| Performance Title | The Chelsea Arts Club Annual Ball - 'The Seven Seas' |
| Performance Date | 31 December 1954-1 January 1955 |
| Performance Day | Friday |
| Performance Time | 22:00 |
| Main Performers | Student performers from:
Wimbledon School of Art,
Hammersmith School of Art,
Croydon School of Art,
Architectural Association,
Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture,
Kingston School of Art,
St. Martin's School of Art,
Goldsmith's College School of Art |
| Orchestra or Band | Ted Heath and His Orchestra,
Jack Parnell and His Orchestra,
Billy Ternent and His Orchestra,
Edmundo Ros and His Latin-American Orchestra,
Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers |
| Conductors | Ted Heath,
Jack Parnell,
Billy Ternent,
Edmundo Ros |
| Set List | Theme Tune - 'Sons of The Sea'
Massed Bands,
Ted Heath and Billy Ternent alternating,
Edmundo Ros and His Latin-American Orchestra
Jack Parnell and His Orchestra
Art School Students' Diversions:
Flying Dutchman - 'Zuyder Zee' (Croydon School of Art),
S.O.S. - 'Life On The Ocean Wave' (Goldsmith's College School of Art)
Midnight:
Balloon Drop,
Big Ben,
Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battallion King's Own Scottish Borderers,
'Auld Lang Syne'
Art School Students' Diversions:
The Walrus and The Carpenter - 'Alive, Alive-Oh!' (St. Martin's School of Art),
Boy Oh Buoy! - 'Put Me Among The Girls' (Architectural Association),
Mobile - 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Sea Side' (Hammersmith School of Art),
Demons - 'Intro to 'Dragnet' (Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture),
Odyssey - 'Entry of The Gladiators' (Wimbledon School of Art),
Octopus - 'How Deep is The Ocean' (Kingston School of Art)
Ted Heath and His Orchestra,
Edmundo Ros and His Latin-American Orchestra,
Massed Bands
'God Save The Queen' (National Anthem) |
| Performance Notes | The decor of the ball was designed by Ronald Searle (best known for his St.Trinian's illustrations) and John Minton and built by Peter Krumins. The auditorium was filled with a 50 foot high King Neptune and mermaid construction sitting on a sea bed, which had been created from a Searle sketch, along with other floating sea creature.
Unlike other years no decorated floats were wheeled round the ballroom floor to be eventually torn to pieces by guests. Guest instead paraded around the floor in underwater themed costumes.
The backdrop behind the stage represented a cave, with a pirate with a butterfly net chasing a mermaid, as well as a pair of legs disappearing into the jaws of a toothy fish.
Film footage of this event is available from British Pathe (Film ID 134.06). Running time 1min 28secs.
The event ended at 05:00 on 1 January 1955.
"ARTS BALL GOES OFF QUIETLY.
...It was the quietest New Year at the Arts Ball for many years.
The plan by Mr Loris Rey, organiser of the ball, to prevent students from wrecking the tableaux worked well. Everything was suspended from the ceiling, tantalisingly out of reach of even the tallest students. Fifty "strong arm" men stood by ready to break up any attempt to climb and reach the tableaux.
As Big Ben rang midnight the pipes and drummers marched across the floor in between two lanes of cheering dancers. They sang Auld Land Syne as thousands of balloons cascaded down from the ceiling.
The theme of the ball was "The Seven Seas," with set pieces designed by Ronald Searle. Weird sea monsters, giant spider crabs, mermaids, and octopus suspended from the ceiling swung slowly around the hall illuminated by multi-coloured arc lights."
(The Daily Telegraph, 1 January 1955)
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/1/1954/184),
Digital Photographs |
| URL | https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/BeBGhbBsttvn |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/1L41kUi1kwvSh6 |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx?LB1LfpbLfmKmTi |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/ZQZEzfZQwx5k |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/Qp3QpieQ_A0.BQ |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/ZQZEzGZEpcXWC |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/sjvsjdosjXKwNf |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/9691ts9x4sCB |
| https://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/8n832w83GgUtr |
| Code | Name of Performer(s) |
| DS/UK/2947 | Ros; Edmundo William (1910-2011); OBE; Trinidadian musician, singer, bandleader |
| DS/UK/104 | Chelsea Arts Club; 21 March 1891-; British arts club |
| DS/UK/9014 | Wimbledon College of Art; 1890-; English art school |
| DS/UK/3853 | Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA); 1847-; English architecture school |
| DS/UK/11358 | Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art; 1881-1970 |
| DS/UK/9139 | Kingston University; Kingston Universitys Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture; c1895-; English university faculty |
| DS/UK/3856 | St. Martin's School of Art; 1854-1989; English art and design school |
| DS/UK/8227 | Heath; Ted (1902-1969); British musician, big band leader |
| DS/UK/7313 | Parnell; Jack (1923-2010); English bandleader, musician |
| DS/UK/6892 | Ternent; Billy (1899-1977); British orchestra leader |