Aerial acts would take place on a system of ropes over the
stalls. In 1861 the great Léotard,
who invented the flying trapeze act, set up his equipment
at the Alhambra
Theatre, where he created a furore, and gave rise to the
song The ‘Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze’.
Tightrope walker Blondin
walked from one balcony of the Canterbury Music Hall to the
other.
Aerial acts became very popular in music halls. They included
trapeze and tightrope acts. Pansy
Chinery, one of The Flying Zedoras, was shot though a paper
target to be caught by her sister on a trapeze. Many of the
aerial, wire walking and animal acts had hitherto been performed
at fairs or in the pleasure
gardens of London, many of which had been closed by the
mid-19th century.
Character Songs
Adagio
