What is the Fun Factory?

Nov 8th 2008 | 0 COMMENTS

I live in a house that used to be the offices of a famous vaudeville theatre promoter named Fred Karno. Karno was a hugely successful promoter during the early part of the last century. Many talented performers passed through his company most famously Charlie Chaplan and Stan Laurel.

Karno used to call his offices, and the adjoining studios that he built to rehearse and make sets, The Fun Factory. I first learnt about this when I saw a fantastic photograph from 1907 that shows 6 of Karnos troupes outside the ‘Factory’ on Southwell Road (formally Vaughan Road). You can see this image in the ‘Fun Factory 101’ entry.

In 2008 the workshop area of the Fun Factory is now a collection of artists studios. They are housed in The Clockwork Studios which is directly attached to the original offices. Because of the on going activity in the area as well as in the studios themselves I felt it would be a great idea to recreate this infamous photograph on December 7th 2008 approximately 101 years since the original. I’ll write about the details in a seperate entry suffice to say I am looking forward to creating a memento of what is going on in Camberwell and Southwell Road in 2008. I want to get a photograph of the community who contribute to the warm atmosphere that I live in as well as the wonderful artists that I am fortunate enough to call my neighbours!


 

About Conor

Conor is a photographer and film maker based in London. His images can be viewed on his website on the PHOTOGRAPHY and FILM links above. This blog is a good place to see all sorts of personal work and general projects in progress.

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