Dance Collection Danse - Artifact Of The Month

A cinema slide from the 1930s demonstrates early modes of advertising performances. The plate features Halifax dancer Marial Mosher and promotes an upcoming performance at the Capitol Theatre where Mosher performed regularly as a member of the Hylda Davies Dancers. “Madame Hylda” held a contract with the Capitol Theatre, and its predecessor The Majestic, to perform short concerts known as prologues. Prologues were a common live act presented before the feature film in theatres in the 1920s and 1930s during the transition in popular entertainment from vaudeville to movies. These live performances became much less frequent by the mid-1930s as the Great Depression forced theatre managers to cut costs.