On April 15, 1955, the State of Iowa House Appropriations Committee was recommending a $49 million dollar spending bill. The Supreme Court was discussing when to fully implement School Integration, and the big "show biz" news was another purge of employees by CBS Radio/TV star Arthur Godfrey.
The Friday, April 15th TH included advertising for favorite destinations like "Kruses" on Central Avenue - a great place for ice cream, Brookside Dairy, Poiries TV & Appliance at 12th & Iowa, and popular little dining spots like The Alpine on Jackson Street and Club 61-20, now a used car lot near the entrance to Wal-Mart.
Did you take accordion lessons at Zahina's? Remember shopping at Olson's at 4th & Main? Did you buy shoes at DeMaio's? Many of us still shop at Graham's Style Store for Men.
Fans of Disney's Davy Crockett packed the Strand Theater to see the latest full-length feature film. The little Varsity Theater near the Loras campus gave students a chance to study Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" without reading the play. And the pleasant Spring weather meant the Dubuque Drive-In Theater on the John Deere road was back in business.
Dubuqueland ballrooms were busy with Zahina's Barnstormers, Andy Doll's western swing band, and Tom Owen's Cowboys. Swing band fans were anticipating the appearance of Ralph Marterie. This Chicago based band gained national attention in 1953 with their cover version of the rock 'n roll hit "Crazy Man, Crazy." Loras College production of the Broadway musical "Finian's Rainbow." That production featured the Eugene Loring Dancers, a troupe from Hollywood, that Father Karl Schroeder brought to campus annually to enhance the annual Spring musical.
In those pre-cable days, only 3 TV channels served the Dubuque market. Antennas with "rotors" could watch WMT- Cedar Rapids, WOC-Davenport, and WHBF-Rock Island.
And the newspaper still provided a radio guide.
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