The Goblin Girls

Our story begins with the a young girl, Rona Knight, who started her dancing school, the Corona Dancing School, at the tender age of 14. She was soon was well established at 537, High Road, Chiswick, running the Corona Dancing Academy and training girls for stage and pantomime, both locally and touring around the country. In October 1930, when Rona, who was born in June 1911, was only 19, she advertised in The Stage:

WANTED, small girls over 12 years for First class Pantos, London and Tour. Rona Knight, 537, High Road, Chiswick.

The resulting troupe numbered 12 girls, were named the 'Corona Juveniles'. The name of the troupe was to change several times, to reflect the ages of the members.

In April 1932, The Stage reported on the programme at the Chiswick Empire:

The remaining place on the bill [...] is occupied by Rona Knight's company of Twenty-four Corona Babes, children possessing more than the average amount of natural talent, whose work reflects admirable training in an ingeniously arranged turn.

By the summer of 1932, the bookings were flooding in, with rave reviews at each performance. The girls were being billed as "The Twenty-four Corona Babes, England's Premier Juvenile Stars", and elsewhere, "England's most versatile kiddies," and, "the cleverest kiddies in Vaudeville".

In May 1933, the West London Observer reported on Rona Knight's regular annual revue at Chiswick Town Hall, now in its third year. Two hundred local children were involved, ranging from 2 to 14 years. (Many of the performers are named):

REVUE FOR CHARITY PACKS TOWN HALL " House full" notices were up at Chiswick Town Hall on Tuesday, when Miss Rona Knight's revue, 'Let's Get Together', featuring the brilliant young dancers from the Corona Academy, Chiswick, was presented to an audience which was as enthusiastic as it was large. The Corona Babes - a young professional troupe well-known to all followers of variety - have set a high standard for the other Coronas to maintain, but to judge by Tuesday's show they will have no difficulty in doing this. The length of the programme and the number of youngsters appearing would make anything but a generalisation of their talents absolutely unfair. However, exception may be made in the case of Kenneth Thornhill - a lad who put across gags and comic business with all the ease of a comedian of years' experience. The production was given in aid of St. Dunstan's. [...] The programme also included personal appearances of Miss Rona Knight, Miss Hazel Knight and the Corona Babes.

In September 1933 the troupe appeared at the Manchester Hippodrome. The review in the Manchester Evening News provides more detail about the varied programme of their performance.

But the turn that pleased me most was that provided by the 24 Corona Babes, presented by Rona Knight. These children gave a miniature programme variety all their own. The Harris Twins and a lovely girl, Loretta, deserve equal praise for their acrobatics, and I am sure all three risked their necks more than once to give an extra-thrilling twist to their performance. Bennett and McNaughton, the comedians, were also high up in the list of successes, and of course I must not forget Naunton Wayne, popular as ever on his return to Manchester. Naunton Wayne, by the way, will be at the theatre again next week. He should re-dress his humour, some of his jokes last week were definitely old. Red Fred was a little marvel on one wheel, and the Three Bonos lived up to their claim of being new-style comedians. There was not enough of Grace and Medlock, experts in feet rhythm.

The 1933 Panto season was especially busy, with the troupe booked at the Royal in Birmingham, the Garrick in Southport, the Royal in Plymouth, and the Alexandra in Hull.

1934 brought another round of performances for the busy troupe. In April they shared the stage in Chiswick with Danny Malone, a 22 year old Irish tenor, the new husband of Rona's sister Hazel. In September they performed at the South London Palace. The Stage reported:

Juvenile troupes are always acceptable at this hall, and the Twenty (sic) Corona Kids are a well-trained company whose versatility in song and dance is helped by the palpable happiness they find in their performance. They score principally in their ensembles, but have some smart soloists in their ranks. They are presented by Rona Knight.

In November 1934, we learn that the Corona Babes had featured on the radio. The Middlesex County Times reported:

The Avenue [Ealing theatre] programme next week will include a variety programme, the performers in which will be Rona Knight's Corona Babes, from Chiswick, who have achieved radio and wireless fame.

1935 - Performing for Goblin

In the 1930s, BVC (British Vacuum Cleaner & Engineering Company Ltd.) was expanding rapidly and were employing increasingly novel marketing methods to promote their vacuum cleaner range. One of these methods was to work with a juvenile troupe and to commission an advertising song. 'Here Comes That Goblin' was written in 1935 by John P Long, who also wrote the original version of 'My Old Man’s a Dustman'. It say on the sheet that it was a fox-trot, performed "with great success" by the 24 Goblin Girls.

It is most likely that Miss Knight's '24 Corona Babes' were the girls employed by BVC to perform at their demonstrations and displays, and rebranded as the 'Goblin Girls' for their performances, although I have found no proof. Perhaps they were part of a sponsorship deal.

I first found the Goblin Girls performing at the tenth 'North London Home Lovers' Exhibition' at Alexandra Palace in October 1935. The exhibition featured demonstrations of the latest labour-saving inventions. They were billed as the 'Goblin Cabaret' under the direction of Miss Rona Knight. Perhaps it was here that they launched the song, "Here Comes That Goblin".

Here's my copy. It comes with piano notation and ukelele chords!

The words go like this:

Here Comes that Goblin

Verse 1

There's an old time story
That the Goblins and the Gnomes
Used to visit happy homes,
And do the work in the night time,
We're reviving that story,
For the Goblin's come to stay
And he does your work each day,
In a most efficient way.

Verse 2

Ev'ry moment you use him,
Jimmy Goblin brings you health,
Even though you're blessed with wealth,
He'll work and ask no wages,
You can hardly refuse him,
When he wants to work for you.
He is very careful too,
With material old or new.

Verse 3

Goblin's easy to handle,
And tho' small his power is great,
He just loves to demonstrate,
That he practices what he preaches,
Goblin never talks scandal,
He just works and hums away.
So your 'Little Man' won't say,
That you've 'Had a Busy Day'.

Chorus

Here comes that Goblin,
He's the chap you must have heard about;
Dirt and dust are quickly put to rout
When the Goblin cleans your home.
Here comes that Goblin,
In the corners he will poke his head;
You will find the Demon Dust is dead
When the Goblin cleans your home.
Your day's work well done,
And heaps of time for fun.
Here comes that Goblin,
British Gentleman all through and through,
Work and worry don't exist for you
When the Goblin cleans your home.

Rona's troupe continued to perform as the Goblin Girls in 1936. In March they performed at the South London Exhibition for Home Lovers at Crystal Palace. I have found no further references to their previous name, the Corona Babes, until a performance at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in July.

In October 1936, at the eleventh 'North London Home Lovers' Exhibition' they were billed as the 24 Goblin Girls, performing daily, a 'new cabaret' under the direction of Miss Rona Knight. The Eastern Post reported:

"Throughout the run of the exhibition will be presented once again a feature which annually appeals to grownups as much as to children—the 24 Goblin Girls in a new cabaret under the direction of Miss Rona Knight."

In December 1936, they were back in Variety as the Corona Babes.

In June 1937 they started to advertise their Variety shows billed as the Goblin Cabaret. They were back at the North London Exhibition in October 1937, then everything went quiet. There were no adverts for 16 months.

In March 1939 the Corona Babes were back, at the Lewisham Hippodrome. The Stage reported:

Rona Knight presents her Corona Babes in a stimulating juvenile act wherein dancing is the leading feature, and the work of the animals in George Sanger's 'Playtime in Toyland' elicits keen admiration. Finally there are Syd Seymour and his Mad Hatters to bring everything to a riotous end with lively music and the antic disposition of their conductor.

The Stage reported on another performance at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in May:

The Twenty Four Corona Babes, presented by Rona Knight, give the evening a cheerful start with an offering that is very nearly a complete programme in itself. Billy Nelson and Irene Knight keep the fun going with enjoyable cross talk and humour, and later Billy Nelson appears from time to time in the role of compere. Joe Termini's distinctive humour does not obscure the talent with which he performs on violin, banjo, and guitar, and with two unnamed assistants he gains a popular reception.

The War

Then came war. The troupw was affected by evacuation, then in November 1939 there was sad news for Rona and her troupe. The Daily Mirror reported:

1,000 CHILDREN IN PANTO BAN

Children under fourteen in the L.C.C. area are to be banned from taking part in pantomimes this Christmas. But many London dancing tutors, some of whom have been training their pupils for months past in readiness for Christmas, are making a joint protest to the Board of Education in Whitehall. They complain that their businesses, built up by reputation over a period of years, will be ruined. Nearly a thousand London children will be affected by the L.C.C.'s ruling. Miss Rona Knight, of Chiswick, who trains the 'Corona Babes', a well-known pantomime troupe, told the Daily Mirror, yesterday:

"Some of us have received official notification of the ban, but many other tutors have heard of it only unofficially. The reason why the L.C.C. refuse to grant our licences is apparently due to the blackout, but some of the children now under fourteen were to have appeared in shows in reception areas. Two of my pantomimes are in Cardiff and Norwich. My children are terribly disappointed, and it means ruination for many of us."

Rona returned to her own performing career, and joined the hospital section of ENSA, performing under the stage name Rona Brandon. She left the school in the hands of her mother and her sisters, Hazel Malone and Muriel Knight. Although she later returned to the Academy, she never worked with Goblin again.

You can find out more about Rona Knight, her family life, and the Corona Dance Academy from the Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society.