| Set List | Waltz - 'Brighter London', E Goosens |
| Performance Notes | Over 4,000 guests were present at the Chelsea Arts Club annual ball. The theme was 'Brighter London 100 Years Hence'.
Mr Eugene Goosens had composed a foxtrot specially written for the evening called 'Brighter London' and conducted it himself.
The Clabon-West Orchestra was made almost entirely from ex-service men.
Dancing continued until 5am.
Among those who designed the decorations were Sir William Orpen RA and Mr Augustus John ARA.
"...That portion of the vast rotunda which is usually given over to the orchestra saw the erection of a massive background, with groups of fantastic arches and towers, some of them 40ft high, beneath which were a collection of butments for wearied dancers.
...A chain bridge stretched from one side of the staging to the other gave a clever suggestion of fabulous heights and depth when miniature lighted motor-cars and trollies ran across it. In the course of the evening students of the Central School of Art got into wireless communication, by means of a super-wireless station, with the Martians...
...It should be added that many notable people in society and in the theatrical artistic, and literary worlds were to be seen at the brilliant gathering in the course of the night, and that the dresses were as picturesque and amusing as ever."
(The Daily Telegraph, 9 February 1922)
The event was recorded by the Topical Film Company as part of 'Topical Budget 546-2' and released on 13 February 1922 (British Film Institute identifier 564729).
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/1/1922/10),
Illustration |