PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Manouche Maestro |
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Django & Duke's other 1946 USA Tour Venues
Date
Location Venue Type Verification
1
Harrisburg, PA D
2
3 Buffalo,
NY Memorial Auditorium C
4
Cleveland, OH Music Hall
5 Kitchener,
Ontario, Canada Auditorium Gardens
6
Toronto, Canada Mutual Arena
7 Toledo, OH
Auditorium
8
Cincinnati, OH
9
Indianapolis, IN Murat Th. T Billboard 23 Nov 46,p
43
10
Chicago, IL Civic Opera House C Variety 20 Nov
46,p 58
11
12
Rochester, MN Auditorium
13
Minneapolis, MN Variety 8 Oct 45,p 65
14 Des
Moines, IA Kant Auditorium Billboard 30 Nov 46,p 36
15 Lincoln,
NB
16 Omaha, NB
Auditorium
17 Kansas
City, MO Municipal Auditorium
18 Kansas
City, MO
19 Cedar
Rapids, IA
20 Cedar
Rapids, IA
21
22
23 New York,
NY Carnegie Hall C Down Beat 16 Dec 46,p 2
24 New York,
NY Carnegie Hall C Down Beat 16 Dec 46,p 2
25 New York,
NY WOR Studios Recording session for "Musicraft"
26
Baltimore, MD
27
Lynchburg, VA
28
Petersburg, VA
29
Philadelphia, PA Academy Of Music C
30
Syracuse, NY C
9th November 1946 - Murat Centre - Indianapolis
Right from the start, the
Indianapolis Shrine was special. While
they don't know why the name was chosen, their name was the first to not have
Arabic origin. The founders chose the name of the son of an innkeeper in France
who left theological studies at the outbreak of the French Revolution. His name
was
Joachim Murat (Mur-ah) and he became a
general serving Napoleon in Italy and Egypt. He was so good he was proclaimed
the King of Naples in 1808. In the Nubian Desert, there is also
an oasis called Bir Murat the general visited often to refresh his soldiers.
Actor
Rene Auberjonois, most noted for his shape
shifter roles in Star Trek, is General Murat's great-great-great grandson. Murat
was executed by a firing squad after a failed attempt to regain control of
Naples.
The building was finished in just under a year at a cost of $200,000. The theatre opened on February 28, 1910, with the Schubert Organization of New York leasing the property and, as became the tradition, the Murat nobles and ladies were treated to opening night. The main entrance and marquee was on New Jersey Street a few feet north of Michigan. The theatre seated 1,950. Broadway came to Indy with the Ziegfeld Follies and many wonderful shows. The performers all loved the style and, more importantly, the acoustics at Murat. The theatre was formally dedicated May 16, 1910, followed by a ceremonial with 190 candidates. Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington were a Murat Shriners Rochester, Minnesota 12th November 1946 - Mayo Civic Centre Auditorium in
In 1938, the civic leaders of the City of Rochester dedicated the new Mayo Civic Auditorium. This building, designed as a dual-venue complex, provided much needed entertainment for the citizens of a growing community. The brick & concrete structure housed two very different types of activities. The 1700 seat arena was designed to promote athletic events and included a rink for skating and ice hockey. The 1340 seat theatre was intended as a showcase for fine arts and was designed to accommodate midsized theatrical and musical productions. The complex had separate entrances for each venue but a connected back-of-house area. Balconies were constructed in both the theatre and arena. Steel trusses provide the structural clear span necessary for both spaces. The original building was designed by Ellerbe and Company of St. Paul, MN. With the addition of the Taylor Arena in 1984, the Mayo Civic Auditorium became the Mayo Civic Centre. This $18 million project included the addition of a skylit grand lobby that connected the sports arena and the theatre to this new 4,500 seat arena. Due to the creation of this new venue, the space formerly known as the arena was renamed the auditorium. In addition, new construction included the Riverview Suites, a set of five interconnected meeting rooms fronting Mayo Park and the Zumbro River. A number of rooms to the southeast of the original arena were demolished in order to create office, restroom and storage space.
AuditoriumMayo Civic
Centre's Auditorium,
with its permanent stage, plays host
to a variety of concerts, family shows, and sporting events each year. The
flexibility of the Auditorium allows for bookings beyond entertainment to
include conventions and tradeshows of many types. It's close proximity to our
Exhibit Hall and the North Lobby in the Civic Centre offers a natural expansion
for very large exhibit shows. This 11,800 space can seat up to 3,400 festival seating and 3,000 concert seating. 1 3th November 1946 Minneapolis, MN but which hall?
Minneapolis Auditorium was an indoor arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It hosted the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers from 1947 until they left for Los Angeles in 1960. The arena held 10,000 people and was built in 1927. It was demolished in 1989 to make way for the convention center. In
1946 Duke Ellington
came to Minneapolis/St. Paul and played the
Minneapolis Auditorium.
KSTP radio had its studios on the top of the Hotel St.
Paul. He was invited to do an interview there, and he and I and my
wife-to-be, a performing artist, drove him to the Hotel St. Paul. We walked into
the lobby, and we were going to sit and wait for him and then take him to his
hotel afterwards, but we were asked to take the freight elevator. Needless to
say, we never made that interview. We drove that night and talked for a long
time on the way back to the hotel in Minneapolis. He just brushed that off. 14th November 1946 - Des Moines, Iowa KRNT Shrine Auditorium?
KRNT RADIO THEATER
(circa) 1927-1982 In 1946 Cowles Broadcasting Company bought the building and
renamed it the KRNT Radio Theatre. The “Radio” later was dropped, but the
auditorium enjoyed Some of its best years following World War II as national and
international entertainers came to the city to appear on its large stage. Known earlier as “Death Moines” by vaudevillians who appeared to sparse audiences, the place later flourished in the days when KRNT Radio and the Des Moines Register and Tribune newspapers –all owned by the same company – were able to promote programs at the theatre such as, “The King and I” featuring Yul Brynner, and “Hello Dolly” with Carol Channing were featured, as were the big bands of Fred Waring, Tommy Dorsey and Xavier Gugat. 16th November 1946 - Dreamland Ballroom, Omaha, Nebraska
Back in the 1920’s through the 1960’s the “Deuce Four,” better known today as 24th street, was lined with night clubs and lounges for jazz, blues and big band music fans. The Dreamland Ballroom hosted many of these musical performances by such artists. The Ballroorn and auxiliary rooms encompass the First floor. The original Stage covers the northeast end of the floor, flanked by small side rooms, later converted to restrooms. In addition to the original stage the other noteworthy interior feature is the original pressed metal ceiling which survives intact and in good condition. Office rooms are located in the east end of the first floor on each side stairway. At the doorway to the Ballroom there is a ticket window with cloakroom and refreshment stand respectively on each side of the doorway with openings from the Ballroom. The Dreamland Ballroom was in operation until 1965
a Straight Horn - Dizzy Gillespie at Dreamland 1948 showing the unique Metal Pan Suspended Ceiling
19th November 1945 - Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Danceland Ballroom
Danceland Ballroom was billed as "Iowa's Smartest Ballroom" and it would be hard to argue that point. The ballroom was built in the heart of downtown Cedar Rapids in 1926 and soon became a popular social destination for all of Eastern Iowa. In the early years the ballroom welcomed many of the popular orchestras and big bands of the day – Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Lawrence Welk and Louis Armstrong were some of the bigger names that passed through. Danceland Ballroom was built like other ballrooms of the era, it was a place where classic orchestras played to dancers dressed in swanky attire. During the World War II era, single girls gathered at Danceland hoping to meet a handsome soldier. They danced to tunes of the Swing Era. By the time it closed in 1968, patrons had danced to the music of several great musicians. Among them were Nat King Cole and Jimmy Dorsey and our Django 29th November 1946 - Philadelphia, PA - Academy Of Music
The Academy of Music opened in 1857 to provide Philadelphia with a first class opera house. It remains one of the very oldest intact opera venues in the world. The plain brick facade gives little hint of the jewel box interior. Though built for opera, its most famous use was that as the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra which owns the structure.
In recent decades, the Academy has undergone several restoration programs and modernization of the stage area. The interior of the auditorium is a notable American example of Old World grandeur.
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November
1946
Murat Shrine and
Mosque
The first Minneapolis Auditorium, financed primarily by the Northwestern
National Life Insurance Company, opened in 1905 at the corner of 11th Street and Nicollet Avenue. It held offices for the insurance company and housed a new
civic music hall. The hall's tubular pneumatic action Kimball organ was said to
be the fourth largest in the world, and dubbed "the voice of Minneapolis." The
building became the Lyceum Theatre, home of the Minneapolis Symphony, after the
second Minneapolis Auditorium (Grant Street and Stevens Avenue) was built in
1927, at a cost of $3,150,000. In addition to hosting conventions, this new
auditorium was home to the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team, the first major
league team to play in Minneapolis, from 1947 to 1960.
