Sioux City sees stars
Sioux City attracts everyone from Amelia Earhart to the Three Stooges
By Lynn Zerschling Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, October 22, 2007
What do President Teddy Roosevelt, aviatrix Amelia Earhart and comedian Bob Hope have in common?
Add to that mix suffragette Susan B. Anthony, jazz great Louis Armstrong and Captain Kangaroo? Oh, and what about Rin Tin Tin and Snoop Dog? Throw in violinist Isaac Stern and stripper Sally Rand.
Can't figure it out? All those notables have graced Sioux City with their presence during the past 150 years.
From etiquette guru Amy Vanderbilt to poet Carl Sandburg and from Oscar-winning actress Katharine Hepburn to the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, Sioux City has played host to many of the A-List actors, entertainers, musicians, philosophers and politicians of this country.
"There have been all kinds of famous people here," Grace Linden, curator at the Public Museum's Pearl Street Research Center, said. "And, not just people. We've had animals like Rin Tin Tin and the Lipizzaner Stallions."
Linden started compiling the "Who's Who" list after she fielded calls through the years from people wondering when some star appeared in town. Sometimes the callers are filling in scrapbook information. Others want to settle bets.
However, the main reason Linden began the master list is due to one person -- the Man in Black.
"We field phone calls constantly wanting to know when Johnny Cash was here. They want the date, where he appeared and what he did," she revealed.
As near as her research can determine, Cash appeared at a Home Show at the Municipal Auditorium in 1969 or 1970.
"People have called and said so-and-so was in Sioux City and wanted details. A lot of the time we start with what they tell us and dig in our files. We had a lot of rock 'n' roll bands here in the '50s and '60s."
Big Bands leaders had Sioux City on their travel maps. Think Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ozzie Nelson (with wife Harriet as a singer), Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman. Plus the "March King" himself -- John Phillip Sousa.
While some of the information on the notables can be found in the museum's cavernous files, "We have no one place to look," Linden noted. "We have newspaper clippings and scrapbooks from some people."
Two volunteers, Earl Belt and George Burg, are assisting in the research.
To date, Linden has placed between 450 and 500 names on the list. The information compiled includes the date the persons or acts appeared, where they performed, the reason they were in town and the source of the information.
Even if Linden confirms someone has appeared in Sioux City in the 19th or 20th centuries, she uses 21st Century technology to fill in the blanks.
"I type in the name on Google," she said of the Web site search engine to figure out how to describe the individual.
Like who? Alistair Cooke, a British-born journalist and broadcaster.
"He was here in the 1960s and lectured at the Knife and Fork Club. I wanted to know how to describe him."
Many of those finding their way onto Linden's List toured the lecture circuit, keynoting addresses to Sioux City's Knife and Fork Club. In its heyday in the 1920s through 1950s, the club brought in speakers who, today, would headline The Discovery Channel, the Arts & Entertainment network and The History Channel. And, perhaps in a few cases, Ripley's "Believe It or Not."
The guests included Amelia Earhart, who on Oct. 8, 1935, told of her desire to fly around the world, Two years later, Earhart and her navigator ditched in the Pacific Ocean. Their plane and bodies were never found.
Other speakers included Carl Sandburg, Will Durant, Amy Vanderbilt and Richard Halliburton, the "playboy adventurer."
"Some of the people who were famous in their day, we never heard of," Linden admitted.
Such as Richard the playboy?
"Well, maybe in a 100 years, no one will remember Britney Spears either," Linden retorted.
"I have been surprised at the quality and the celebrity of people who came here. You never would have imagined that Teddy Roosevelt was here or Chico Marx or Bob Hope!"
Hope's visit to Sioux City in 1952 was due to the community's dubious distinction of being at the center of the nation's polio epidemic. He visited sick children in polio wards and then performed at Grandview Park
"Thousands attended" his performance, she recalled. "They had to have tickets to get in the park. ...
"A lot of folks don't know that Lawrence Welk got married here. I think it was at the Cathedral of the Epiphany. I haven't found out why they picked Sioux City -- maybe he was on a concert tour."
Welk married Fern Renner on April 18, 1931. According to the North Dakota Humanities Council Web page, "They got married in Sioux City, Iowa, at 5:30 in the morning, because Lawrence and his band had to get on the road to play a show in Wisconsin that night."
Welk and his orchestra appeared four other times in Sioux City -- in 1934 at the Orpheum, Dec. 5-7, 1941 at the Orpheum and twice in 1942 at Shore Acres and Skylon ballrooms. Linden has not discovered if Welk's performance on Dec. 7, 1941, took place before or after word reached Sioux City that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.
"We'll be adding to this forever," Linden predicted. "Even now we read The Journal's entertainment pages to see who's coming to town. We just added George Stephanopouls," ABC News chief Washington correspondent who spoke at the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Sept. 25. "Willie Nelson was just at the Orpheum."
To add names to the list, contact the Pearl Street Research Center at (712) 224-5001.
Lynn Zerschling may be reached at (712) 293-4202 or lynnzerschling@lee.net
Who's Who from the Past
Actors:
Tallula Bankhead, 1940, Orpheum
John Barrymore, 1939, Orpheum
Edgar Bergen, 1929, Orpheum,
George Burns and Gracie Allen, 1928, Orpheum
Henry Fonda, 1953, Orpheum
Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lund and Sydney Greenstreet, 1939, Orpheum
Helen Hayes, 1942, Orpheum
Katharine Hepburn, Van Heflin and Joseph Cotton, 1939, Orpheum
Al Jolson, 1932, old auditorium (Now KCAU)
Basil Rathbone, 1934, old auditorium
Barbara Stanwyck, 1933, old auditorium
Entertainers:
Marian Anderson, 1943, 1954, Orpheum
Louis Armstrong, 1942, Skylon Ballroom
Edgar Bergen, 1929, Orpheum
Ethel Barrymore, 1942, Orpheum
Harry Blackstone, Sr., magician, 1932, Orpheum
Dave Brubeck, 1979, Concert Course
Victor Borge, 1986, Symphony
Karen and Richard Carpenter, 1972, Symphony
Arthur Fiedler, 1975, Symphony
Vladimir Horowitz, 1928, old auditorium
Spike Jones, 1947, Orpheum
Captain Kangaroo, 1962, Symphony
Elvis Presley, 1956, Municipal Auditorium
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 1942, Orpheum
Oscar Levant, 1952, Symphony
Sir Harry Lauder, 1922, 1930, old auditorium
Lipizzaner Stallions, 1968, 2001, 2004, auditorium/Tyson Center
Chico Marx, 1942, Capitol Theater
Yehudi Menuhin, 1950, Orpheum
Tom Mix, cowboy act with horse "Toby," 1933, no location
Donald O'Connor, 1934, Orpheum
Eleanor Powell, 1933, no location
Sally Rand, 1934, Orpheum
Rin Tin Tin, 1931, Orpheum
Kate Smith, 1934, Orpheum
Isaac Stern, 1943, 1959, Symphony
Rise Stevens, 1955, Symphony
Margaret Truman (singer), 1951, Orpheum
Maria Von Trapp, 1980, Eppley Auditorium
Ethel Waters, 1932, old auditorium
Composer Henry C. Work, 1856, no location
Comedians:
Bud Abbott/Lou Costello, 1942, (sold war bonds) Stockyards
Johnny Carson, 1960, Municipal Auditorium
Edward Horton, 1940, Orpheum
"Rose Marie" Mazetta, 1931, Orpheum
Three Stooges, 1934, Orpheum
Big Bands:
Cab Calloway, 1942, Capitol Theatre
Duke Ellington, 1933, Orpheum
Benny Goodman, 1952, Municipal Auditorium
Mitch Miller, 1969, Symphony
Ozzie & Harriet Nelson, 1935, Shore Acres Ballroom
Artie Shaw, 1985, Municipal Auditorium
John Philip Sousa, 1927, 1929, old auditorium/Orpheum
Lawrence Welk, 1931, 1934, 1941, 1942.Skylon/Shore Acres/Orpheum
Politicians:
British Prime Minister Earl C. Attlee, 1959, Morningside College
President George H.W. Bush, 1987, 1990, Eppley/convention center
President George W. Bush, 2004, Tyson Center
President Gerald Ford, 1974, airport
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965, no location
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, 1960, auditorium/Stockyards
New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, 1966, Orpheum
President William McKinley, 1899, various locations
Vice President and later Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon, 1956, 1960, Municipal Auditorium.
Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932, no location
Former President Teddy Roosevelt, 1910, Mizzou Park
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 1960, Stockyards
Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, 1956, Sheraton-Warrior Hotel
President Harry Truman, 1952, Missouri River flood damage
Democratic presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson, 1912, Interstate Fair
Speakers:
Susan B. Anthony, 1871, Academy of Music
Bennett Cerf, 1959, Chamber dinner
Norman Cousins, 1960, Knife & Fork Club
Wil Durant, 1937, Knife & Fork Club
Amelia Earhart, 1935, Knife & Fork Club
Paul Harvey, 1957, Knife & Fork Club
Richard Halliburton, 1929, Knife & Fork Club
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, 1942, Knife & Fork Club
The Rev. Aimee McPherson Semple, 1933, old auditorium
Carl Sandburg, 1932, Knife & Fork Club
Lewis Sinclair, 1939, Orpheum
Amy Vanderbilt, 1957, Knife & Fork Club
The Rev. Henry Beecher Ward, 1877, McCormick Hall
Oscar Wilde, 1882, Academy of Music
Add to that mix suffragette Susan B. Anthony, jazz great Louis Armstrong and Captain Kangaroo? Oh, and what about Rin Tin Tin and Snoop Dog? Throw in violinist Isaac Stern and stripper Sally Rand.
Can't figure it out? All those notables have graced Sioux City with their presence during the past 150 years.
From etiquette guru Amy Vanderbilt to poet Carl Sandburg and from Oscar-winning actress Katharine Hepburn to the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, Sioux City has played host to many of the A-List actors, entertainers, musicians, philosophers and politicians of this country.
"There have been all kinds of famous people here," Grace Linden, curator at the Public Museum's Pearl Street Research Center, said. "And, not just people. We've had animals like Rin Tin Tin and the Lipizzaner Stallions."
Linden started compiling the "Who's Who" list after she fielded calls through the years from people wondering when some star appeared in town. Sometimes the callers are filling in scrapbook information. Others want to settle bets.
However, the main reason Linden began the master list is due to one person -- the Man in Black.
"We field phone calls constantly wanting to know when Johnny Cash was here. They want the date, where he appeared and what he did," she revealed.
As near as her research can determine, Cash appeared at a Home Show at the Municipal Auditorium in 1969 or 1970.
"People have called and said so-and-so was in Sioux City and wanted details. A lot of the time we start with what they tell us and dig in our files. We had a lot of rock 'n' roll bands here in the '50s and '60s."
Big Bands leaders had Sioux City on their travel maps. Think Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ozzie Nelson (with wife Harriet as a singer), Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman. Plus the "March King" himself -- John Phillip Sousa.
While some of the information on the notables can be found in the museum's cavernous files, "We have no one place to look," Linden noted. "We have newspaper clippings and scrapbooks from some people."
Two volunteers, Earl Belt and George Burg, are assisting in the research.
To date, Linden has placed between 450 and 500 names on the list. The information compiled includes the date the persons or acts appeared, where they performed, the reason they were in town and the source of the information.
Even if Linden confirms someone has appeared in Sioux City in the 19th or 20th centuries, she uses 21st Century technology to fill in the blanks.
"I type in the name on Google," she said of the Web site search engine to figure out how to describe the individual.
Like who? Alistair Cooke, a British-born journalist and broadcaster.
"He was here in the 1960s and lectured at the Knife and Fork Club. I wanted to know how to describe him."
Many of those finding their way onto Linden's List toured the lecture circuit, keynoting addresses to Sioux City's Knife and Fork Club. In its heyday in the 1920s through 1950s, the club brought in speakers who, today, would headline The Discovery Channel, the Arts & Entertainment network and The History Channel. And, perhaps in a few cases, Ripley's "Believe It or Not."
The guests included Amelia Earhart, who on Oct. 8, 1935, told of her desire to fly around the world, Two years later, Earhart and her navigator ditched in the Pacific Ocean. Their plane and bodies were never found.
Other speakers included Carl Sandburg, Will Durant, Amy Vanderbilt and Richard Halliburton, the "playboy adventurer."
"Some of the people who were famous in their day, we never heard of," Linden admitted.
Such as Richard the playboy?
"Well, maybe in a 100 years, no one will remember Britney Spears either," Linden retorted.
"I have been surprised at the quality and the celebrity of people who came here. You never would have imagined that Teddy Roosevelt was here or Chico Marx or Bob Hope!"
Hope's visit to Sioux City in 1952 was due to the community's dubious distinction of being at the center of the nation's polio epidemic. He visited sick children in polio wards and then performed at Grandview Park
"Thousands attended" his performance, she recalled. "They had to have tickets to get in the park. ...
"A lot of folks don't know that Lawrence Welk got married here. I think it was at the Cathedral of the Epiphany. I haven't found out why they picked Sioux City -- maybe he was on a concert tour."
Welk married Fern Renner on April 18, 1931. According to the North Dakota Humanities Council Web page, "They got married in Sioux City, Iowa, at 5:30 in the morning, because Lawrence and his band had to get on the road to play a show in Wisconsin that night."
Welk and his orchestra appeared four other times in Sioux City -- in 1934 at the Orpheum, Dec. 5-7, 1941 at the Orpheum and twice in 1942 at Shore Acres and Skylon ballrooms. Linden has not discovered if Welk's performance on Dec. 7, 1941, took place before or after word reached Sioux City that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.
"We'll be adding to this forever," Linden predicted. "Even now we read The Journal's entertainment pages to see who's coming to town. We just added George Stephanopouls," ABC News chief Washington correspondent who spoke at the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Sept. 25. "Willie Nelson was just at the Orpheum."
To add names to the list, contact the Pearl Street Research Center at (712) 224-5001.
Lynn Zerschling may be reached at (712) 293-4202 or lynnzerschling@lee.net
Who's Who from the Past
Actors:
Tallula Bankhead, 1940, Orpheum
John Barrymore, 1939, Orpheum
Edgar Bergen, 1929, Orpheum,
George Burns and Gracie Allen, 1928, Orpheum
Henry Fonda, 1953, Orpheum
Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lund and Sydney Greenstreet, 1939, Orpheum
Helen Hayes, 1942, Orpheum
Katharine Hepburn, Van Heflin and Joseph Cotton, 1939, Orpheum
Al Jolson, 1932, old auditorium (Now KCAU)
Basil Rathbone, 1934, old auditorium
Barbara Stanwyck, 1933, old auditorium
Entertainers:
Marian Anderson, 1943, 1954, Orpheum
Louis Armstrong, 1942, Skylon Ballroom
Edgar Bergen, 1929, Orpheum
Ethel Barrymore, 1942, Orpheum
Harry Blackstone, Sr., magician, 1932, Orpheum
Dave Brubeck, 1979, Concert Course
Victor Borge, 1986, Symphony
Karen and Richard Carpenter, 1972, Symphony
Arthur Fiedler, 1975, Symphony
Vladimir Horowitz, 1928, old auditorium
Spike Jones, 1947, Orpheum
Captain Kangaroo, 1962, Symphony
Elvis Presley, 1956, Municipal Auditorium
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 1942, Orpheum
Oscar Levant, 1952, Symphony
Sir Harry Lauder, 1922, 1930, old auditorium
Lipizzaner Stallions, 1968, 2001, 2004, auditorium/Tyson Center
Chico Marx, 1942, Capitol Theater
Yehudi Menuhin, 1950, Orpheum
Tom Mix, cowboy act with horse "Toby," 1933, no location
Donald O'Connor, 1934, Orpheum
Eleanor Powell, 1933, no location
Sally Rand, 1934, Orpheum
Rin Tin Tin, 1931, Orpheum
Kate Smith, 1934, Orpheum
Isaac Stern, 1943, 1959, Symphony
Rise Stevens, 1955, Symphony
Margaret Truman (singer), 1951, Orpheum
Maria Von Trapp, 1980, Eppley Auditorium
Ethel Waters, 1932, old auditorium
Composer Henry C. Work, 1856, no location
Comedians:
Bud Abbott/Lou Costello, 1942, (sold war bonds) Stockyards
Johnny Carson, 1960, Municipal Auditorium
Edward Horton, 1940, Orpheum
"Rose Marie" Mazetta, 1931, Orpheum
Three Stooges, 1934, Orpheum
Big Bands:
Cab Calloway, 1942, Capitol Theatre
Duke Ellington, 1933, Orpheum
Benny Goodman, 1952, Municipal Auditorium
Mitch Miller, 1969, Symphony
Ozzie & Harriet Nelson, 1935, Shore Acres Ballroom
Artie Shaw, 1985, Municipal Auditorium
John Philip Sousa, 1927, 1929, old auditorium/Orpheum
Lawrence Welk, 1931, 1934, 1941, 1942.Skylon/Shore Acres/Orpheum
Politicians:
British Prime Minister Earl C. Attlee, 1959, Morningside College
President George H.W. Bush, 1987, 1990, Eppley/convention center
President George W. Bush, 2004, Tyson Center
President Gerald Ford, 1974, airport
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965, no location
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, 1960, auditorium/Stockyards
New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, 1966, Orpheum
President William McKinley, 1899, various locations
Vice President and later Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon, 1956, 1960, Municipal Auditorium.
Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932, no location
Former President Teddy Roosevelt, 1910, Mizzou Park
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 1960, Stockyards
Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, 1956, Sheraton-Warrior Hotel
President Harry Truman, 1952, Missouri River flood damage
Democratic presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson, 1912, Interstate Fair
Speakers:
Susan B. Anthony, 1871, Academy of Music
Bennett Cerf, 1959, Chamber dinner
Norman Cousins, 1960, Knife & Fork Club
Wil Durant, 1937, Knife & Fork Club
Amelia Earhart, 1935, Knife & Fork Club
Paul Harvey, 1957, Knife & Fork Club
Richard Halliburton, 1929, Knife & Fork Club
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, 1942, Knife & Fork Club
The Rev. Aimee McPherson Semple, 1933, old auditorium
Carl Sandburg, 1932, Knife & Fork Club
Lewis Sinclair, 1939, Orpheum
Amy Vanderbilt, 1957, Knife & Fork Club
The Rev. Henry Beecher Ward, 1877, McCormick Hall
Oscar Wilde, 1882, Academy of Music
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