BY RAIL TO THE MUSIC HALLS

The Garrick Theatre (telephone Southport 5000) poster entices listeners to come and hear the latest tunes by Joe Loss, see George Formby or watch Babes in the Wood at the Pier Pavilion. In a superb gallery of steam trains, we follow the rise of cinema and the decline of music halls, Morecambe and Wise getting their act together on a train while touring the provinces, the bread and butter circuit, the theatre architect extraordinaire Frank Matcham and right back to the good old days when Charles Dickens catches the train during Hard Times. This beautiful and nostalgic book by Lancashire-based social historian Hindle embraces more than 320 excellent colour photographs and black and white images of steam-hauled passenger trains that once conveyed passengers to the great Victorian and Edwardian music halls and variety theatres. Supported by copious variety bills, anecdotes and personal reminiscences, here are the seaside shows, the famous Blackpool Tower, the Moss Empire circuit and the infamous Glasgow Empire. Railways brought mass mobility for passengers long before the age of the car and special trains accommodated complex sets and all the paraphernalia to be transported for the performing companies around the country. They enabled famous London and northern-based performers such as Marie Lloyd to travel the country and reach their matinées and twice-nightly performances on time. The passing of Ken Dodd signalled the last of the genre of music hall performers and the end of an era, recorded beautifully in this 184 glossy page book. Colour. Satin pagemarker.