| Performance Title | The Chelsea Arts Club Annual Ball - 'Baroque' |
| Performance Date | 31 December 1947-1 January 1948 |
| Performance Day | Wednesday |
| Performance Time | 22:00 |
| Main Performers | Student performers from:
Polytechnic School of Art,
Heatherley's School of Art,
Royal Academy School,
Architectural Association,
Bromley School of Art
St. Martin's School of Art |
| Orchestra or Band | Victor Silvester and His Ballroom Orchestra,
Leslie Douglas and His Orchestra,
Nat Younkman and His Czardas Orchestra,
Six Pipers and Drummers of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards |
| Set List | Parade of floats,
00:00 Lighting of a phoenix above the crowd,
Balloon drop,
'Auld Lang Syne',
05:30 Breakfasts served,
07:00 Close |
| Performance Notes | Fancy-dress ball.
Programme designed by C C Corfield.
A 40 foot high sculpture of a Pan kicking the Arts around, designed by William McMillan RA, stood in the centre of the auditorium.
The event was broadcast by BBC Television for the first time ever from 00:05.
Associated Press Archive holds B&W British Movietone footage of the event (Story No.BM49625).
This event was attended by Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin wearing respectively Chinese and Spanish costumery.
Founded in 1891 The Chelsea Arts Club is a members club for artists, which for 50 years from 1908 held an annual costumed New Year's Eve ball, which was an infamous part of London's social calendar. After two years at the Royal Opera House the extravagant ball proved so popular it moved to the Royal Albert Hall where it stayed until 1958. The balls attracted media attention with their lavish theatrical sets, multiple orchestras, raucous midnight carnivals and balloon drops and crowds of up to 10,000 socialites, bohemian artists, actors, and ordinary Londoners in elaborate and often scandalous fancy dress dancing until 5am.
Each year a theme was chosen such as Egyptian, Dazzle, Noah's Ark, Prehistoric and Sun Worship around which guests could create flamboyant costumes. London art schools participated by decorating huge carnival floats, which were driven around the auditorium floor and which, at the stroke of midnight, would be destroyed by revellers. The balls were well-known for reports of public nudity, drunken displays of affection, fighting and unadulterated fun. In the vastness of the Hall with its gas lit corridors, curtained boxes and dark staircases naughtiness was the order of the day.
Similarly to the annual Lady Malcolm's Servant's balls (1930-1938) these events were a safe space for the queer community to meet and express themselves with unbridled creativity and little inhibition. There were no scrutineers denying entry or undercover police. LGBTQ+ party goers could feel (relatively) free to be themselves without the scrutiny and surveillance they underwent in their daily lives. For many men especially they could wear drag, dress outrageously, and socialise unashamedly while never appearing to be anything out of the ordinary.
It was New Year's Eve 1958 that was to be the final Chelsea Arts Ball at the Royal Albert Hall. As well as minor damage to the building fabric, a partygoer dispatched a smoke bomb that exploded on the dance floor and ultimately became the straw that broke the camel's back. The Chelsea Arts Ball was asked to take out insurance indemnity against further damage to the Hall and they didn't return. The Ball has returned three times since - in 1984, 1985 and 1992 - although the elaborate costumes and floats didn't make the return trip. The extravagant, eccentric originals remain part of the history of the Capital's social calendar. |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1947/298) |
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