Moulin Rouge BBC 2

There must have been French dancers at the Moulin at the end of the 19th century because Toulouse Lautrec did lots of can-can girl sketches and paintings at this time. I think they were all of his French lady friends, and one was made famous as the cover girl. I wonder why they are all mainly from England now?

We’ve binged watched it and found it very interesting. Who knew nearly all the dancers are English! Seems wrong somehow not to have French girls dancing the can can! It seems a lot of the girls are classically trained ballet dancers that grew too tall and the uk has the most ballet schools. Also the lady that runs it is English and a retired Moulin girl herself. They have no time for a social life as the second show starts at eleven, and they don’t earn a fortune. Unbelievable costumes. Well worth a watch.

It’s very Alan Wicker’ish isn’t it! Quite clever, that.

Very interesting programme. I’m loving it.

Chris Terrill then went on to make The Cruise, the series that made Jane MacDonald famous. It was repeated recently and I watched it in the early hours of the morning. I hadn’t realised it was the same documentary maker that made Soho Stories. I did find myself drawn into it.

That's interesting about the costumier MayBee70, I'll have to take a look. I bet they bought all their fabrics from Borovick's in Berwick Street who used to supply most of the stage companies. I remember buying my materials from there because they shimmered like nothing else under stage lights I even went back there not so long ago to buy the fabric for DD's bridesmaid dresses.

Thanks. My sort of programme! Does anyone remember a fly on the wall series called Soho Stories? It was way ahead of it’s time. I used to visit London with a friend and one year he asked me where I would like to go and I replied that I wanted to see Raymond’s Revue Bar in Soho. I think a costumier in the series had worked at the Moulin Rouge. So we wandered round Soho and had a meal at a greasy spoon cafe. Made a change from our usual trips to the galleries and Bloomsbury Square (my friend took me there next time to counteract the Soho experience: we ate our sandwiches there).

I'm really enjoying it

I've been enjoying the programme, I remember a girl from my dancing school going off to dance at the Moulin Rouge, sadly, at less than 5', I could never have auditioned. I do remember being very disappointed when I first visited Paris, aged about 15, and saw the Moulin Rouge, it was far smaller than I expected.

It’s wonderful isn’t it- I’m really enjoying it!

Thanks. I didn’t know that was on.

My friend was a Bluebelle girl at the Lido in Paris. She was very tall.
In the days when animals performed on stage too!

Thank you Joseann we’ve been tuning into this. A fascinating look in to what goes on behind the scenes.

Thank you Joseann