theatre
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Floating Heads Cabaret Collection #2
Today we bring to you more photographs from the west end of London circa 1880 to 1900. As previously mentioned, this club was a hotbed for the advent of European bohemians and creatives. It is recorded that the likes of Squire Bancroft, Ivan Berlyn and John Clayton visited there alongside the highly regarded double act…
alcohol, artists, Avant-garde, costumes, dance, drugs, eccentrics, hats, masks, music, Rebels, satire, theatre, victorian art -
Floating Heads Cabaret Collection #1
These beautiful photographs were taken in a small nocturnal cabaret club in the West End of London circa 1880. This little known style of theatre and dance spread across the European underground for approximately twenty years before disappearing with little trace. The 1880s was an interesting time to be alive. As we’ve noted before, society…
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Domingo’s Haunted Puppet Show Collection #3
This is going to be the last puppet collection for a short while. We are presently sitting on top of a pile of new collections which we are hoping to put out over the next couple of weeks so you might see a slight increase in our output. We would like to say thank you…
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Domingo’s Haunted Puppet Show Collection #2
Following on from the last collection, we have discovered a little more about Alfred Byrne and his puppet shows. From a young age, Alfred had an incredible flair for creating puppets, costumes and stage designs. However, owed to the harsh living conditions he experienced in a small town in the northeast of England, with two…
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Domingo’s Haunted Puppet Show Collection #1
Alfred Byrne’s entertainment name was Domingo. We can see him in photograph #10 with some of his creations. He performed his shows in underground theatres across the country and was popular among bohemian circles. The stories he told tended to be a mix of nihilism, gallows humour and scathing social commentary. He attacked royalty, parliament,…
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Godbert Lawley and the Original Victorian B-movie Collection #1
In a short period of time, Godbert made, or attempted to make, around 50 horror movies. These were funded by wealthy businessmen who predicted the silver screen boom. Each movie was around 3 minutes long and many of them were scrapped for reasons unknown. Fortunately some did survive and made their way to the underground…
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Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #3 (Martian Edition Part #1)
Today’s collection has to be one of the most bozarre and hilarious we’ve archived thus far. Yet when these images began to circulate in a national newspaper in 1895, Victorians were queueing up to be fooled. In 1895 a theatre company named Barnard & Co. was celebrating the end to a fantastic summer season in…
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