A Balancing Act: Renee Houston – A Career in Film and the Variety Stage. Issue 3 (2nd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gates, Sam
• Is Part Of: Visual culture in Britain. Volume 20:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 239
• Page End: 260
• Publication Date: 2019-09-02
• Subjects: entertainment -- film -- variety -- interwar period -- media -- women; Art -- Great Britain -- History -- Periodicals; Performing arts -- Great Britain -- History -- Periodicals; Art and society -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Performing arts -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 700.94105
• DOI: 10.1080/14714787.2019.1686417
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-4787

Abstract

Abstract : Between the two great wars the British variety theatre and film developed a complex interrelationship in which performers negotiated new challenges: emerging technologies, strong management structures and fierce competition. Taking the career of Renee Houston (1902–80) as a case study, this article details her comedy double act with her sister (Billie) in drag. The Houston Sisters worked their way from local cine-variety to national fame on radio, the live stage and film, while Renee's subsequent solo career mapped the trajectory of popular entertainment in a period which introduced modernism, talking pictures, radio broadcasting and greater freedom of expression for women.