Vaughn Monroe appeared at the U of M Convocation on January 8, 1953, at Northrop Auditorium.

 

Kenn Harlan and the Fools For Fun played at dances at the Dug Out, 206 So. Third Street, on January 16, 1953.

 

Blue Barron, Music of Yesterday and Today, appeared at the Prom Ballroom on January 16, 1953

 

Songstress Sunny Gale was the featured artist at the 1953 Sno Ball at the U of M, January 24.

 

Baritone William Warfield appeared at Northrop Auditorium as part of the University Artists Concert Series on February 4, 1953.  Warfield sang “Old Man River” in the movie “Showboat” and was touring as Porgy in “Porgy and Bess.”

 

Big issues discussed in the Minnesota Daily in 1953 were whether it was wise to lower the voting age to 18, and whether the loon or the woodpecker should be the state bird.

 

Les Brown appeared at the Prom Ballroom on February 21, 1953.

 

Spike Jones appeared at the Builder’s Show at the Minneapolis Auditorium on March 14, 1953.

 

Les Paul and Mary Ford appeared at the Home Show in St. Paul on April 4, 1953.

 

The Just For Fun Club sponsored an Easter Matinee Dance on April 5, 1953, at Kruger’s Haymow.  Oscar Frazier’s Band provided the music, and a prize was awarded to the best dressed person.

 

The Greeks at the U of M gave a dance at the Calhoun Beach Hotel on April 10, 1953, as a benefit for Minneapolis cerebral palsy victims.  Music was provided in three ballrooms.

 

The Minnesota Daily advertised white bucks – for girls!?  Only $6.95 at Campus Fashions.  For men it was “Look Smarter… Feel Smarter in ALL WHITE BUCKS – a real campus favorite.  $12.95.  Also with a new style with red foam-crepe sole.  And then there were “dirty bucks.”  Pre-dirtied, I guess.  Another fashion must was Bermuda shorts, a “Leisure Leader.”  The Daily notes that they have been a long time must on Eastern campus and have finally come to the Midwest this year, a compromise between pedal pushers and regulation shorts.  “Gone is the ‘sloppy-Joe’ look and here to stay is the trim, carefully groomed appearance for leisure hours.”  Ah, the fifties.

 

Jan Garber appeared at the Prom Ballroom on April 10, 1953

 

Eileen Barton appeared at the Prom Ballroom on April 17, 1953

 

Buddy Morrow played at the Stardust Dance on April 18, 1953, at the U of M.

 

Ray Anthony appeared at the Prom Ballroom on April 20, 1953

 

Henry Busse and His Famous “Hot Lips” Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom on May 18, 1953

 

Eddy Howard played at Schlief’s Little City on May 21, 1953 – a rare non-polka date?

 

Dick Jurgens appeared at the Prom Ballroom on June 5, 1953

 

Bobby Wayne with Tommy Reed and Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom on June 12, 1953

Ralph Marterie and His Down Beat Orchestra – “The Man Born for the Horn” – appeared at the Prom Ballroom on June 26 and 27, 1953

Ralph Flanagan appeared at the Prom Ballroom on July 10 and 11, 1953.

Sauter-Finegan Orchestra – 25 musicians and singers – appeared at the Prom Ballroom on July 21, 1953

Frankie Carle appeared at the Prom Ballroom on July 24, 1953 – piano and orchestra

 

Sonny (“Long Gone”) Thompson and his Orchestra featuring vocals of Lula Reed, August 7, 1953.  This is a Universal Attraction.  Place?

 

Les Brown appeared at the Prom Ballroom on August 21 and 22, 1953

 

The Bamboo Room was apparently dark for the summer of 1953.  Fall acts included Oscar Frazier and His Four Notes.

 

Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey appeared at the Prom Ballroom on October 2 and 3, 1953

 

Felicia Sanders, the Voice of Moulin Rouge at the Radisson Hotel, appeared at a dance at the Union Ballroom at the U of M on October 8, 1953.

 

At the Flame Cafe on October 9, 1953, was Johnny Savage’s jazz Quintet in the main room and the Dave Dudley Trio in the Cocktail Lounge.

 

Jimmy “Dancing Shoes” Palmer appeared at the Prom Ballroom on October 23, 1953

 

Pee Wee Hunt (Dixieland) appeared at the Prom Ballroom on October 30, 1953

 

Freddy Martin appeared at the Prom Ballroom on November 6, 1953

 

The 1953 Homecoming Dance at the U of M featured Freddy Martin and his Singing Sax in the main ballroom, Doc Evans in the main lounge, Bill Lawrence and Dick Finch in the Armory, and Dick Marrone in the Cafeteria.  All this on November 7.

 

Woody Herman and His Third Herd appeared at the Prom Ballroom on November 20-21, 1953

 

Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians appeared at the St. Paul Auditorium on November 25, 1953.

 

Ray Anthony and His Chesterfield Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom on November 27, 1953.