When Parliament abolished the ancient monopoly of ‘legitimate drama’ at Drury Lane and Covent Garden in 1843,it made no attempt to drama’, Parliament made no attempt to reform the government of music halls, which by default MHs continued to be governed by the `Disorderly Houses Act of 1751, which in London was administered by the infamous Middlesex justices, infamous for their bumbling inefficiency, inconsistent rulings, and bias in favour of public drinking versus dancing, such that in 1859 it revoked the license of the popular Argyll Rooms.
The question of stage dancing and nudity continued to plague the music hall industry in subsequent decades, as various religious groups, prudes, social reformers sought to ’purify’ the halls. However, the most effective promoters of the new decency were the major magnates – like Edward Moss and Oswald Stoll who ordered their artists to remove offensive material from their acts to make their hall more attractive to respectable patrons.