John Kilby Green & the History of the Toy Theatre
Alan Keen could not
have been more unlike Benjamin Pollock. Pollock was a quiet and reserved man
and had remained in the same premises throughout his career of some 61 years.
Pollock produced little in the way of new productions, relying heavily on
printing from his own stock. Keen, however, was entrepreneurial, and
flamboyant. He set up “Benjamin Pollock
Limited” and moved to the far more impressive location of 1 John Adam Street,
Adelphi. A young George Speaight was brought in as manager and a new revival of
the toy theatre was about to begin.
(An early display from the Adelphi years. – If
anyone know’s the two individuals photographed, please drop me a line?)
The stock Keen had
acquired wasn’t enough for the grand ideas he had for the toy theatre and he
quickly set about creating lavish new productions and the first true “kit-form”
stage, “The Regency”.
“The Regency Theatre”
was a kit-form combination of paper, Bakelite and wood. Keen commissioned the
production of a Bakelite mould, so that the purchaser could glue a pre-printed
coloured version of Green’s proscenium from the 1850’s, directly onto it.
Although this was called “The Regency” by Keen, it is not clear as to whether
or not it was based upon the original “Regency Theatre”. It was more likely
called “The Regency” from the period it depicts. The Bakelite proscenium was
then attached via two bolt-screws to a veneered plywood stage floor. But before
adding the nuts to the protruding bolts, a curved orchestra was added to the
front, again using an example from Green, this time dated from August 1834. The
structure then tilted backwards. To stop this, the stage rigging was added in
the form of a pinewood frame, which slotted into the back of the proscenium and
extended backwards, with cross runners for the scenery, to two down beams that
slotted into the stage floor at the back with enough extra length to bring the
stage floor to the level position. It takes about five minutes to set up and
still works perfectly today, over fifty years since their original production. A
similar kit was released at the same time using the “Aldelphi Theatre” of
modern design. The “Adelphi Theatre” used the same Bakelite mould as the
“Regency” with blackened parts of the proscenium where the mould didn’t quite
fit. This was cleverly done, as it is almost indiscernible to the naked eye.
(The Regency & Adelphi Theatres fresh from
the production line)
The
Regency Theatre is really a misnomer, which would probably never have arisen
had the stage front not been one of the tiny handful of prints which Green
failed to put a date on. It is almost certainly a rather late production (early
to mid-1850s?), but like so much of Green's work has a spare elegance about it
which does suggest Regency good taste rather than Victorian fussiness. When
Alan Keen started to manufacture toy theatres in the 1940s, he (or his designer
Edwin Smith) coupled this front with Green's 1834 orchestra to create what was
marketed as the "Regency" theatre, while Green's other surviving
stage front was offered to the public under the more defensible title of the
"Victorian" (or
"Victoria", in the version created by Peter Adams Turner for
Mrs Fawdry in 1960).
There
was indeed a real theatre called the Regency, and West produced versions of
several plays produced there, as did Green (“Robin Hood”, “Sleeping Beauty”,
“Belphegor the Conjuror”), though by his time it was called the Queen's. In the
later Victorian period it became the Prince of Wales', and at the beginning of
the twentieth century it was rebuilt as the massive Scala, with the grand
portico of the old theatre being retained as the stage door of the new. The
Scala was demolished in the 1970s (though it can be seen in A Hard Day's Night
and other films), having stood behind the present Pollock's Toy Museum, hence
Scala Street. But none of this is really relevant to the stage front.
The “Regency” and
“Adelphi” theatres were followed by a much cheaper and completely assembled card
theatre, “The Victoria”. Again this was of Green’s design and is extremely
similar to “The Regency”. The purchaser just takes the item out of the box and
it folds out ready for performance. Another very ingenious design.
The only complaint
that could be made about these excellent productions was the fact there was no
penny plain version. All came coloured and ready for performance. The hours of
painting and construction was one of the major selling points of the toy
theatre and just perhaps the omission of plain versions was a cause of the
future downfall of the Keen era.
The Regency Theatre (1946)
The Victoria Theatre (1946)
(A cardboard fold out theatre)
(Note: The cut down orchestra is extracted
from the one used with the Regency Theatre above)
A lighting set-up was
also made available, so that the young toy theatre enthusiasts could create a
true feeling of the real theatre in the comfort of their own homes. It must
have been quite a task for the impresario to single-handedly manipulate the
characters, the scene changes and all the lighting changes, not to mention the
performance itself.
Pollock’s Miniature Stage Lighting Set
(1946-1950)
In 1946 Keen’s first
release was a complete Penny Plain version of “The Red Rover”, including additional
scenes from Park’s version just to show the similarity between the two. This
was printed on thick paper, but it would still require gluing on to card before
any performance of the play could be made.
The Red Rover – Packet Cover (1946)
Keen followed this
with a completely unedited coloured version of “The Silver Palace” on thick
card. This was a truly superb production. The use of thick card meant that the
purchaser could just cut out the characters ready for performance. Such a
simple idea, but one that doesn’t appear to have been used in toy theatre
history before.
Benjamin Pollock Limited – Colour Version of Green’s “The Silver Palace” (1946)
He followed this in
1947 with re-worked versions of Green’s “Aladdin” and “Cinderella”, with shortened
playbooks and limited coloured characters and scenes. These too were printed on
card, rather than paper, although the card was thinner than that used in “The
Silver Palace”. Both these two plays were packaged in a brown paper envelope
with a small Redington theatre used for the label. The “Aladdin” was also
distributed as the play included with the “The Regency Theatre”.
Packets for Aladdin & Cinderella (Both 1947)
Keen went one step further,
which was perhaps a step too far, as he commissioned new works, employing the
highly paid JB Priestley and Doris Zinkeisen to create “The High Toby”. This
was followed by “Hamlet” based on Laurence Olivier’s successful film, with
scenes by Roger Furse. The characters are actual photographs of Laurence
Oliver, Peter Cushing, Jean Simmons and the rest of the cast. But as with so
many productions for the toy theatre before them, they were almost impossible
to perform on the toy stage. More importantly the cost of creation and
production far exceeded the revenue that would be generated from the sales of
such lavish productions.
Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet”
(An Invitation to see the only public
performance of “The High Toby”)
The plays produced between 1946 and 1950 were as follows: -
|
1946 |
Red Rover |
Green (plus
comparison plates from A Park) |
Penny Plain |
|
1946 |
The Silver
Palace |
Green |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1947 |
Therese |
Green |
Penny Plain |
|
1947 |
Aladdin |
Green (Abridged) |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1947 |
Cinderella |
Green (Abridged) |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1947 |
Harlequinade |
Compiled by
George Speaight (from Green) |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1947 |
Blackbeard the
Pirate |
Green (Abridged) |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1948 |
The High Toby |
JB Priestley
& Doris Zinkeisen |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1948 |
Hamlet |
From Laurence
Olivier’s Film |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1950 |
The Bethlehem
Story |
A Nativity Play
by Irene Gass. Artwork by Sheila Jackson |
Tuppence
Coloured |
|
1951 |
The Atom Secrets |
George Speaight
– Although never published |
Tuppence
Coloured |
Costs spiralled and
revenue was never enough to cover such grand ideas. In 1950 the business
started to fail and the offices were moved to 16 Little Russell Street. Hopes
of a revival in fortunes were placed on the formation of “Pollock’s Toy Theatre
Club”. A quarterly magazine was promised to all members called the “Model
Stage”. The first edition ran off the printing presses in 1950, complete with a
12 page newsletter and George Speaight’s “Harlequinade” re-arranged by Edwin
Smith. The latter had a copyright stamp dated in 1947, although it is believed
that it wasn’t made available for sale until after Issue One had been released.
Issue Two was delayed due to printing problems and was sent out with no
magazine but an apology. Also included was a re-arranged version of Green’s
“Blackbeard the Pirate” in full colour. Like “Harlequinade”, “Blackbeard the Pirate”
also had a 1947 copyright stamp and wasn’t made available for sale until after
Issue Two had been released. The third and final issue was accompanied with
“The Bethlehem Story”. There was to be fourth issue, including Speaight’s “The
Atom Secrets”, but George Speaight had resigned due to lack of payment of his
salary, and it was never released. The demise of the “Model Stage” was quickly
followed by the failure of “Benjamin Pollock Limited”. Within the year the
receivers were called in, and by 1952, “Benjamin Pollock Limited” had ceased
trading.
Keen had brought
about the end of the last print selling organisation, through his creation of
highly expensive productions and an entertaining lifestyle. But in so doing he
did create one of the most enduring toy theatre kits with “the Regency” and a
series of excellent productions in “The Silver Palace”, the “High Toby” and
“Hamlet”. I think without him the toy theatre world would have died much
earlier, perhaps with the closure of Pollock’s shop at 73 Hoxton Street, by
Pollock’s two daughters. To survive in post war Britain, the toy theatre needed
the heightened standards and the quality that Keen’s forward-thinking
modernisation introduced. If Keen is to be blamed for anything, it must be the
way he stored the plates. As it was he who was responsible for the improper
packaging that resulted in the irreversible damage to most of the zinc plates.
Ultimately Keen brought quality, modernisation and flamboyance to his
productions that created a passion in the toy theatre world that lasts with
many to this day? I wonder how many readers of these pages have examples of his
work?
(All images on this page have been published with the kind permission of “Pollock’s Toy Theatres Ltd”)
(Visit “Pollock’s Toy Theatres Ltd” web-site here)