CHAPTER XXXI
THE ALHAMBRA: 1854-1903
Both the Alhambra and the Empire were alike in having had a somewhat varied career before they became the rival “homes of English ballet.”
There was something like a craze for music-halls in the early ’sixties of last century, and it was probably partly due to this that the Alhambra, which had been opened in 1854 as a Panopticon of the Arts and Sciences (with a Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria in 1850) failing of its more ambitious purpose, ceased (unsuccessfully) to instruct, and sought (with better success) only to amuse.
First it was given over to more or less unorthodox religious services on the Sundays and to boxing contests and wrestling on the week days! Then for a time it came under the direction of a then well-known theatrical manager and speculator, the late Mr. E. T. Smith, who called it the Alhambra, and in 1870 secured a regular music-hall licence. The place was still not very successful. It became a circus for a short time.
Then it was taken over by a Mr. William Wilde, of Nottingham, who introduced Leotard, the famous gymnast, about whose wonderful grace and daring London went mad, so much so that on his return visit in 1866, under the late John Hollingshead’s management, he received a salary of £180 a week.
Then Mr. Frederick Strange, who had been connected with the Crystal Palace, became manager and introduced ballet, his most notable production being one called “L’Enfant Prodigue,” which was adapted from Auber’s opera. Mr. Jules Riviere was the conductor of the orchestra; and among those who became responsible for the arranging of the ballets were the brothers Imré and Bolossy Kiralfy, assisted by their sister Aniola, one of their most successful productions being one entitled “Hungary.”
At this period the old quarrel between the young “music-halls” and the “legitimate” theatres was growing serious. A ballet might be produced so long as it was called and was, in effect, a mere divertissement. Anything else, a musical sketch, or opera—in which words were said or sung—was held an infringement of the rights of a regular theatre, and when John Hollingshead, as stage director during 1865-1867, produced in 1866 a pantomime called “Where’s the Police?” the management were fined by a magistrate some two hundred and forty pounds. Apart from ballet and such a production as this pantomime, there was, of course, plenty of the “variety” element, contributed by such performers as Leotard, the Farinis, and the Foucarts, gymnasts; and various vocalists known to their period.
With the dawn of the ’seventies came a new taste for ballet and “Les Nations” was staged at the Alhambra with a Mlle. Colonna and other dancers, including Esther Austin (a sister of Emily Soldene) in the cast; and a “Parisian Quadrille” became a feature of the production.