Yesterday in La Crosse
Up and at ’em, Atom Smasher…51 years ago
In early 1966, Wisconsin was one of five states being considered as a site for an underground atom-smashing facility, designed to force atoms to collide and reveal what’s inside them. The 400-million dollar project covering several acres could have been built near Madison. Eventually, Illinois got a particle accelerator, which opened in 1983.
La Crosse’s Chamber of Commerce continued its tradition of inviting celebrity speakers to the annual Chamber banquet. Ronald Reagan, Ann Landers, and comedian Alan King had all attended the dinner in recent years. The 1966 headliner was cartoonist Al Capp, the creator of ‘Li’l Abner.’
The Captain’s Lounge bar, at the Holiday Lanes on the pike, brought in ‘the fabulous’ Stepin Fetchit for a week. Fetchit’s real name was Lincoln Perry. He was a popular African-American movie actor in the 30’s, known for playing a lazy character. By the 60’s, Perry was criticized for promoting black stereotypes during his career, but he still managed to get work in show business in 1966, 51 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.
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