The Fairy Gardens, August – September 1934
Over the past few months, our Royal Pavilion Garden research team have been taking a deep-dive into the history of the Pavilion Garden, documenting and digitising over 200 years’ worth of prints, paintings and plans that form a timeline of the lawns that we all know and love.
Amongst this research, we’ve found oodles of examples that show just how much Brightonians have enjoyed the Pavilion’s grounds over time, but one event particularly stood out to me… The Fairy Gardens.
Premiering in Brighton, the performance of The Fairy Gardens turned the Royal Pavilion grounds into a dreamland for children and adults alike to enjoy for three weeks, from mid-August to early-September 1934.
With acts that included: dancer Arimund Banu and her troupe of acrobats and pyramid builders; Cubanos, on his 75 foot high trapeze; 50 of Madame Vera Garbutt’s “Dancing Fairies”; and balancing acts from The Zanfrelas, it’s no wonder that the original two-week line-up was extended further to allow as many guests as possible to enjoy these delights.
The Sussex Daily News
The Sussex Daily News (21st August 1934) reviewed the event’s opening week:
“More than 15,000 of Brighton’s residents and visitors attended one or other of the performances of the “Fairy Gardens” in the Royal Pavilion grounds last week. […]
Something entirely new in outdoor productions, this delightful medley of spectacular lighting effects and dancing phantasies, gay musical numbers and thrilling trapeze acts is providing original entertainment”
The Sussex Daily News (1st September 1934) also reported that an astonishing nine miles of electric cables were used to control the lighting, with nearly 1500 switches necessary to give the desired effect. Specially constructed apparatus relayed music throughout the entire arena. Quite the feat for an outdoor venue, especially almost 90 years ago!
