History Of The Model Theatre
The Model Toy Theatre The Toy Theatre, also called the Paper Theatre and Model Theatre is a form of Miniature Theatre dating back to the early 1800s in Europe. Toy theatres were often printed on paperboard sheets and sold as kits at the concession stand of an opera or theatre. Toy theatres were assembled at home and performed for family members and guests, sometimes even with live music. Toy Theatre saw a drastic decline in popularity with a shift towards realism on the European stage in the late 19th century, and again with the arrival of television after World War 2. Toy Theater has seen a comeback in recent years among many puppeteers, authors and filmmakers and there are numerous international toy theatre festivals throughout the Americas and Europe. In the first half of the 19th century more than 300 of London’s most popular plays saw issue as toy theatres. When realism was introduced, Model Theatre’s started to use 3D models. Other countries produced model theatres, but the prints from Denmark and Germany were some of the most outstanding. The model theatre really started to be known with Benjamin
Pollock. He was born in1856 in Hoxton, which was in the poor quarter of London. He and his father were in the fur trade which was a family business. He would often visit a shop down the road which belonged to John Redington, who among many jobs, like a Tobacconist was a bookbinder who worked in what he called a Theatrical Print Warehouse. Pollock was a regular customer who soon fell in love and married Eliza Redington while still in their teens. When Redington died, Pollock took over the 60 year old business and preserved it. He had many customers ...
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Pollock. He was born in1856 in Hoxton, which was in the poor quarter of London. He and his father were in the fur trade which was a family business. He would often visit a shop down the road which belonged to John Redington, who among many jobs, like a Tobacconist was a bookbinder who worked in what he called a Theatrical Print Warehouse. Pollock was a regular customer who soon fell in love and married Eliza Redington while still in their teens. When Redington died, Pollock took over the 60 year old business and preserved it. He had many customers but around 1930 he started to lose business because newer versions of theatres were coming out. This included the well known German dolls. Not only was this making Pollock lose business, but also another producer: Mr. Webb. Mr. Webb was also a model theatre producer who owned a shop just down the road, who was pretty much the same but there was one big difference. Mr. Webb produced much, much finer images then Pollock, so soon attracted his customers. Pollock was fast losing customers and needed help to be recognised. The man to do this was Robert Louis Stevenson who after visiting both shops decided Pollock’s was better. Not by the quality, but by how welcoming they were. You see Robert Louis Stevenson had had an awful argument with Webb and declared that 'if you love art, folly, or the bright eyes of children, speed to Pollock's!’ This shot Pollock into the limelight and people from far and wide came to visit Pollock’s, including the likes of Charlie Chaplin. The model theatre was reaching new heights and in 1925 The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild was created. Benjamin and his wife, Eliza had 8 Children, but in 1895 she passed away. Benjamin’s successor, and son, William passed away shortly after, leaving no one to take the place of Benjamin. Pollock’s daughter, Louisa helped out when her father finally died in 1937 she couldn’t take on all the work Louisa’s sister, Selina helped out. WW1 came and there were no sales. The two sisters couldn’t cope and finally closed the shop. They sold all their stock to an Irish antiquarian bookseller in August 1944 and just one month later, Pollock’s shop was the target of a German bomb which destroyed it and most of the shops along the street. Pollock and Keen couldn’t have been more different. Pollock was cautious and inconspicuous whereas Keen was entrepreneurial and flamboyant. Pollock never moved from Hoxton and was never impressed by fame. Keen liked high living and club lunches, and charmed well-known names into buying shares in his Company. The stock remained locked up for around 10 years, but when one lady, Marguerite Fawdry, wanted some wire slides for her son's toy theatre, she was told by a weary accountant: 'I believe there are hundreds of thousands in the warehouse, madam, but there's no one who can look them out for you... Of course you could, I suppose, buy the lot if you wanted them.' She did exactly that. She bought all of the stock in 1945. She polished up the damaged pieces and created her own mini theatre inside her own house. Many fans of Pollock’s shop discovered his collection and Marguerite sold hundreds of items. During the eighties Pollock's thrived, Marguerite produced more books and toy theatre sales continued steadily. Unfortunately the recession came which slowed production and sales. But it didn’t matter much because by this time Kenneth Fawdry had already died and Marguerite was far from well. She died in September 1995 after a long illness, but the toy theatres she loved so much and the museum she created lived on until now. As mentioned before The Model Theatre Guild is a Guild was formed in 1925 to appreciate the art of puppets and The Model Theatre. There are three key personalities that inspired the formation of The Guild, Harry W.Whanslaw, Benjamin Pollock and Gerald Morice. Harry Whanslaw, more affectionately known as Whanny, was one of the most creative illustrators of books, mostly of an educational nature, in the early twentieth century. Like many Theatre designers, Whanny loved the popular arts which inspired most of his ideas, not the least the puppet theatre and the juvenile drama. Whanny was fortunate to see a number of the family travelling marionette theatres, and he regularly spent time in the great street markets of London, where he bought any item of curiosity. His best work was probably the ‘Chatterbox Annual’, published in 1923, that contained his illustrated items throughout it, with the title ‘The Toy That Never Grows Old’. The popularity of this led to the publication of the book that inspired so many model theatre enthusiasts. Very little is known about Whanny’s early life. The model theatre industry finally faded out due to the introduction of TV and DVD’s but shops like Pollock’s can still be found to this day. By Amy Smith 9Z
