Hippodrome Charing Cross Road 1907
East Ham
At the end of 1916 we moved to 66 Central Park Road a few minutes walk from West Ham Football Ground, Saturday afternoon during the football season was bedlam. Mum used to try and get all the shopping she needed before the crowds came out. Next door one way we had some lovely people called Williams and their daughter Mary was a wonderful pianist and embroideress. She had lessons at the Royal School of Art. Mrs Williams was a shop-walker in a big store in Stratford. A shop-walker wore a frock coat and as you entered the store, met you, asked you which department you required, escorted you there and place a chair for you! How different things are today!
Doris and Floss belonged to Upney Baptist Church and were members of the Women's Meeting. Doreen, being under school age, was taken with them. On their way home they often used to call in at a baby linen and wool shop shop owned by a Jewish lady who was nearly always ready with a story of some kind. On this particular occasion she said that she had heard a good story and one of my sisters said "We've just come from our Women's Meeting and we don't want to listen to anything rude!" By this time Doreen had gone behind the counter, pulled at the lady's skirt and said "I'd like to hear the story please." Doreen was a cute and pretty little kid. I think Doris felt she was always one step ahead, light as a fairy on her feet and her ears were very sharp.
Working for Mr Humphreys
I left school when I was 14 and went o college to learn shorthand and typing. The course I did lasted 6 months and then I got a job in Charing Cross Road, opposite the Hippodrome. After I had been there 3 weeks the boss died but I was offered another job and worked for Mr Humphreys who had taken over the business. I went to work each day on the Underground from Upton Park to Charing Cross and walked up Villiers Street, past Nelson's Column, the a short way along Charing Cross Road where there were second hand book stalls; I often looked there and bought a book or two. Sometimes our clients were theatrical agents who would give the boss tickets to various performances. If he didn't want the tickets, he often offered them to me. Once we had a box at the Hippodrome, which was very grand; I wore a posh pink frock, which had been made from a bridesmaid's dress. I don't remember the name of the show but Jack Buchanen was in the lead role. When I was in my teens "Fox Furs" were very fashionable and my sisters and I all had one. Just inside our front door was a row of coat hooks on the wall and it was my habit on my way in to fix my fur to the collar of the first coat I came to. As it was quite dark in our passage way, it wasn't always the right one! One day my father was sitting on the upper deck of a tram and when the conductor came for the fare he said,"You've got a fox fur hanging down your back!" He wasn't very pleased!
Mr Humphreys was a very caring man. When I first worked there he liked me to go for a break at lunchtime, but didn't like me walking around the Charing Cross are so sometimes he would give me 3d and tell me to take a 3d return on the bus, get off and cross the road to get the bus back. My hours of work were 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings. Sometimes our clients needed signed quickly and I had to stay late. When this happened Mr Humphreys used to say to the, "Miss Leverett has stayed on specially to do this for you, you must make it right with her", and they would give me ten bob or a pound. About a year after I started a Mr Duke came and practised from one of the rooms by my office. His daughter was Ivy Duke, the actress, and her husband was Guy Newall, an actor. One time they asked me if I would go to their flat in Kensington and do some typing. I dud; it was a nice place, quite grand.
I could see the front entrance of the Hippodrome from my office window and if there were afternoon performances I would be able to see the people going in. The day the armistice was signed in 1918 suddenly everything stopped and there was complete silence for about ten minutes and then the traffic started moving again. I continued to work for Mr Humphreys until I got married in 1928. When I said I was getting married he said that he and Mrs Humphreys would be coming to the wedding - whether invited or not apparently! Of course we did invite them. Frank didn't want me to work after we were married, so I didn't. My sister Floss took over my job.
No comments:
Post a Comment