Danilo opened 80 years ago
Past Times
Burbage historian Michael Roberts is an expert on the cinema scene in the town. Here he writes about the opening of the Danilo 80 years ago
ON July 26 this year we will be remembering a special occasion. It will be the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Danilo Cinema.
The cinema at the corner of Trinity Lane and Hollycroft Hill had a grand opening on Monday July 26 1937 and remained showing films until 1993.
In 1937 we then had three cinemas in Hinckley. The Odeon closed in the 1960s and was soon demolished.
The Regent became a bingo hall in the late 1960s and closed a few years ago. The auditorium of the Regent was demolished three years ago, therefore the Danilo is the only one of the three remaining standing but not showing films.
The Grand Opening Ceremony was going to be performed by Sir William Edge who was the MP for the Market Bosworth constituency. Unfortunately Sir William was unable to attend and his son Mr Knowles Edge undertook the duty.
Mr Dent, chairman of the Danilo Companies, after giving Mr Edge a vote of thanks said that at that time there were approximately 4,500 cinemas in the country and the entertainment tax the cinemas provided to the Chancellor of the Exchequer was five million pounds per annum. Mr Dent afterwards presented a cheque from the management on behalf of the Hinckley and District Hospital.
A very popular film star of the time Judy Kelly also attended the opening. The day before she was in France. The following day she was flown to Desford Aerodrome where a car was waiting to take her to Hinckley. After the opening Judy sent a message to the ‘The Hinckley Times and Guardian’, which said, “Of all the welcomes I have received in all the places I have visited, none has been more spontaneous or more hearty than that which you have given me tonight. Hinckley must be a town of very warm-hearted people”
On the stage of the Danilo, at the opening, was the Band of The 8th Battalion of The Worcestershire Regiment.
On the screen was Jack Buchanan in ‘This’ll Make You Whistle’ and Ralph Morgan in ‘The Outer Gate’ and of course British Movietone News.
I believe it was 11 o’clock in the evening before the official opening ended. There was a huge crowd outside the cinema as Judy Kelly left the building and she said to them, “You are lucky that you have only a short distance to go home, but think of me having to travel by car all the way to London”.
One of the Hinckley people in the crowd said “We would be only too pleased to exchange places with her because we rarely have the opportunity to go to London”
I first went to the Danilo in October 1940. My friends and I had found out that on a Saturday afternoon matinee a serial was shown. This persuaded us to go each week to see if our hero got out of the predicament he was in at the end of the previous week’s chapter.
Outside of the Danilo there was a large frame, fixed to the wall, which contained a poster of the film showing. Also there were frames with photographs of scenes from the film. Today modern cinemas do not have this method of attraction; we have to look it up on our computer!
I’m sure there are many readers who have happy memories of the Danilo - those were the days!