n attempt to list all the shows ever performed at our Hippodromes, beginning with the temporary circus buildings, which from 1884 were specially erected on Pool Meadow for each visit - then, in 1903, to the first permanent, but short-lived, 'Tin' Hippodrome on the Priory Street side of Pool Meadow facing the old Swimming Baths. The popularity of these shows created the demand for a theatre worthy of our city, and so in 1906 began the construction in Hales Street, next to Swanswell Gate, of what we now regard as the Old Hippodrome.
Again, the success of this theatre meant that barely three decades later a greater capacity was required, and so we come to our lovely art-deco New Hippodrome in Hales Street, once known as the Showplace of the Midlands. Opening on the 1st November 1937, it was renamed Coventry Theatre in 1955, then from 1979 became The Apollo, giving its final performance in June 1985. After a short spell as a bingo hall it was eventually realised that such a building could not be put to any practical use, so, sadly, it was demolished in 2002. If anyone still has any tickets or programmes and would like to see them used to illustrate a show, please contact me.
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1941 | New Hippodrome, Hales Street | ||
| Date(s) | Show | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 6th Jan until Sat 11th Jan 1941 | Sh--! Keep It Dark | With Billy Thorburn and His Music, Three Loose Screws, Broadway Boys & Brenda, and more. | |
| Mon 13th Jan until Sat 18th Jan 1941 | It's A Funny Thing | Tom Arnold's Blackpool Revue, with Harry Korris, Tessie O'Shea | |
| Sun 19th Jan 1941 | Cyril Fletcher & Oliver Wakefield | With Harry Fryer's Broadcasting Band. | |
| Mon 20th Jan until Sat 25th Jan 1941 | Dick Whittington | Starring Jill Manners, Gus Elton, Neta Underwood, Ken Douglas, and others. | |
| Mon 27th Jan until Sat 1st Feb 1941 | Max Miller | With Vic & Joe Crastonian, Dennis Four, Beadle & Dare, and others. | |
| Mon 3rd Feb until Sat 8th Feb 1941 | Variety Show | Les Allen, Anona Winn, Naunton Wayne, and others. | |
| Mon 10th Feb until Sat 15th Feb 1941 | Variety Show | With Florence Desmond, Kingsley and Forde, the Montreal Trio, George Doonan, and others. | |
| Mon 17th Feb until Sat 22nd Feb 1941 | Black Velvet | Starring Ted Ray and Jill Manners. | |
| Mon 24th Feb until Sat 1st Mar 1941 | Variety Show | With Jimmy James, Troise and his Mandoliers, Leigh Stafford, and others. | |
| Mon 3rd Mar until Sat 8th Mar 1941 | Variety Show | Starring Elsie & Doris Waters (Gert & Daisy), Stanford & Gray, Leslie Strange, and others. | |
| Mon 10th Mar until Sat 15th Mar 1941 | Variety Show | With Cyril Fletcher, Oliver Wakefield, Kitty Masters, Sherkot, and others. | |
| Mon 17th Mar until Sat 22nd Mar 1941 | Variety Show | With Maurice Colleano, Younkman and his Gipsy Band, Herschell "Jizz" Henlere, Jack Daly, Campbell & Wise, and others. | |
| Mon 24th Mar until Sat 29th Mar 1941 | Billy Cotton and his Band | With Arthur Pond, Marion Pola and others. | |
| Mon 31st Mar until Sat 5th Apr 1941 | Oscar Rabin & His Band | With Paddy Drew, Tommy Kaye, Wheeler & Wilson, and others. | |
| Sun 6th Apr 1941 | Two Colossal Variety Concerts | With Ivor Morton, Dawn Davis, Dave Kaye, Forsythe, Seamon & Farrell, and others. | |
| Mon 7th Apr until Thu 10th Apr 1941 | Carroll Levis and his BBC Discoveries | With The Adorables, Sam Rayne, Stanelli, the 3 Adairs, Fred Sylvester, Manley & Auston, and others. (Run cut short by the big air-raid of the 10th April.) | |
| Mon 28th Apr until Sat 3rd May 1941 | Garrison Theatre | Theatre opened again after raids. Show presented by Jack Hilton, with Jack Warner and Joan Winters, and others. | |
| Mon 5th May until Sat 10th May 1941 | Joe Loss and his Band | With Monte Rey, Bette Roberts, Bob Arden, and the Lost Chords, plus others. | |
| Mon 12th May until Sat 17th May 1941 | The Cafe De Paris | With Teddy Brown, Murray & Mooney, and others. | |
| Mon 19th May 1941 | Dorchester Follies | Featuring Maurice Winnick and his Broadcasting Band, and others. | |
| Mon 26th May until Sat 31st May 1941 | Variety Show | With Rawicz & Landauer, Hutch, Jean Adrienne, Eddie & Leslie, and others. | |
| Mon 2nd Jun until Sat 7th Jun 1941 | Variety Show | With Tommy Farr, the Western Bros., Eddie Gray, and others. | |
| Mon 9th Jun until Sat 14th Jun 1941 | Variety Show | With Billy Bennett, Claude Dampier, Tessie O'Shea, Moran & Mack, Gay & Gay, and others. | |
| Mon 16th Jun until Sat 21st Jun 1941 | Variety Show | With Renee Houston and Donald Stewart, Nan Kenway and Douglas Young, and others. | |
| Mon 23rd Jun until Sat 28th Jun 1941 | Variety Show | With Scott & Whalley, Les Allen, Arthur Prince, Albert Whelan, and others. | |
| Mon 30th Jun until Sat 5th Jul 1941 | All In Favour | Starring Nat Gonella and his Georgians, Billy Caryll and Hilda Murray, and others. | |
| Mon 7th Jul until Sat 12th Jul 1941 | The Anglo-Polish Ballet | Presented by Jack Taylor, cast of 40 artistes. | |
| Mon 14th Jul until Sat 19th Jul 1941 | George Formby | Assisted by Beryl, Mae, Mac & Marty, Clifford & Marion, and others. | |
| Mon 21st Jul until Sat 26th Jul 1941 | A Radio Roundabout | Featuring Adelaide Hall, Youth Take A Bow, Archie Glenn, Baker, Dove & Allen, and others. | |
| Mon 28th Jul until Sat 2nd Aug 1941 | Garrison Theatre | With Jack Warner and Joan Winters, and others. | |
| Mon 4th Aug until Sat 9th Aug 1941 | Holiday Variety Show | With Joe Davis, Harold Ramsey, Dave & Joe O'Gorman, and others. | |
| Mon 11th Aug until Sat 16th Aug 1941 | Eve on Leave | Presented by Jack Taylor, with Frank O'Brian, Ernest Shannon, and others. | |
| Mon 18th Aug until Sat 23rd Aug 1941 | Variety Show | With Will Fyffe, Stanelli, Hazell & Day, and others. | |
| Mon 25th Aug until Sat 30th Aug 1941 | Mad Hatters of 1941 | Featuring Syd Seymour and his Band, Shek Ben Ali, Constance Evans, and others. | |
| Mon 1st Sep until Sat 6th Sep 1941 | Henry Hall and his Orchestra | With the Yale Bros., Nat Hope, Nick Cardello, Bernard & Brown, Navan O'Reilly, and others. | |
| Mon 8th Sep until Sat 13th Sep 1941 | Variety Show | Charlie Kunz, Randolph Sutton, G. S. Melvin, Syd & Max Harrison, and others. | |
| Mon 15th Sep until Sat 20th Sep 1941 | Dreamin' Of Thee | Starring Cyril Fletcher, with Nat Jackley & Jack Clifford, Betty Astell, Nat Mills & Bobbie, and others. | |
| Mon 22nd Sep until Sat 27th Sep 1941 | Make It A Party! | Presented by Tom Arnold, featuring George Doonan, Nita Croft, Noni & Nita, Cliff Cook, and others. | |
| Mon 29th Sep until Sat 4th Oct 1941 | Arthur Askey | With June Malo, Dove, Baker & Allen, Marion Pola Trio, Eric Mason, and others. | |
| Mon 6th Oct until Sat 11th Oct 1941 | Hi! Gang | With Stanelli, Pat Taylor, Randolph Sutton, and others. | |
| Mon 13th Oct until Sat 18th Oct 1941 | The Hulbert Follies | With Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Claude Hulbert. | |
| Mon 20th Oct until Sat 25th Oct 1941 | Stars of Radio | With Evelyn Dall and Max Bacon, plus Sam Browne, Iris Sadler and Jack Daly. | |
| Mon 27th Oct until Sat 1st Nov 1941 | Une Nuit Excitante | With Turner Layton, Sid Fields and Evelyn Taylor, plus others. | |
| Mon 3rd Nov until Sat 8th Nov 1941 | The Ambrose Merry-Go-Round | With Monte Rey, Dave Morris, Marion Pola, Bert Wright & Zena, and others. | |
| Tue 11th Nov until Sat 15th Nov 1941 | Rebecca | Starring Owen Nares. | |
| Mon 17th Nov until Sat 22nd Nov 1941 | Venus Comes To Town | With Gaston & Andree, Gershom Parkington Trio, Alec Dane, and others. | |
| Mon 24th Nov until Sat 29th Nov 1941 | Variety Show | With Georgie Wood, Albert Burdon, Patricia Rossborough, Karina, and others. | |
| Sun 30th Nov 1941 | Joe Loss and his Band | For just one night. | |
| Mon 1st Dec until Sat 6th Dec 1941 | Variety Show | With Jimmy James, Elsie & Doris Waters (Gert & Daisy), Harry Lester, and others. | |
| Mon 8th Dec until Sat 13th Dec 1941 | Variety Show | The Two Leslies, Starts in Blue, N'Gai, Mareski, and others. | |
| Tue 16th Dec until Sat 20th Dec 1941 | The International Ballet | With Mona Inglesby, Rovi Pavinoff, Nina Tarakanova, Harol Hunter, and full company. | |
| Mon 22nd Dec until Sat 27th Dec 1941 | Piccadixie | With Adelaide Hall and George Elrick and his Band, and others. (No show on Christmas Day.) | |
| Mon 29th Dec 1941 until Sat 10th Jan 1942 | Christmas Crackers | Starring Maurice Winnick and his Broadcasting Band, G. S. Melvin, Issy Bonn, Sirdani, Morris & Cowley, Chris Charlton, and others. | |
Prev year: 1940 Next year: 1942
1884 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
Also of interest might be A short history of Coventry's Theatres and Cinemas, by Bill Birch.
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