Green Room Club
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
, primarily for actors, but also for lovers of the theatre & the arts. It was established in 1877 and was dissolved in 2000.
History
The club was set up by the VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
actor-manager Sir Henry Irving, and Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
Captain Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort KG, PC, DL , styled Earl of Glamorgan until 1835 and Marquess of Worcester from 1835 to 1853, was a British peer, soldier and Conservative politician...
, with the latter agreeing to be its first president. Its inaugural meeting was on 21 July 1877, in the Criterion restaurant, Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
, with those present then walking over to the club's first premises in the Caledonian Hotel at 10 Adelphi Terrace, near Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
. The club was to remain here for the next six years.
When the club's lease in the Caledonian Hotel expired in 1883, new premises were bought at 20 Bedford Street (off Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
, with the club temporarily relocating to 22 King Street (near Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
), whilst repairs were carried out.
After the Duke of Beaufort's death in 1899, Sir Squire Bancroft took over as club president. It was around this time that the club's membership - now at 400 - realised that they needed a larger set of premises, and so in 1903 the club moved once more, leasing the first floor of 46 Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
from the Automobile Association
Automobile Association
Automobile Association may refer to:*Australian Automobile Association in Australia.*Automobile Association of South Africa*Canadian Automobile Association in Canada.*Dominion Automobile Association in Canada....
. The club remained here until it was hit by a Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bomb on 16 October 1940. Offered temporary facilities by the Royal Societies Club in St. James's Street
St. James's Street
St James's Street is one of the principal streets in the central London district of St James's. It runs from Piccadilly downhill to St James's Palace and Pall Mall...
, the Green Room took to leasing rooms in Whitcomb Street, in the hope of one day renovating the Leicester Square rooms and moving back there. In the event, this never happened.
Instead, on 28 June 1955 it moved to the premises, the basement of 8-9 Adam Street. These rooms were extremely cramped, with members fondly recalling a bar designed for twenty people which often had to accommodate over a hundred. Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
once described talking at the club at a Guest Lunch was "like addressing sailors in a submarine". A feature which many visitors often commented on were the club's small, darkened vaults, its full size Victorian snooker table and its wood panelled library.
In 1993 the club opened its doors to evening members paying £10 a year. Its first big influx of members came from the cast of Sunset Boulevard which has recently opened at The Adelphi Theatre. Up until its closure at Adam Street the club had had over 6000 members come through its doors.
By 1999, with the club's daytime membership dwindling, it was reported that it was in serious financial trouble, and the club was taken to court by the owner of its premises for failure to pay several months of rent.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/612243.stm The club lost the case and moved out to a new premises in the old Mercers Arms building opposite the stage door of The Cambridge Theatre. Two small floors gave the club a home for a year but again when the lease ran out the club had to go into hibernation waiting to start again.
So since its dissolution, there have been at least two unsuccessful attempts to 're-found' a version of the club in new premises, and the owner of the old building at Adam Street has now re-opened the site as a new business venture, the Adam Street Club.
The Green Room Club has finally re-opened during April 2009 sharing some space in The Phoenix Artist Club.
Notable members
- Jack AllenJack Allen (actor)Jack Allen was a British film, theatre and television actor.He made his stage debut in 1931 at The Liverpool Playhouse, appearing in The Swan and had a long theatrical career which lasted until 1980, when he appeared at The Old Vic in a production of The Merchant of Venice.He made his film debut...
- Felix AylmerFelix AylmerSir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television.-Early life and career:...
- Richard AttenboroughRichard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
- Sir Squire BancroftSquire BancroftSir Squire Bancroft , born Squire White Butterfield, was an English actor-manager. He and his wife Effie Bancroft are considered to have instigated a new form of drama known as 'drawing-room comedy' or 'cup and saucer drama', owing to the realism of their stage sets.-Early life and career:Bancroft...
- David Barker
- Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of BeaufortHenry Somerset, 8th Duke of BeaufortCaptain Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort KG, PC, DL , styled Earl of Glamorgan until 1835 and Marquess of Worcester from 1835 to 1853, was a British peer, soldier and Conservative politician...
- Herbert Beerbohm TreeHerbert Beerbohm TreeSir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
- Ballard Berkeley (President of the club in the early 1980s)
- Alfred CellierAlfred CellierAlfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and...
- Alan CurtisAlan Curtis (British actor)-Background:He was born in Coulsdon, Surrey and he has led a long career in the cinema, television and theatre.He has also acted for the MCC as an announcer at Lord's Cricket Ground.Alan now lives in West London.-Cinema appearances:...
- Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
- Christopher EcclestonChristopher EcclestonChristopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
- Ben EltonBen EltonBenjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
- Johnston Forbes-RobertsonJohnston Forbes-RobertsonSir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the nineteenth century and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.-Early life:Born in...
- Ronald FraserRonald FraserRonald Fraser was an English character actor, who appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s whilst also appearing in many popular TV shows.-Background:...
- Harold FrenchHarold FrenchHarold French was an English director and actor of stage and screen. As an actor most of his roles occurred between 1912 and 1936. He did not garner as much attention as an actor as he would as a director. From 1940 to 1955 he had a several solid box-office successes...
- John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
- Richard HarrisRichard HarrisRichard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
- Tony HawksTony HawksAntony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.-Early life:Born in Brighton in 1960, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College...
- Kit Hesketh-HarveyKit Hesketh-HarveyChristopher John "Kit" Hesketh Harvey is a British musical comic performer, translator, composer and scriptwriter.Born in Nyasaland , he was educated as senior chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then Tonbridge School in Kent before moving on as a choral scholar under John Rutter to Clare...
- Roy HuddRoy HuddRoy Hudd, OBE is an English comedian, actor, radio host and author, and an authority on the history of music hall entertainment.- Early life :...
- Henry IrvingHenry IrvingSir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
- Morgan Jones
- Ian LavenderIan LavenderArthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...
- Ronald Leigh-HuntRonald Leigh-HuntRonald Leigh-Hunt was a British film and television actor.His father was a stockbroker and he attended the Italia Conti Academy. He began acting whilst serving in the army...
- Ralph LynnRalph LynnRalph Lynn was a British stage and screen actor.Lynn was born in Manchester and began his acting career in Wigan in 1900 in King of Terrors. After years spent touring regional theatres and a spell in America he made his West End debut in 1915 at the Empire theatre in By Jingo...
- Cal MacaninchCal MacaninchCal MacAninch is a Scottish actor, best known for portraying the character of DI John Keenan in police drama Holby Blue on BBC 1 during 2007-8....
- Miles MallesonMiles MallesonWilliam Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
- Rik MayallRik MayallRichard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...
- Henry McGeeHenry McGeeHenry McGee was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announcer on Hill's TV programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!"...
- Jonny Lee MillerJonny Lee MillerJonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
- Gerard Murphy
- Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
- Peter O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
- Ralph RichardsonRalph RichardsonSir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
- C. Aubrey Smith
- Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
- William Terris
- Fred TerryFred TerryFred Terry was an English actor and theatrical manager. After establishing his reputation in London and in the provinces for a decade, he joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree where he remained for four years, meeting his future wife, Julia Neilson...
- Peter UstinovPeter UstinovPeter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
- Charles WyndhamCharles WyndhamSir Charles Wyndham was an English actor-manager, born as Charles Culverwell in Liverpool, the son of a doctor. He was educated abroad, at King's College London and at the College of Surgeons and the Peter Street Anatomical School, Dublin...
External links
- A website dedicated to the history of the Green Room Club
- The website of the Adam Street Club, based in the old building of the Green Room Club
See also
- List of London's gentlemen's clubs
- Green roomGreen roomIn British English and American English show business lexicon, the green room is that space in a theatre, a studio, or a similar venue, which accommodates performers or speakers not yet required on stage...