Happidrome ** (1943, Harry Korris, Cecil Fredericks, Robbie Vincent, Bunty Meadows) – Classic Movie Review 13,638   

Music-hall comics Harry Korris, Cecil Fredericks and Robbie Vincent star in the 1943 British black and white wartime comedy film Happidrome, a happy spin-off from their popular BBC radio series.

Director Phil Brandon’s 1943 British black and white wartime comedy film Happidrome stars music-hall comic Harry Korris. It is a spin-off from the popular BBC radio series The Happidrome (1941-47).

Music-hall comic Harry Korris brings to the movies for his hit BBC radio show in which he plays the struggling, harassed Mr Lovejoy, who returns to a small provincial town as manager of a theatre with plans to put on a show. The plot is about a rich man called Mr Mossup (Joss Ambler) who provides the backing for his daughter Bunty Mossup (Bunty Meadows) to make her a star by producing a tragic play about Ancient Rome that turns out to be a hit for her co-players and the theatre thanks to its unintentional laughs.

Other regular cast members radio show re-create their roles: Cecil Fredericks as the stage manager Ramsbottom and Robbie Vincent as the call boy Enoch. 

Happidrome is an entirely happy slice of nostalgia, though made in a cheap and slapdash way, and presumably better on radio, yet it is still spirited variety show entertainment. It doesn’t bear comparison with 1933 Up to the Neck starring Ralph Lynn or Mel Brooks 1968’s The Producers which develop a similar idea. Still, it is good to have this record of comedy performers Harry Korris, Cecil Fredericks and Robbie Vincent.

It is shot at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London, and produced by co-writer Tom Arnold, by the musical star Jack Buchanan, and by Harold Boxall. 

The BBC radio comedy programme The Happidrome was produced in Britain by Ernest Longstaffe between 1941 and 1947, and broadcast live each week from the Grand Theatre, Llandudno in north Wales.

Longstaffe devised the show for Korris, Fredericks and Vincent after seeing them in a Blackpool summer show called Arcadian Follies.

Release date: June 7, 1943.

There was also a 1942 stage version of Happidrome at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, with cabaret star Leslie Hutchinson (‘Hutch’) guesting, as he does in the film. 

Harry Korris (born Henry Lowe Corris; 8 October 1891 – 3 June 1971) became a nationally known figure in the UK thanks to his regular appearances in Blackpool, being featured in three Frank Randle films (1940’s Somewhere in England, 1942’s Somewhere in Camp) and 1943’s Somewhere on Leave), starring in The Happidrome, and entertaining the troops in WW2.

Happidrome is directed by Phil Brandon, runs 87 minutes, is made by Aldwych Films, is released by MGM, is written by Tom Arnold and James Seymour, is shot by Geoffrey Faithfull, is produced by Tom Arnold (uncredited), Jack Buchanan (uncredited) and Harold Boxall, is scored by Bretton Byrd (musical director), and is designed by W J Hemsley.

Cast:

Harry Korris

Robbie Vincent

Cecil Frederick

Bunty Meadows

Joss Ambler

Leslie Hutchinson

Lisa Lee

Cairoli Brothers

Jennie Gregson

Valentine Dunn

Marie Lawson

Arthur Hambling

Olga Stevenson.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,638

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