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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1939 | New Hippodrome, Hales Street | ||
| Date(s) | Show | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 6th Feb until Sat 11th Feb 1939 | Carroll Levis and his latest BBC Discoveries | With Alec Halls & Page, Kimberley & Page, the Newman Twins. | |
| Mon 13th Feb until Sat 18th Feb 1939 | Variety Show | Tom Walls, Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye, Tessie O'Shea, Cecil Lyle and others. | |
| Mon 20th Feb until Sat 25th Feb 1939 | Variety Show | Bobbie Hind, the Western Brothers, Eve Becke, Senator Murphy, and others. | |
| Mon 27th Feb until Sat 4th Mar 1939 | The Desert Song | The Coventry Amateur Operatic Society. Music by Sigmund Romburg. | |
| Mon 6th Mar until Sat 11th Mar 1939 | The Hungarian Gipsy Boys' Orchestra | With Stanley Proffitt and Norman Evans (table tennis show) and others. | |
| Mon 13th Mar until Sat 18th Mar 1939 | All The Best | New Revuew, starring Bebe Daniels & Ben Lyon, Sid Field, Tommy Kaye, Al Devito & Co. and others. | |
| Mon 20th Mar until Sat 25th Mar 1939 | The Student Prince | Starring Harry Welchman, with Doris Francis and the full London Company of Principals and Chorus. | |
| Mon 27th Mar until Sat 1st Apr 1939 | London Casino Show "Folies Superbes" | Featuring stars from the Folies Bergere and Moulin Rouge. | |
| Mon 3rd Apr until Sat 8th Apr 1939 | Hawaiin Paradise | With 3 Peters Sisters, Maurice Colleano and others. | |
| Mon 10th Apr until Sat 15th Apr 1939 | Variety Show | Holiday Programme with Evelyn Dall, Max Bacon, Vera Lynn, and the Ambrose Octet, plus others | |
| Mon 17th Apr until Sat 22nd Apr 1939 | Billy Cotton and his Band | Plus Giovanni, the 7 Fredysons, Betty Jumel, Morton Fraser and Stanford & McNaughton. | |
| Mon 24th Apr until Sat 6th May 1939 | Doorlay's Wonder Rocket | With 100 international artists. (An extra week added due to popularity.) | |
| Mon 8th May until Sat 13th May 1939 | Me and My Girl | The show that made all Britain do the Lambeth Walk. | |
| Mon 15th May until Sat 20th May 1939 | The Carl Rosa Opera Company | A different opera each night. | |
| Mon 22nd May until Sat 27th May 1939 | Max Miller | With Anona Winn, Chester Fredericks, Gloria Lane, and others. | |
| Mon 29th May until Sat 3rd Jun 1939 | Tommy Trinder | With Hutch, Owen McGiveney, Maisie Weldon, Shaw and Weston, Paddy Drew, and others. | |
| Mon 5th Jun until Sat 10th Jun 1939 | BBC Band Waggon | With Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, and many others. | |
| Mon 12th Jun until Sat 17th Jun 1939 | Harry Roy and his Band | With Bill & Len Loew, the Dehl Trio, Dave & Joe O'Gorman, and others. | |
| Mon 19th Jun until Sat 24th Jun 1939 | Lightning Variety Show | With Arthur Prince, Jack Wilson, Freddie Forbes, and others. | |
| Mon 26th Jun until Sat 1st Jul 1939 | Jack Jackson and his Band | Variety with Archie Glen, Billy O'Connor, Jass & Jessie, Freddie, Phyllis & Anne, Betty Driver, and others. | |
| Mon 3rd Jul until Sat 8th Jul 1939 | Radio Club | The show devised by Lewis Marks. Includes Stanley Holloway, Gipsy Nina, Ted Ray and many more. | |
| Mon 10th Jul until Sat 15th Jul 1939 | Variety Show | Billy Bennett (Almost a Gentleman), Ada Brown, Bobbie May, Al & Bob Harvey, and more. | |
| Mon 17th Jul until Sat 22nd Jul 1939 | Reginald Foort | Playing the World's Mightiest Theatre Organ. With many guests. | |
| Mon 24th Jul until Sat 29th Jul 1939 | Canada Calling | Another Novelty Variety Ensemble, with The Famous Vancouver Boys' Band, and others. | |
| Mon 31st Jul until Sat 5th Aug 1939 | Variety Show | With Teddy Brown, The Famous Darmora Dancers, Gene Sheldon & Loretta Fischer, and others. | |
| Mon 7th Aug until Sat 12th Aug 1939 | Holiday Variety Show | Sam Browne with the Crooners College, Gaston Palmer, Jimmy Plant, and many others. | |
| Mon 14th Aug until Sat 19th Aug 1939 | Variety Show | Scott & Whalley, Jack Daly, Phyllis Robins, Archie and his Juvenile Band, Jimmy Plant, and others. | |
| Mon 21st Aug until Sat 26th Aug 1939 | Variety Show | Jack Harris and his Famous Band, with Pat Taylor and Hughie Diamond, Sereno & June, Len Young, Terry Thomas, and others. | |
| Mon 28th Aug until Sat 2nd Sep 1939 | Variety Show | Starring Ralph Reader the BBC & Radio Gang Show Star, the Dandridge Sisters, Howard Rogers, and others. (All shows for the next fortnight cancelled due to the outbreak of war.) | |
| Sat 16th Sep 1939 | Variety Concert | Arranged by W. E. "Bill" Pethers with the new Hippodrome Orchestra, for one night only. All members of the Armed Forces invited free of charge. | |
| Mon 18th Sep until Sat 23rd Sep 1939 | Me and My Girl | Show returned by public demand. | |
| Mon 25th Sep until Sat 30th Sep 1939 | Variety Show | Rawicz & Landauer, Douglas Byng, Oliver Wakefield, Randolph Sutton, Suzette Tarri, and others. | |
| Mon 2nd Oct until Sat 7th Oct 1939 | White Horse Inn | Musical Play, with Jack Barty, Nita Croft, Bernard Clifton and Eddie Childs. | |
| Mon 9th Oct until Sat 14th Oct 1939 | This'll Make You Laugh | Stupendous All-Laughter Variety Show, with Ethel Revnell & Gracie West, Billy Caryll & Hilda Mundy, and others. | |
| Mon 16th Oct until Sat 21st Oct 1939 | Variety Show | Charlie Kunz, The Two Leslies, Albert Whelan, and others. | |
| Mon 23rd Oct until Sat 28th Oct 1939 | Visions of 1940 | Douglas Wakefield and his Gang in a Joyous New Revue, with Eddie Leslie, Jean Adrienne and Walter Williams. | |
| Mon 30th Oct until Sat 4th Nov 1939 | Variety Show | Mantovani and his Orchestra, Clifford & Marion, Norman Evans, and others. | |
| Mon 6th Nov until Sat 11th Nov 1939 | Variety Show | Syd Seymour and his Mad Hatters Band, Maurice Colleano, Jack Edge, Campbell & Wise, and others. | |
| Mon 13th Nov until Sat 18th Nov 1939 | Ambrose and his Orchestra | Britain's foremost Dance Band, with Evelyn Dall, Max Bacon, Jack Cooper, Normal Long, Vera Lynn, and others. | |
| Mon 20th Nov until Sat 25th Nov 1939 | Carroll Levis and his latest BBC Discoveries | Compered by Leonard Urry. With George Lacy, Bobby Kimber, and others. | |
| Mon 27th Nov until Sat 2nd Dec 1939 | Variety Show | With Afrique, Hutch, Leon Cortez, and others. | |
| Mon 4th Dec until Sat 9th Dec 1939 | "Folies Superbes" The Actual London Casino Show | With a continental cast of over 70 artists, including Andre Randall and Sherkot. | |
| Mon 11th Dec until Sat 16th Dec 1939 | Come out To Play | London Show, starring Jessie Matthews & Sonnie Hale, with Robert Hale, Peggy Rawlins, and others. | |
| Mon 18th Dec until Sat 23rd Dec 1939 | Variety Show | Turner Layton and Ronald Frankau, Macari & his Dutch Accordion, Clapham & Dwyer, and others. | |
| Tue 26th Dec 1939 until Sat 27th Jan 1940 | Babes In The Wood | Pantomime, starring Sandy Powell, Marjery Wyn and George Bolton. | |
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Also of interest might be A short history of Coventry's Theatres and Cinemas, by Bill Birch.
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