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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1943 | New Hippodrome, Hales Street | ||
| Date(s) | Show | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 15th Feb until Sat 20th Feb 1943 | Spring Frolics | Starring Max Miller. | |
| Mon 22nd Feb until Sat 27th Feb 1943 | More Spring Frolics | With Billy Cotton and his Band, Stanelli, Tommy Fields and others. | |
| Mon 1st Mar until Sat 6th Mar 1943 | Noel Coward | In 3 of his own Plays: Present Laughter, Blithe Spirit, and This Happy Breed. | |
| Mon 8th Mar until Sat 13th Mar 1943 | The Sadler's Wells Ballet | With Symphony Orchestra, Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpmann. | |
| Mon 15th Mar until Sat 20th Mar 1943 | Watch On The Rhine | With Zena Dare, Roger Livesey and Ursula Jeans. | |
| Mon 22nd Mar until Sat 27th Mar 1943 | Warn That Man | With Gordon Harker, Basil Radford, Judy Kelly, and others. | |
| Mon 29th Mar until Sat 3rd Apr 1943 | Rosaire's Circus | The Greatest show of its kind in the country to-day. | |
| Mon 5th Apr until Sat 10th Apr 1943 | D'Oyly Carte Opera Company | A different Gilbert & Sullivan Opera each night. | |
| Mon 12th Apr until Sat 17th Apr 1943 | Star Variety | Jay Wilbur and his Band, The Two Leslies, plus large supporting bill. | |
| Mon 19th Apr until Sat 24th Apr 1943 | Rose Marie | West End Production, with Marjorie Browne, Phyllis Monkman, Raymond Newell, George Lacey, and others. | |
| Mon 26th Apr until Sat 1st May 1943 | Venus Comes To Town | The actual show from Whitehall Theatre, London. | |
| Mon 3rd May until Sat 8th May 1943 | Kiss The Girls | A musical Adventure in Five Scenes, with Sonnie Hale, Adele Dixon, Francis Sullivan and June Malo. | |
| Mon 10th May until Sat 15th May 1943 | The Mad Hatters Of 1943 | With Syd Seymour and his Band, Constance Evans, Victor Julian, and others. | |
| Mon 17th May until Sat 22nd May 1943 | Joe Loss and his Band | And 7 First Class Acts in a High Speed Variety Bill. | |
| Mon 24th May until Thu 27th May 1943 | Morning Star | With Emlyn Williams. | |
| Fri 28th May and Sat 29th May 1943 | Night Must Fall | With Emlyn Williams. | |
| Mon 31st May until Sat 5th Jun 1943 | To-Night's the Night | London Musical with Jack Melford, Freddie Forbes, Andre Randall, Len Clifford, Elsie Percival and Joy Hayden. | |
| Mon 7th Jun until Sat 12th Jun 1943 | The Duchess of Dantzic | Romantic Musical, with Fay Compton, Charles Heslop and Kenneth Kent. | |
| Mon 14th Jun until Sat 19th Jun 1943 | Stars of the Air | With Sam Browne, Max Bacon, Jack Daly and others. | |
| Sun 20th Jun 1943 | Special Concert in aid of the Russian Red Cross | Given by the Armstrong Whitworth Orchestra. | |
| Mon 21st Jun until Sat 26th Jun 1943 | All-Star Broadcast Variety Bill | With Turner Layton, Dorothy Ward, Low & Webster, and others. | |
| Mon 28th Jun until Sat 3rd Jul 1943 | Oscar Rabin & His Band | With Scott Sanders, Dorothy Gray, Dick Montague, and others. | |
| Mon 5th Jul until Sat 10th Jul 1943 | No Orchids for Miss Blandish | "The Play Sensation of the Year". | |
| Mon 12th Jul until Sat 17th Jul 1943 | Vic Oliver | All Star Variety Show, with Hella Toros, and others. | |
| Mon 19th Jul until Sat 24th Jul 1943 | Harry Roy and his Band | In an Crazy Rhythm Show - Members of the audience invited up to conduct the band! | |
| Tue 27th Jul until Sat 31st Jul 1943 | Sunny RIver | Emile Little's Musical Play, music by Oscar Hammerstein and Sigmund Romberg. | |
| Mon 2nd Aug until Sat 7th Aug 1943 | All-Star Holiday Variety Show | Starring Jack Warner and George Scott-Wood with his Swing Orchestra. | |
| Mon 9th Aug until Sat 14th Aug 1943 | She Follows Me About | New Ben Travers Farce, with Robertson Hare and Basil Radford. | |
| Mon 16th Aug until Sat 21st Aug 1943 | Over To You | Musical Show, with Afrique, Nat Mills & Bobbie, Bunny Doyle, and others. | |
| Mon 23rd Aug until Sat 28th Aug 1943 | Henry Hall and his Band | With Big Supporting Bill. | |
| Mon 30th Aug until Sat 4th Sep 1943 | The Maid Of The Mountains | With the London Coliseum Company. | |
| Mon 6th Sep until Sat 11th Sep 1943 | No, No, Nanette! | Musical Comedy, with Jean Colin, George Clarke, and West End Cast. | |
| Mon 13th Sep until Sat 18th Sep 1943 | The Man Who Came To Dinner | With Robert Morley. | |
| Mon 20th Sep until Sat 25th Sep 1943 | Get A Load Of This | With Ted Ray, Daphne & Jack Barker, and Company of 60. | |
| Mon 27th Sep until Sat 2nd Oct 1943 | Florodora | musical Comedy, with Jay Laurier, Hannah Watt, and others. | |
| Mon 4th Oct until Sat 9th Oct 1943 | Tommy, Get Your Fun | Broadcast Road-Show, with Teddy Brown, Hetty King, Jean Adrienne & Eddie Leslie, and others. | |
| Mon 11th Oct until Sat 16th Oct 1943 | The New Happidrome of 1943 | From the Prince of Wales Theatre, presented by Tom Arnold. | |
| Mon 18th Oct until Sat 23rd Oct 1943 | Sky High | With Ethel Revnell and Gracie West. | |
| Mon 25th Oct until Sat 30th Oct 1943 | Billy Ternent with the BBC Dance Orchestra | Variety Bill with Britain's foremost Pantomime Dame. | |
| Mon 1st Nov until Sat 6th Nov 1943 | Sky Larks | Laughter Show, with Elsie & Doris Waters (Gert & Daisy), George Doonan, Celia Lipton, and others. | |
| Mon 8th Nov until Sat 13th Nov 1943 | Laugh And Be Happy | New Revue, with Star Comedian Hal Monty. | |
| Mon 15th Nov until Sat 20th Nov 1943 | The Count of Luxembourg | Bernard Delfont's Production, with George Gee, Nita Croft, and Big West End Cast. | |
| Mon 22nd Nov until Sat 27th Nov 1943 | The Student Prince | With West End Cast and Chorus of 40. | |
| Tue 30th Nov until Sat 11th Dec 1943 | Black Vanities | Musical, with Jimmy Jewell and Ben Warriss, and others. | |
| Mon 13th Dec until Sat 18th Dec 1943 | Star Variety Bill | With Cavan O'Connor, Beryl Orde, Herschel "Jizz" Henlere, and others. (Theatre closed Mon 20th to Thu 23rd for Pantomime rehearsals.) | |
| Fri 24th Dec 1943 until Sat 12th Feb 1944 | Aladdin | With Ted Ray, Leslie Strange. (Prices from 2/- in the Balcony to 8/- in the Stalls & Circle.) | |
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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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