Concert parties
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[] 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.
As other forms of entertainment (particularly television) replaced variety shows in general, concert parties largely died out during the 1950s. This form of entertainment has been described by Roy Hudd as long-gone and much lamented.<ref name="Hudd">Roy Hudd, Philip Hindin, Roy Hudd's cavalcade of variety acts: a who was who of light entertainment, 1945-60, 1997, p94</ref>
The most famous fictitious concert party outside the armed forces was The Good Companions in J. B. Priestley's eponymous novel.
