Wonderful London: London's Free Shows

In 1924, you could pay for entertainment in London if you wanted to. As the titles note, there were more than forty live theaters in the West End. There were also a lot of movie theaters, in which you might see movies like this one. On the street there were people who would do an act and if you were so minded, you could give them some money. These were called 'buskers' and were the lowest rung of show business. Even today you can see them, and not only in London. In a New York subway station, or on the street, you can find singers, musicians or even the occasional mime or Living Statue.

If you wanted to be really cheap, you could resort to the simple pleasures of watching people at their jobs while you stood about lazily, conflicts between two motorists whose cars had gotten into a smash, soldiers parading in the park, or even the peculiarities of other people going about their own interest. People watching requires people, and there was no shortage of people in London when this movie was shot. Nowadays, when a lot of people work from home, there was no need to go out onto the street, but in 1924, most business was conducted face to face, and so at least one of the people involved in any transaction had to get to it, and the streets were filled, not only with people going about their busy routines, but people out and about the city, meeting friends, sitting in the park, feeding pigeons, and so forth.

This episode of "Wonderful London" is not as interesting to me as the others. It doesn't show the hidden nooks of the city, things that tourists have no chance to see and that natives find so familiar as to be boring. What it does offer is a viewpoint: other people do the silliest things!