The second in our Soho Archives project celebrates the energy and excitement of the Soho area in London after-dark. Bringing together two archives, the iconic British magazine Picture Post and the film maker Ken Russell’s series at the legendary Cat’s Whiskers coffee bar.
At its peak Picture Post, 1938 – 1957, reached a circulation of two million. Championing ordinary people, it campaigned for improved social conditions and exposed social ills. The magazine also celebrated the vitality of British people and their daily lives.
Soho frequently featured in Picture Post. With its theatre, cabaret, cafés and clubs it was an exciting centre for entertainment, art and youth culture. Stories such as The Making of a Glamour Girl by Tim Gidal and Kurt Hutton, Excitement in the Making by Thurston Hopkins and Blue Heaven in the Basement by Slim Hewitt caught the pace and excitement of Soho night-life.
The photographs of Ken Russell (UK, b.1927) captured the birth of the ‘hand jive’ at the Cat’s Whiskers coffee bar in 1956. This venue attracted such big crowds that there was no room to move and so hand gestures replaced conventional dancing.
The atmospheric scenes these photographs portray give us a glimpse of night-time Soho as it once was.
This exhibition is curated by Bob Pullen and Val Williams, Photography and Archive Research Centre, University of the Arts London.
For further information on this and past exhibitions, visit our Archive and Study Room.