Windmill Theatre

The Windmill Theatre stood in Great Windmill Street in the City of Westminster, a corner site among theatres that included the Apollo and Lyric. The building complex also held Piccadilly Buildings, an 1897 office block for an early film company. A windmill had once turned on the same spot during the reign of King Charles II. In 1909 a cinema called the Palais de Luxe opened where the theatre now stands. By 1929 it had briefly become London’s first art cinema under Elsie Cohen. The theatre became famous for its nude tableaux vivants, which began in 1932 and ran until 1964. Laura Henderson bought the building and hired architect F. Edward Jones to convert it into a small 320-seat playhouse. Vivian Van Damm created the Revudeville, a continuous variety show that ran from 2.30 pm until 11 pm. The Windmill Girls performed living statues, a legal trick that kept the shows profitable even during the Second World War. Visitors found a two-tier auditorium with stalls and circle seating. Shows featured singers, dancers, specialty acts and the famous motionless nudes. During the Blitz the audience and cast took shelter in the theatre’s two underground floors. Many post-war comedians made their first London success on this stage. The Piccadilly Buildings next door still shows traces of the early film company that once worked there.