Save Streatham Hill Theatre from change of use to a church

Ivor Novello appeared frequently at Streatham Hill Theatre.  On the last night of I Lived with You (which ran in week beginning 11th July 1932), Novello was visited by Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and his wife Joan Crawford, together with Laurence Olivier, Jill Esmond and Heather Thatcher. Crowds besieged the theatre, anxious to see the American stars. A 30-strong police force tried to protect them as they emerged from the stage door after the show. The girls screamed and shouted and waved autograph books. It took the party 5 minutes to reach their car.

The Bioscope “MORTGAGES AND CHARGES” section in 1931 notes that Streatham Hill Playhouse Ltd raised extra funds.

18th March 1931 Edition

 STREATHAM HILL PLAYHOUSES (sic). LTD.—Registered January 30th, £30,000 (not ex.), 2nd debenture to Branch Nominees, Ltd., as trustees for National Provincial Bank, Ltd. ; general, charge (subject, etc.). *£100,000. April 29 1930.

12th August 1931 Edition

Streatham Hill Playhouse, Ltd.—Registered June 25th, £50,000 second debenture, to Branch Nonimees (sic), Ltd.. 15, Bishopsgate, E.C. ; charged on land at Streatham Hill, also charge. *£100,000. April 29, 1930.

* Amount of debt according to last available return.

Journey’s End in w/b 16th June 1930, was, strangely, one of only two major plays about the Great War. Only a dozen years had passed, yet the stage had no place to examine the greatest social event which affected the lives of everyone in the audience. It would be wrong to say all that was demanded was fluffy escapism, but most was. The war was too gloomy, it was claimed; and R. C. Sherriff’s play did not seem realistic enough anyway. It took the Stage Society, a group dedicated to new Writing, to produce the play one Sunday evening with Laurence Olivier in the main role. Despite critical acclaim, it still needed much effort to get it put on in the West End where it eventually ran for 594 performances.

Such was the ‘lack of realism’, that when it played at Streatham Hill, with Olivier replaced, the neighbourhood was kept awake by the noise of the explosions.

The play was directed by James Whale, who was later to make the classic movie Frankenstein.