Vivian Van Damm (28 June 1889 – 14 December 1960) was a prominent British theatre

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...

from 1932 until 1960, managing the

Windmill Theatre The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude '' tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians o ...

in London's

Great Windmill Street Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north–south in Soho, London, crossed by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has had a long association with music and entertainment, most notably the Windmill Theatre, and is now home to the Ripley ...

. The theatre was famed for its pioneering ''

tableaux vivants A (; often shortened to ; plural: ), French for "living picture", is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrica ...

'' of motionless female nudity, and for its reputation of having 'never closed' during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

Early life

Van Damm, known as "VD", came from a middle-class London family of Dutch Jewish origin. He left school at 14 to work in a garage, was a mechanic for Clement-Talbot in the early days of automobiles, but later abandoned the motor trade to manage West End cinemas.

Windmill Theatre

In 1931, Laura Henderson opened the tiny, one-tier

as a playhouse, but it was not profitable, and she soon resorted to showing films. She then hired Van Damm, and they produced ''Revudeville'', a programme of continuous variety, comprising 18 entertainment acts. That was also a commercial failure, so they included nudity to emulate the

Folies Bergère The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...

and the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Ol ...

. The key element was Van Damm's exploitation of a legal loophole (or zone of tolerance) that nude statues could not be banned on moral grounds. This led to the legendary "Windmill Girls". The girls had to remain motionless, the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

's ruling being, "If you move, it's rude". To ward off criticism he used his own daughter, under the stage name of Betti Talbot, as one of the nudes. The Hollywood film '' Tonight and Every Night'', starring

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...

, told some of the story of the Windmill, though it contained no nudity. Van Damm's flair for public relations created the legend of the theatre that "never closed". Newspapers in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

carried pictures of plucky Windmill girls in tin hats on fire-watching duty, and stories of showgirls giving V-signs to German bombers. Indeed, except for a 12-day period in 1939, when all London theatres were ordered closed, the Windmill remained open throughout the Blitz. Laura Henderson bequeathed the Windmill Theatre to Vivian Van Damm in 1944, and he ran it until his death in December 1960. He left it to his daughter,

Sheila van Damm Sheila van Damm (17 January 1922 – 23 August 1987) was a British woman competitor in motor rallying in the 1950s, and also the former owner of the Windmill Theatre in London. She began her competitive driving career in 1950, and won the Coupe d ...

, a

rally driver Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

, whom he taught to drive somewhat before the strictly legal age. The Windmill Theatre closed on 31 October 1964.

Other interests

Vivian Van Damm was the Vice-President of the London-based Magicians' Club which held charity shows at the Windmill Theatre.

In popular culture

*A 1949 film called ''

Murder at the Windmill ''Murder at the Windmill'', titled ''Mystery at the Burlesque'' in the United States, is a 1949 British crime film directed by Val Guest and featuring Garry Marsh, Jon Pertwee, and Peter Butterworth. It was shot at Walton Studios and was the ...

'' (''Mystery at the Burlesque'' in the U.S.A.) featured

Diana Decker Diana Decker (born Isabella Charlotte Diana Decker, 9 January 1925 – 4 January 2019), was a British/American actress, singer, and television personality, who was popular from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Early life Decker was born to an Americ ...

, Jon Pertwee, and

Jimmy Edwards James Keith O'Neill Edwards, DFC (23 March 19207 July 1988) was an English comedy writer and actor on radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in ''Take It from Here'' and as headmaster "Professor" James Edwards in ''Whack-O!''. Early lif ...

, and was directed by

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he direct ...

. *Van Damm was portrayed by Bob Hoskins in the film ''

Mrs Henderson Presents ''Mrs Henderson Presents'' is a 2005 biographical musical film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Martin Sherman. It stars Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Kelly Reilly, and Will Young (in his acting debut). It tells the true story of Laura He ...

'' (2005).

References

Bibliography

* "London's Windmill Theatre" (16 March 1942) ''Life'' magazine Vol.12 No.11 *"Have You Been to the Windmill Theatre?" (1949) ''Film and Art Reel'', Vol.6 No.1 *Pat Raphael (1949) "Extracts from the Diary of a Windmill Girl", ''Film and Art Reel'', Vol.6 No.2 *John Chillingworth (21 July 1951) "Non Stop Peep Show", ''Picture Post'', Vol.52, No.3 *Vivian Van Damm (1952) ''Tonight and Every Night'', Stanley Paul & Co., London *Vivian Van Damm (5 May 1956) "Three Goons for the Price of One, the Windmill Story", ''Illustrated'' *Photographs of Artistes (July, 1958) ''London Life'' *"The Windmill" (March 1973) ''Fiesta'' Vol.7 No.4. *Tony Clayton ( May 2004) "We Never Closed", ''Yours'' *Maurice Poole (Spring, 2009) "Tonight and Every Night", ''Soho Clarion'', No.136 *"Jason" (1940) ''Blonde and Brunette'', Chapman and Hall, London *British Pathe films *''Murder at the Windmill'' (1949) film. In the U.S.A. titled ''Mystery at the Burlesque''. Directed by Val Guest. {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Damm, Vivian 19th-century births 1960 deaths English theatre managers and producers English Jews Impresarios English people of Dutch-Jewish descent 20th-century English businesspeople