Take a look back at the Auto Shows of the ’50s and ’60s
Entertainment steps up big in 1950s, ’60s
The 2017 Greater Milwaukee Auto Show, underway at the Wisconsin Center through Sunday, has been one of Milwaukee’s most popular tire-kicking destinations for more than a century.
What’s considered Milwaukee’s first auto show was held in 1909 at the Hippodrome, at what would be 620 W. Wells St. Models on display included Cadillac, Stevens-Duryea, Reo and Thomas Flyer, among others.
Like previous auto shows, this year’s edition has its share of attractions, too, including an 18-hole miniature golf course and a kids test track.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Milwaukee Auto Show had other diversions.
Local entertainers were regular bookings at the auto show, but in the 1950s the show upped its game.
Chart-topping pop singer Patti Page, whose “The Doggie in the Window” was one of 1953’s biggest hits, was the auto show’s headliner during the 1954 auto show — performing every night of the eightnight show, plus matinees.
Entertainers continued to be part of the auto show throughout the 1950s and early ’60s. The R&B quartet the Spaniards, Milwaukee favorite Steve Swedish, and “acrobatic comedienne” Tulara Lee were on the bill for the 1955 show; French circus star Jeannine Pivoteau and comedian A. Robins (”The Banana Man”) in 1957; and members of Lawrence Welk’s orchestra (including accordionist Myron Floren, but not Welk himself) performed in 1960.
In 1965, “big-name entertainment” returned to the auto show, The Journal reported Nov. 4, 1965, with performances by comedian and singer Allan Sherman; country comedy duo Homer and Jethro; and harmonica maven Johnny Puleo.
Also at that year’s show, WEMP DJ Bill Taylor pledged to broadcast for 100 straight hours; The Journal reported on Nov. 15 that he lasted just 35 hours, succumbing to “chills and extreme fatigue.”
In a Sept. 28, 1966, Milwaukee Journal story, Ray Pentler, head of the Greater Milwaukee Auto Trades Association, promised “top name entertainers” for the 1966 auto show. The acts turned out to be comedian Frank Fontaine (he of the character “Crazy Guggenheim” on the old “Jackie Gleason Show”), singer June Valli and the WGN “Barn Dance.”
The following year, the auto show’s entertainment included comedian Charlie Manna, the Serendipity Singers and jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley.
Another popular guest at the auto show in the 1960s was the reigning Miss America.
Vonda Kay Van Dyke wielded oversized ceremonial scissors for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the auto show on Nov. 14, 1964, which the year before had moved from the Auditorium and Arena downtown to State Fair Park in West Allis. Debra Dene Barnes, who had the title of Miss America 1968, compared hippies to runaway kids at the 1967 auto show. “When they (hippies) wake up to
what life is all about, they’ll return to reality,” she told the Milwaukee Sentinel in a Nov. 13, 1967, story.
Pop and car culture sometimes converged at the auto show. At the 1958 show, one car on display was a Buick “Wells Fargo” convertible, custom-built for Dale Robertson, star of the NBC TV Western “Tales of Wells Fargo.” Befitting the show’s (and actor’s) Western theme, the car’s hand-tooled leather interior was even fitted with pistol holsters.
Most of the cars were more accessible to potential buyers, though, and the show was an opportunity to introduce new models to Milwaukee’s new-car faithful. The 1954 show debuted both Studebaker’s Conestoga, an all-steel station wagon, and Chevrolet’s new Corvette; the 1956 edition showed off the Plymouth Fury; and the 1960 show had Chevy’s new Corvair and Dodge’s new Dart.
For a number of years, the auto show had daily drawings during which showgoers could win a new car. At the 1958 show, The Journal reported on Feb. 18, 1958, a south side woman drew a key that turned out to go to a new Ford Edsel.