Madura's Danceland

“Louie, Louie,
Me gotta go.”
Kingsmen

At the Portage Library I came across the Summer 2011 issue of TRACES, which contained an article by Patrice Madura Ward-Steinman about Madura’s Danceland. Located at the once popular area of Hammond known as Five Points, Madura’s opened in October 1929 (right before the stock market crash) and stayed in business until 1967, when a fire destroyed the building. During that time big bands eventually gave way to rock ‘n’ roll shows. Among the photos used by TRACES is one of the Kinsmen posing next to a big crown. Governor Welsh asked the Indiana Broadcasters Association to ban their 1964 hit “Louie, Louie” from being played on the radio because of rumors that the lyrics were obscene. In fact, the FBI spent 31 months trying to find out what the garbled vocals were. Some claimed “gotta go” was really “grab her down low.” The song is about a lonely sailor pining for his girl, but dirty-minded critics mistook “On the ship I dream she there; I smell the rose in her hair” for “On that chair I lay her there; I felt my boner in her hair.”

Near Madura’s was Phil Schmidt’s Restaurant (known for its frogs legs), a gambling emporium known as the Big House, and Lever Brothers Plant. We ate at Phil Schmidt’s shortly after coming to Northwest Indiana. It closed in 2007 after 97 years in business, ironically a casualty in part of an overpass from Indianapolis Boulevard to Horseshoe Casino. Ward-Steinman also put out an Arcadia Press book about Madura’s; Steve McShane helped her with photos from our Archives collection.

“Tower Heist” was unrealistic and only moderately interesting, but I found Eddie Murphy quite funny as hustler Slide and Gabourey Sidibe (who starred in “Precious”) pretty sexy for one who must weigh well over 300 pounds. Ben Stiller is always fun when playing someone under duress, but Alan Alda was not a very convincing villain.

The new “Vanity Fair” with Johnny Depp on the cover has an interesting article by Nathaniel Philbrick about Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick.” He includes this quote by the narrator Ishmael, the only survivor from the whaling ship “Pequod” commanded by the one-legged Captain Ahab, bent on revenge against the white whale responsible for the missing appendage. “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own.” “Moby-Dick” only sold a few thousand copies when first published, but it is now recognized as perhaps the greatest work of American literature.

Checked out “Wonder Girl” by Don Van Natta, a biography of Babe Didrikson, the greatest American woman athlete ever. She was the track and field star of the 1932 Olympics and excelled in basketball, baseball, and golf – in fact, in every sport she took up. Coming from a poor family living in Port Arthur, Texas, she was seen as a threat to the demure image of female athletes and by the establishment that ran amateur sports and, like Jim Thorpe, barred from numerous competitions because she had to earn money in order for her family to survive during the Great Depression. Sportswriter Grantland Rice championed her, but more typical was this snipt from the New York World-Telegram’s Joe Williams that “It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up and waited for the phone to ring.” She won the woman’s Grand Slam of golf in 1950 and served as President of the LPGA for three years before succumbing to colon cancer in 1956 at the age of 45. Author Van Natta points out that Babe was the first woman to find success as a professional athlete. After Gertrude Ederle swam the English Channel, New Yorkers honored her with a ticker tape parade, but no lucrative offers followed and she died in obscurity.

I finally watched the excellent HBO documentary “Sing Your Song” about calypso singer Harry Belafonte. Inspired by Paul Robeson, he combined a successful singing career with a half-century of activism on behalf of civil rights and world hunger. For his trouble the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover had him under surveillance along with Martin Luther King and other activists. He was at the 1963 March on Washington when MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. He risked his life traveling to Mississippi during Freedom Summer, 1964, and he organized celebrities to participate in the Selma to Montgomery march the following year. During the 1980s, like Gary mayor Richard Hatcher, he went to jail protesting the apartheid policies of the South African government.

We had James and Rebecca overnight while Dave and Angie chaperoned the East Chicago Central High School turnabout dance. I cooked pancakes and kielbasa for breakfast before gaming at Dave’s. I was one for four, winning Acquire. My football picks and Fantasy team fared poorly, and I fell asleep before “Boardwalk Empire” came on. Fortunately I can catch it on DVR.

Reporter Andy Grimm, who writes for the Chicago Tribune, interviewed me about Gary’s financial crisis. For several years the fear has been that the city would become insolvent and even might have to go into some kind of receivership or un-incorporate, if such a thing is possible. Now with a new state property tax in effect, it appears that other Indiana cities could be in the same boat. Andy wanted some political perspective concerning high and low points in Gary’s history. I brought up the 1930s when only federal help bailed the city out – what is drastically needed today. Another low point was 1995, when Governor Evan Bayh sent in state troopers to deal with the supposedly out-of-control crime, gangs, and drugs. Also that year Black voters were so pessimistic about the future that they helped elect white criminal attorney Scott King mayor, a man with almost no past record of civic involvement. The attitude among many was, well, we tried the Black Pride thing with Richard Hatcher and the reach-out-to-the-surrounding-communities approach with Tom Barnes, so maybe a white mayor will get attention and bring investment to the city. All the city ended up getting were an expensive stadium, a beauty pageant for a couple years, and casino boats that drained away more money than gained from tax revenues. The credit, if that is the right word, for the boats should go to the Barnes administration – their presence was one reason gaining control of City Hall had looked attractive to King.

I met Clark Metz at Cressmoor Lanes and bowled three games, another poor performance but maybe I learned a few things that I can put to use in the league Wednesday. After chicken, noodles, and corn on the cob, I watched the Bears win a close one against the Philadelphia Eagles, the league’s most disappointing team so far.