Windmill Theatre - The Windmill

The Windmill

In 1930, Laura Henderson bought the Palais de Luxe building and hired Howard Jones, an architect, to remodel the interior to a tiny, one-tier theatre. It was then renamed the Windmill. It opened on 22 June 1931, as a playhouse with a new play by Michael Barringer called Inquest. Its existence as a theatre was short and unprofitable, and it soon returned to screening films, such as The Blue Angel starring Marlene Dietrich.

Henderson hired a new theatre manager, Vivian van Damm, who developed the idea of the Revudeville—a programme of continuous variety that ran from 2.30pm until 11pm. They began to put on shows with singers, dancers, showgirls and speciality numbers. The first Revudeville act opened on 3 February 1932, featuring 18 unknown acts. These continued to be unprofitable; in all, the theatre lost £20,000 in the first few years after its opening.

A breakthrough came when Van Damm began to incorporate glamorous nude females on stage, inspired by the Folies Bergères and Moulin Rouge in Paris. This coup was made possible by convincing Lord Cromer, then Lord Chamberlain, in his position as the censor for all theatrical performances in London, that the display of nudity in theatres was not obscene: since the authorities could not credibly hold nude statues to be morally objectionable, the theatre presented its nudes—the legendary "Windmill Girls"—in motionless poses as living statues or tableaux vivants. The ruling:' If you move, it's rude.' The Windmill's shows became a huge commercial success and the Windmill girls took their show on tour to other London and provincial theatres and music halls. The Piccadilly and Pavilion theatres copied the format and ran non-stop shows, reducing the Windmill's attendance.