Icy weather made travel difficult for building's first event
On Jan. 29, 1937, the Superior Auditorium was used for the first time. The occasion was a 55th birthday party honoring President Franklin Roosevelt with the proceeds going to fight infantile paralysis.
Though it was an icy, miserable winter night, 544 people attended the party. The program featured a variety show in which one of the dancers was Superior’s own Patty Lou Mason of Our Gang Comedy fame.
In many regards, the event planned for this Friday is patterned after the 1937 party though hopefully the winter storm predicted for this area on Wednesday will be gone by Friday.
Just like 1937, when the building was still under construction, the revitalization of the auditorium continues today with repair work in process nearly daily.
Many current residents may not recognize Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals). Our Gang was a series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighbor children and their adventures. Our Gang is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals. Our Gang featured more than 41 child actors and regular members of the cast.
While the number of activities scheduled for the reopened auditorium continues to increase, the committee of community volunteers responsible for the building have scheduled what they are billing as a grand reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony for 4 p.m. Friday.
A special guest will join in cutting the ribbon with Nebraska’s own, worldwide, Elvis Tribute Artist and “America’s Got Talent” contestant, Joseph Hall, performing his “Rock N Remember” Elvis Tribute Show. Show time is 7 p.m.
An advertisement elsewhere in this issue gives ticket information.
An advance story published in The Superior Express before the 1937 grand opening described it as a social event for the entire section. The ball was an elaborate affair with the Hal Burke Orchestra of Ames, Iowa, playing. The auditorium was described as one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind in Nebraska and one that everyone would want to inspect. There were committees throughout Nuckolls County working to make it a success. Claude Shaw was chairman of the birthday ball. Orval Meyers and Pete Peterson were in charge of the Nelson committee, George McDowell and Charles Gillilan at Hardy, John Scroggin, Harry Moore and M. A. Kincannon at Oak, Ellis Friend, Harold Schroer, Harvey Troutman and Henry Jurgensmeier at Lawrence.
It was one of 5,000 parties held that night in recognition of the President’s birthday.
The Express reported the following week, those attending the open found driving home was nearly impossible because of icy windshields.
The party was a big success with a good dance, bridge playing and a nice program. Miss Patty Lou Madsen of Hastings was here in person and entertained with several tap dancing and ballet numbers. Donald Macy of Superior favored the crowd with two vocal solos. Miss Micky Walker was an entertainer with the orchestra.
We found early reports of the evening did not agree on the name of the Our Gang Commedy star. Some places her name was given as Patty Lou Madsen and other places it was Patty Lou Mason. Her performance included several dance numbers.
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