Les Rouges et Noirs army troupe at the Savoy, 1919
Les Rouges et Noirs, the concert troupe of the First Army pictured with the manager, Captain Makeham at the Savoy Theatre in 1919. The First Army's concert party was called Les Rouge et Noirs after the unit's red and black sign (a black stripe sandwiched between two red stripes). The end of the war found them in the Valenciennes area, where the continued to perform after the Armistice in the Municipal Theatre. The cast were demobbed through the spring, and reformed as the Splinters troupe in England in My 1919, and began a remarkable career, which continued at least until the outbreak of WW2. They played at principal London theatres, such as the Queen's and the Savoy, and presented their show at seaside towns and must have been part of many a summer holiday night out. They seemed to have been a fixture at the Spa Pavilion in Felixstowe in the early 1930s
