This house had been an ABC cinema for many years but thankfully the stage was intact so they were in business. There was no orchestra pit though and the band were placed on a kind of shelf near the stage at the side of the auditorium. He produced some very spectacular shows over a period of almost twenty years with some very big names and took away a lot of business from the Opera House.

Above - Site of the Blackpool Hippodrome, which was originally built as a Cinema, in 2003 - D.A.

After the war the auditorium of the Hippodrome, which was originally built as a Cinema, was looking very old fashioned and shabby and Jack hit on the idea of covering the interior with lavish drapes and calling it the Coconut Grove after the New York Night Club of the same name. It was a marathon job hanging the drapes and Jewel and Warris were topping the bill. I remember the night before the show opened we were up all night still hanging the drapes, even Jimmy Jewel was helping, complaining loudly about how late everything was running, but that was Jimmy he got involved in everything to do with productions that they were appearing in and always complained, but he was a great artiste and stage struck to the end. Ben Warris was the exact opposite he was a happy fellow and just sailed in and out of the theatres and lived a very lavish life style. In addition a rumba band played on a gallery in the foyer as the audience came in and it was a great success for a number of years. Many stars topped the bill for Jack Taylor here including Tessie O'Shea. Jimmy James,George Formby, Frank Randle, Nat Jackley and Robert Wilson. Jack had a stroke in the late fifties and relinquished control of the Hippodrome shows to Tom Arnold.

Above - Site of the Regal Theatre South Pier Blackpool 2003 - D.A.

The Regal Theatre on the South pier was Jack's first big Blackpool theatre and was his pet. The stage was inadequate but he made up for it with costumes and his lighting. He would take up to three days to light the show. He discovered Jimmy Clitheroe during the early war years and he appeared in many of Jack's shows. Jimmy was a miniature not a dwarf and although his brain grew up his body did not and he used to get very tired. I worked with him in later days of the sixties when his boyish facial features were starting to drop and he was very worried about it. In addition he followed a punishing work schedule with summer shows pantomimes, Spring and Autumn Shows at the Coventry Hippodrome and on the Moss Empire circuit, in addition to his radio series the Clitheroe Kid. He was accompanied everywhere by his mother. He did have a girl friend but she was tragically killed in a motor accident. When his mother died Jimmy mistakenly took an overdose of pills that he had been prescribed and died on the day of her funeral.

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