Yesterday in La Crosse
The start of the symphony, 79 years ago
The La Crosse Symphony Orchestra was started officially in 1938. The orchestra had a membership of 57, and was a continuation of the old Cathedral orchestra.
Some less high-brow music was featured at the Avalon Ballroom, with a show by Freddie Fisher’s “Schnickelfritz Band,” billed as “America’s most unsophisticated band.” A publicity photo showed some musicians with the band performing on the jug and the washboard.
In 1938, a newspaper headline said “J.R. leaves the hospital.” J.R. was James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin Roosevelt, who was called “F.R.” in some papers. James had gone to Mayo in Rochester for surgery on a gastric ulcer. He was accompanied at Mayo by nurse Romelle Schneider, a former student at La Crosse Teachers College.
The Bodega was a Lunch Club, not a pub, in 1938. For Sunday lunch, they offered a roast duck dinner with mashed potatoes, dressing, and applesauce for 39 cents. Seventy-nine years ago, Yesterday in La Crosse.