Concert parties

The concept of a "Concert Party"

According to Wikipedia[1], a concert party is the collective name for a group of entertainers popular in Britain during the first half of the 20th century, functioning as travelling shows of songs and comedy, often put on at the seaside and opening with a Pierrot[2] number.

The tradition lasted from the 1890s until the 1950s, and similar concert parties were formed by several countries' armed forces during the First and Second World Wars. For example, during the Second World War, the British Armed Forces' concert party became known as the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), later succeeded by the Combined Services Entertainment (CSE). In South Africa the tradition, initiated inter alia by the South African Women's Auxilliary Services , led to the formation of the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit in 1940 under the leadership of Major Myles Bourke.

As other forms of entertainment (particularly television) replaced variety shows in general, concert parties largely died out during the 1950s.

Concert parties in South Africa

19th Century

Contrary to the history outlined in Wikipedia, the basic notion of a somewhat similar tradition of concert parties (or concert companies) seems to have emerged earlier, at least in the Cape province, according to F.C.L. Bosman (1980: p 185), who mentions a growing prevalence of musical and choral societies and so-called "vocal and instrumental concerts" in Cape Town in the mid 19th century, also as part of the entertainment activities of the local garrison. More often than not these were led by local music teachers and from this practice there gradually emerged the more ambitious practice of Literary and Musical Entertainments, events which usually included oratoria and cantatas as well as the occasional dramatic work in their programmes. Thus a range of so-called concert parties, both amateur and professional, would ultimately come into being, many of them a variation of the newly introduced Christy's Minstrels format of light entertainment - a form which would almost come to dominate theatrical entertainment in the region between 1863 and 1873.

The first such example mentioned by Bosman consists of a series of three Grand Concerts and Entertainments put on in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, during March of 1863 by a visiting company largely made up of musicians and singers, including J.F. Finlayson, Mr Bowmer, Madame Bowmer, Miss Whitfield, Mr Horton, Mr Schilling. The programme typically included selections from Il Trovatore ("with Scenery, Chorus and Effects") and Mr and Mrs Bowmer's "Dialogue Entertainment, in Two Parts" called Retaliation or Tit for Tat. The third concert on 31 March had a similar piece by the Bowmers called The Widow's Strategem. They also performed in Stellenbosch, Wellington and Worcester. The events were not a great success and the company soon after disbanded, some of them (e.g. The Bowmers and The Finlaysons (Mr Finlayson and Mrs Finlayson) going it alone for a while.

Other concerts and concert companies named by Bosman (1980, p. 243) in this context include performances by the Poussard-Bailey Company, the D'Arcy-Read Company and the many Christy-style companies (see Minstrels).

World war II

During the early years of the World War II the South African Women's Auxilliary Services (SAWAS)[3] organised voluntary "concert parties" and other forms of entertainment at the various military camps in the Union. From this would come the idea of having a formally organised entertainment unit for the Union Defence Force (UDF)[4], which became known as the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit.

The Unit created a number of such concert parties during the war years, deploying them at home and abroad. Among them were the Springbok Frolics, the Gypsies, the Crazy Gang, the

This activity and the many performers who had gained experience in the process, would have an enormous impact on the entertainment industry in South Africa after the war.

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 185-6,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_party_(entertainment)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierrot#England_2

http://ivormarkman.wixsite.com/photojournalism/south-african-womens-auxiliary-services

Neville Phillips. 2008. The Stage Struck Me! Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd.

Swift, M.1974. "The Union Defence Force Entertainment Group in South Africa (World War II)". Scientia Militaria - South African Journal of Military Studies, [S.l.], feb. 2012. ISSN 2224-0020. Available at: <http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/935/946>. Date accessed: 24 May. 2015.

Ivor Markman. "South African Women's Auxiliary Services"[[5]]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Army_corps_and_branches

Percy Tucker. 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Defence_Force_(South_Africa)

Temple Hauptfleisch (ed.). 1985a. The Breytie Book: A Collection of Articles on South African Theatre Dedicated to P.P.B. Breytenbach. Johannesburg: The Limelight press.[6]

Go to ESAT Bibliography