Music hall
![The Oxford Music Hall, c. 1875](/Images/godic/202501/28/1875_Oxford_Music_Hall1636.jpg")
![The Eagle Tavern in 1830](/Images/godic/202501/28/1830_Eagle_Tavern1636.jpg")
![The interior of Wilton's (here, being set for a wedding).
The lines of tables give some idea of how early music halls were used as supper clubs.](/Images/godic/202501/28/Wilton's_Music_Hall_-_Interior1636.jpg")
![Interior of the Canterbury Hall, opened 1852 in Lambeth](/Images/godic/202501/28/Canterbury_Hall_circa_18561636.jpg")
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era circa 1850 and lasting until 1960. It involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. British music hall was similar to American vaudeville, featuring rousing songs and comic acts, while in the United Kingdom the term "vaudeville"' referred to more working-class types of entertainment that would have been termed "burlesque" in America.