Jack Benny’s singing group the Sportsmen appeared at the Builders’ Show at the Minneapolis Auditorium, February 16-24, 1952.

 

Jimmy Dorsey appeared at the Prom Ballroom, February 16, 1952

 

Frankie Carle appeared at the Prom Ballroom, March 21, 1952

 

Spike Jones and His City Slickers – New Musical Depreciation Revue of 1952 appeared at the Prom Ballroom – April 5, 1952

 

Stan Kenton appeared at the Prom Ballroom, April 25, 1952

 

The U of M held its Black Book Dance on April 25, 1952, in the  Union’s Main Ballroom with music by Dick Kast and his Orchestra.  In an ad in the Minnesota Daily, Men and/or Boys were invited to meet “Stenos, Models, Nurses, Receptionists and Coeds; – over 2500 girls attended last year’s dance,” it promised.  “Friday is Your Night to Make Out!”  Apparently this was an escapade of the Engineering school, which in the ’50s was bereft of women.  At the dance Queen Colleen of the Engineers would be crowned, and the boys were exhorted to fix up dates for the engineers’ crawl on May 10.  At some point in this silliness the engineers would present the opera “Il Cuspidore.”

 

A show called the Piano Parade took place at the Lyceum Theater on April 26, 1952, and featured the Art Tatum Trio, the Erroll Garner Trio, Meade Lux Lewis, and Pete Johnson.

 

Vaughan Monroe, star of the Camel Caravan, with Orchestra, Vocalists, Entertainers – The Most Talked About Band in America  – appeared at the Prom Ballroom, May 9, 1952

 

Blue Barron Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom, May 16, 1952

 

Ray Anthony, the Young Man with the Horn appeared at the Prom Ballroom, May 23, 1952

 

U of M President J.L. Morill banned Paul Robeson from performing at the University, calling him an “embittered, Anti-American, Anti-democratic propagandist.”  Robeson was not deterred, performing at the Union Men’s Ballroom (could this be the CIO Hall?) on June 3, 1952, in a show sponsored by the Young Progressives of America, reported the Minnesota Daily.

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George Shearing appeared at the Flame on June 6-12, 1952.

 

Ralph Flanagan Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom, June 6, 1952

 

Les Brown appeared at the Prom Ballroom, June 27, 1952

Don Cornell appeared at the Prom Ballroom, July 19, 1952

Woody Herman appeared at the Prom Ballroom, July 25, 1952

Ralph Marterie appeared at the Prom Ballroom, August 2, 1952

Clyde McCoy and his Sugar Blues Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom, August 8 and 9, 1952

Fresh Approach of Billy May appeared at the Prom Ballroom, August 15, 1952

Neal Hefti, Frances Wayne, and the Cavaliers appeared at the Prom Ballroom, August 29-30, 1952

Ella Mae Morse appeared at the Prom Ballroom on October 4, 1952.

 

Tony Pastor, King of the Saxophone appeared at the Prom Ballroom, October 10, 1952

 

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Richard Nixon made an appearance at the Minneapolis Armory on October 23, with a production that included a 40-piece brass band, Ukranian dancers, and folk singers.

 

Billy Eckstine, the George Shearing Quintet, and Count Basie and His Big Band appeared at the Minneapolis Auditorium on October 25, 1952.

 

Pee Wee King, America’s Number 1 Western Dance Band, appeared at the Prom Ballroom on October 25/26, 1952.

 

Harry James appeared at the Prom Ballroom, October 31 and November 1, 1952

 

The U of M’s Homecoming Dance featured the Four Aces on November 1, 1952.  There were also three orchestras.

 

Clyde McCoy and his Sugar Blues Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom, November 14, 1952

 

Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five came to the St. Paul Auditorium on November 24.  It was his first Twin Cities appearance since – and then the ad is aggravatingly illegible!

 

Billy May’s Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom, November 28 and 29, 1952

 

Clyde McCoy and his Sugar Blues Orchestra appeared at the Prom Ballroom, December 27, 1952

 

New Year’s Eve at the Radisson Ballroom included entertainment by popular recording artists Ozzie Osburn and Zachary Dante.

 

The papers and shows were full of “Bop” jokes, featuring “Hipsters.”