Each year we have a new advent calendar, as part of our recent family Christmas traditions. Other families like Marvin at the Subterranean, sorry Suburban Militarism blog have their Army of Advent Christmas figures. You might have some odd Christmas traditions of your own!
Our 2018 advent calendar from Art Angels designed by the fabulous British illustrator Emily Sutton was a fabulous toy shop.
This year’s advent calendar by Emily Sutton is a fabulous 3D Toy Theatre by Emily Sutton complete with stage and press out cardboard figures. She has previously done a tribute Pantomime print in Benjamin Pollock toy theatre style.
A stage? Victorian figures? I know a few talented toy figures (maybe even ex-soldiers) who seek such a venue.
It is an odd saying in our family that if someone has a peculiar or unusual talent or even embarrassing mishap that “if they could do that, they could have made a fortune on the variety stage”.
Alas those speciality acts and Variety stages are largely no more. The music halls have fallen silent, largely killed off by television and radio. Variety theatres, music hall and revues were the origin of many of the comic performers of the 1950s and 1960s that I admired on the radio and television whilst growing up, ranging from The Goons to Danny La Rue and Morecambe and Wise.
My beloved Muppets Show was set in a variety theatre with often desperate old time Vaudeville acts and hecklers. One of my first 45 rpm childhood records was The Muppets, Kermit and Miss Piggy singing Old time music hall – did anyone else find her a little disturbing in an undefined way?
A more serious tragic recitation by an acclaimed ‘Ac-tor’ of the proper ‘The-a-tre’
I like how Emily Sutton has captured the colourful “tuppence coloured penny plain” style of the old Victorian and Edwardian Toy Theatre sheets. I also notice how well the pink cheek dots of the old toy soldier figures works on the pit orchestra and audiences in the boxes.
This dapper old soldier with ‘tache could be a lively female impersonator like Vesta Tilley
“Aww, My Aching Feet!” A comedy musical number from Tweeny our “Maid of All Work”.
Figures are a mixture of plastic, my home cast Prince August metal, old lead hollowcast from various makers including newer metal figures from Asset Toy Soldiers, Tradition of London, Dorset Toy Soldiers.
Next post – some of the paper cut outs from my Suffra-fiti game tread the boards, with a little more on toy soldiers, early Wargamers and Toy Theatres (Theatres of War?)
RLS – “Penny Plain and Tuppence Coloured” famous essay on Toy Theatre –
http://archive.org/stream/memoriesandportr00stev
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, December 2020
Man of Tin blog 
What fun! If it wasn’t six fifty two in the morning I might attempt a Leonard Sachs type introduction but the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet! A lot of effort has gone into this post , well done.
I recall my granny in the sixties introducing me to three of her tv favourites- wrestling on a Saturday afternoon, Gaelic singing ( not that she had a word of it but she was born a Mackay) and The Good Old Days from the Leeds Variety Theatre.! I didn’t particularly like it but liked the way people dressed up and their reaction of ohhs to Mr Sachs,s vocal virtuosity.
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His verbose virtuosity! His spendiferous spontaneity! His nonsensical notoriety! (It’s an hour later than your comment and the coffee bag has kicked in.)
I think your Granny Mackay’s tastes should all be included in the same Goon Show style Variety act of Gaelic singing wrestlers with a Leonard Sachs introduction.
I was tipped off as a child that the Saturday wrestling on TV “Live from The Fairfield Halls Croydon” (which I had once visited to see Sooty) was all an elaborately worked out choreographed wrestling show of masked villains and characters so that nobody got hurt.
In my next post I will look at the overlap of toy theatres and early Wargamers from RLS onwards. http://archive.org/stream/memoriesandportr00stev
Wargamer / actor Peter Cushing had a collection of toy theatres but I think these may have been theatre set designs.
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Great performance Mark – lovely collection of figures
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“I thang you!”
It’s good to have an outlet for my more civilian figures and oddities – you start seizing them all in an all new light (footlight, limelight?)
At some point I shall produce a more drab theatrical affair for my WW2 service and civilian figures to celebrate the WW2 version of ENSA (Every Night Something Awful), inspired by the Greasepaint and Cordite book by Andy Merriman.
Add in the concert parties of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, The Virgin Soldiers, the camp pantomime theatricals of the RAF POW camp in Allo Allo etc. Some of the Dad’s Army cast like Clive Dunn earned their “rackety theatrical” stripes acting in POW camps (source: great book – The Barbed Wire University). At last the converted but still very masculine Airfix footballer conversions into chorus / saloon girls (inspired by Featherstone) won’t look out of place in a POW camp chorus line up …
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Well, that kept me entertained! You have a wonderful way with words.
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It calls for the Leonard Sachs “Good Old Days” treatment of bad puns and attractiforous alliteration!
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It’s certainly a ‘Splendiferous’ effort
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Why thank you, sir! Please come again – all seats the same price!
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The Subterranean Militarism blog was very well entertained by all the fabulous performers on this bill! Was particularly pleased to see the old Man of Tin avatar himself take to the stage too. I think my recently painted 20mm laurel and hardy foreign legion duo would be perfect for doing a little song and dance on that stage.
I used to love the Muppet Show and had a copy of an album they produced which was great.
In a kind of modern homemade variety show, my daughter has been putting together a socially-distanced extravaganza for Christmas using her smartphone skills for all the family featuring jokes, songs, craft-making and more. She’s also asked for submissions from family members, so I guess I’m up ‘on stage’ doing something for it. I was thinking maybe a short Christmas message video featuring my Army of Advent but I’m not sure what yet!
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An Army of Advent and Christmas Fusiliers film sounds just the thing as your contribution for the socially distanced family Christmas variety show.
When I think of the Sons of The Desert, I also think of Wilson Keppel and ‘Betty’ in their Sand dance.
I think your Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin and the rest of the clowns and performers of the “We are Fred Karno’s Army, (“the ragtime Infantry, we cannot shoot, we cannot fight, what bleeding use are we!”) were all products of Variety and Music Hall with some making the successful transition to radio and film. Not to mention the pierrot-ters of the Sixties “Oh What a Lovely War!” Film.
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That’s right! Stan Laurel being a protege of Charlie Chaplain, of course.
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What a delightful combination of the spirit of Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Theatres and 54mm figures. Thank you for sharing.
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It was good fun to photograph this one!
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I arrived very late and had to stand at the back for the first half but thoroughly enjoyed the show. Inspired stuff and I loved the names/puns. That’s an excellent collection of figures. I could imagine Wldorf & Stadtler heckling from a box “You’re standing too close to the audience, stand further back!” “How far back?” “About three blocks should do it!”
Thank you kind sir.
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Thanks Brian. Good old Waldorf and Stadtler. The Muppets were (and remain) a major inspiration in my TV and film life. The Muppet Christmas Carol film with Michael Caine is up there with the great film versions.
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