Wangemann- During the Depression, people danced the night, and their cares, away

In the years between World War I and World War II and maybe 10-15 years after World War II, it seemed that people led a more social life. One only has to pick up a newspaper from this era and go to the entertainment page almost any night of the week, and especially on weekends, and you would find advertisements for numerous dances all over the county. There were public wedding dances, birthday dances, 4th of July dances – and on and on. For practically any occasion you can name, people held a dance.

There were dance halls all over Sheboygan County. Almost every tavern had a hall next to it. Many were very well known. Wedding dances were generally free with beer selling for a nickel a glass and often there was free lunch. Cedar Lake Pavilion many times sponsored dances with such well-known area musicians such as Joe Sanders and his orchestra and Bill Carlson and his orchestra; but with orchestras of this caliber there was a charge of the princely sum of 50 cents.

You may remember that in later years, when Channel 4 television came on the air, their first weatherman was none other than Bill Carlson. In those early television days, the “weathermen” were not meteorologists; in fact, in the case of Bill Carlson, he was more of a comedian than a weatherman – but he was everybody’s favorite.

Lauer’s Resort and Pavilion at Crystal Lake featured a dance every night of the week as well as Sunday afternoons during the summer months. Several times each season they would hire such well-known orchestras as Lawrence Welk, who played there several times. However, the Lawrence Welk show and dance cost $1.50!

In Sheboygan, one of the most popular places was the Eagles Hall, later known as the “Playdium,” in downtown Sheboygan. Now at the Playdium you might just be able to hear the nationally known singer and bandleader Eddie Howard who played there several times. In the years, just after the war, Tex Beneke, who took over the Glen Miller band after Glen was tragically killed in a World War II plane crash, played at the Playdium several times.

Dances were held at the Sheboygan Armory featuring various musical groups and at least one of the more famous groups that played there was Duke Ellington. If you wanted admission to the main floor for this event, a ticket would cost you $1.10; but if you just wanted to listen to the music, a ticket to the balcony would cost you 67 cents.

In Sheboygan County, you could dance at such places as the Dreamland Ballroom, the Winter Garden in Centerville and Kuylens Hall near Howards Grove, just to mention a few.

You may remember some of the groups that supplied the music for these dances, such as The Farm Hands, Chet Hoppe and His Lads of Rhythm or maybe Kenny Ohm and his orchestra. But when it came to “packing ‘em in,” nobody could beat Romy Gosz, the Polka King. And does anybody remember Kuhnerts “Rainbo” orchestra or maybe Clem Shermeister and his orchestra?

Even during the dark days of the Depression, dances were held all over the county. They called them “hard time” dances and encouraged people to come dressed in raggedy clothes and the men oft-times didn’t shave for three or four days before the dance. The whole thing was intended to spoof the Depression and the hard times that people actually were facing. Admission ranged from 10 cents to 25 cents and if you brought your favorite lady she was, many times, admitted free.

There were snowball dances in the winter when sometime during the dance hundreds of cotton snowballs would suddenly cascade down on the dancers. Almost immediately a free for all snowball fight would break out amongst the dancers. It just seems that back during those hard times people knew how to have an awful lot of fun with just a small amount of money.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a fixture that was present in almost every hall. It could be found hanging in the center of the ballroom, a mirrored ball. The lights would be lowered and a small spotlight was trained on the ball as it slowly turned. As the dancers, held each other close and serenely glided around the dimly lit dance floor, brilliant little spots of light from the mirrored ball danced across the floor, walls and ceiling.

Today’s Snippet: During the years of World War II, servicemen in uniform were always admitted free to any dance in the area.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for a future column, feel free to contact me at (920) 458-2974 or e-mail wangemann@yahoo.com.