester was litterally caught with his pants down by the Prince of Wales. It was towards the end of the night that Little Tich was overcome with nerves and, very sadly, found himself unable to join in the grand finale.Įager to have a special reminder of the evening, Harry Tate told his son Ronnie to go up to the Royal Box after the show to see if a programme had been left there by the Royal party. Things started well for him as he sang 'Popularity,' a well-known 1910 number, and then went on to do his famous 'Big Boots' dance.
Fortunately, following her act was the great comic, Harry Tate, and his ability to get George V laughing soon restored the lively atmosphere.Įven a seasoned performer such as Little Tich could be overawed by a grand occasion. Queen Mary, seemingly unhappy with the idea of a woman wearing trousers and dressing like a man, covered her face with her programme, which encouraged the audience to be less enthusiastic in their reception to Miss Tilley. There was one moment of unease, when Vesta Tilley, the talented male impersonator, began her act. Her absence, however, failed to dampen excitement of a memorable night of British entertainment, with stars such as comic Harry Lauder, Harry Tate, the 'Prime Minister of Mirth' George Robey, dancer Anna Pavolva and the 'White-Eyed Kaffir' G.H.Chirgwin, ensuring triumph. Her ommission - apparently on the grounds that she was too risque for such a Royal performance at a time when music hall was just becoming 'respectable' - is one of the most controversial in the history of the Royal Variety Performance. All that is, apart from Marie Lloyd, perhaps the biggest name in popular music hall at the time. On conception the show was dubbed with the working-title 'the Music Hall Command Performance' but was soon altered before the day of the show to become the very first Royal Command Performance and must still rank as one of the most successful.Īll the great names of British variety and music hall gathered at the Palace Theatre before King George V, Queen Mary and the Prince of Wales. This first staging was a lavish occasion with over 3 million roses draped around the auditorium. The origins of the Royal Variety Performance date back to 1912, when His Majesty King George V and Her Majesty Queen Mary agreed to attend a 'Royal Command Performance' at the Palace Theatre in London's Cambridge Circus in aid of the VABF - Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund (the previous name of the Royal Variety Charity) and its proposed plans to build an extension to its Care Home for elderly entertainers, Brinsworth House.
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