Something to do in Fond du Lac: Public Leisure Activities in the 1920s
by Todd Louis Whittaker

In the 1920s, post-World War I America saw a major shift of thought, ideals, and patterns of life. Fond du Lac, like most of the rest of the country, participated fully in these changes. Many alterations in the fabric of life were stimulated by the spread of new technology. The automobile and its associated infrastructure was the most obvious of these transformations, but changes in the technology of entertainment, especially the film industry, were also significant, as better methods of projection and sound were introduced to theaters. Modernization and technology played an integral part in the shaping of leisure activities in Fond du Lac, as is evident from the large numbers of people who were able to attend public events in a relatively small town of 23,427, and from the frequent renovation and new construction of cinemas. ¹

The post-war decade brought many Americans higher wages and a shorter workweek. This meant that people had more money to spend on various leisure activities and more time to enjoy them. Between the World War I and the Great Depression, the average number of Wisconsin wage earners who worked 54 hours a week or more declined from nearly 140,000 at the beginning of the period to fewer than 85,000 at the end, and the number who worked at least 60 hours dropped from more then 75,000 to fewer then 25,000. ²

More hours free from labor and more disposable income were accompanied by significant social changes and shifting cultural attitudes. Both men and women were affected by the changes in American life, but women experienced the greater transformations, as increasing numbers felt free to venture beyond the home and enjoy previously forbidden or inaccessible pleasures. Younger women drank, although it was illegal during Prohibition. Some smoked cigarettes, dressed in revealing clothing, engaged in pre-marital sex, and generally affected an air of sophistication. ³ Many more women were visibly using cosmetics. Women’s clothing changed. Skirts became much shorter than they had been before. A popular trend was for women to wear their hair shorter. ⁴ Women also wore high-heeled shoes, much to the dismay of the medical profession, which held that wearing these shoes would lead to uteral displacement and represented a threat to the birth rate. ⁵ Young women also rolled their stockings below their knees, revealing their shinbones and kneecaps. ⁶

How much of this change in behavior affected women in Fond du Lac is difficult to judge from newspapers accounts. Certainly fashions changed. Fond du Lac women may also have led the nation in attending boxing, hitherto a male-only spectator sport, and some Fond du Lac women began to smoke in public.

The 1920s represented a period of relative wealth and excitement for the city of Fond du Lac. A remarkable number of leisure activities and entertainments were available in this small Midwest town. Theaters dotted Main Street, and circuses frequently passed through the city, performing to sold-out crowds of people under “the big top.” Balls and dances were common events, and concerts in the park provided free entertainment, featuring the City Band, under the direction of Joseph Prindl. ⁷

The city of Fond du Lac developed a remarkable variety of sporting entertainments. Perhaps the city’s biggest sporting dream in the 1920s was the hope that negotiations with the New York Yankees could bring this famous professional team to Fond du Lac to play an exhibition game against a local baseball team. The deal fell through, however, and Babe Ruth and the Yankees never did play in Fond du Lac. Despite this disappointment, the game of baseball remained a big hit in the city. Another sport that was popular in Fond du Lac was boxing. Thousands gathered at Armory “E” to see “the best boxing action that could be seen for miles around.”

There were also traditional unorganized entertainments. Children in Fond du Lac enjoyed visiting the local swimming hole near the lake and spending the afternoon in the sunlight on the water. More decorous entertainment for adults included taking a steamboat excursion across Lake Winnebago.

During the 1920s something always seemed to be happening in Fond du Lac, whether it was a traveling show passing through the area, a local band taking the stage in the City Park, or a sporting event. These leisure activities brought the community closer together and helped create a greater sense of community pride for the citizens of Fond du Lac. In these days before modern innovations such as radio, television, or air conditioning, people often went to public venues for entertainment, and leisure typically meant coming together with others from the community. People went out on the town, so to speak, to be entertained, for there were few home entertainments, and few people in Fond du Lac had the resources or ability to travel great distances to a major urban center such as Milwaukee or Chicago.

One very popular traditional amusement of the latter 19th century and the early 20th century was the circus. Circuses were very well received in Fond du Lac, and Fond du Lac was known as a first class circus town during the 1920s. The traveling circuses that passed through town were often quite large, although none of the biggest shows, such as Ringling Brothers or Clyde Beatty, came to town. One circus included 1,080 people, 500 horses and 1,200 wild and domesticated animals. ⁸ People were always on hand to watch as the circus wagons were unloaded and the big top was set up. Children, as well as adults, lined the streets to witness the spectacle. The circus brought fascinating people and acts to Fond du Lac. The Walter L. Main Circus provides a good example. The world-famous Wirth Family Riders, an equestrian act, were one of its chief attractions. ⁹ According to the Daily Commonwealth of June 22, 1923, the Wirth family was the greatest circus act ever to play in Fond du Lac. The price of admission to the circus varied with each circus that pulled into the city, but typically the shows were inexpensive, ranging from 15 cents to 25 cents per performance.

When the circus was in town, unusual promotions sometimes were staged to stimulate greater interest. During the Moose Circus’ 1924 visit, the publicity gimmick was probably the only time that an elephant was given a birthday party in Fond du Lac. Babe, who was one of the elephants in the Moose Circus, celebrated her 12th birthday party on the steps of Fond du Lac’s Courthouse. The city of Fond du Lac went all out for this celebration, and the party even included a monster birthday cake that had been made at the Gerhard bakery. In hope of increasing ticket sales, most circuses gave away door prizes, and Irwin Simon of Fond du Lac won the prize at that opening night of the Moose circus, an electric washing machine. A console phonograph and an automobile were also given away as attendance prizes by this circus. ¹⁰

Traditional circus parades around the city also aimed to stimulate interest. A good example was the Sells-Floto Circus, which put on a grand parade in 1925. Thousands of spectators lined the streets to witness the parade through town and view the fine showing of equipment, numerous open cages containing tigers, lions, and other wild animals, and troupes of pretty horsewomen. ¹¹ The circus was an all-day event, starting as early as 6:30 a.m., when the circus train arrived in the town. People were already there to view the unloading of the circus wagons, and this was followed by the opportunity to watch circus workers set up the big top at the lot where the circus was to take place. Midmorning, the parade of circus entertainers moved through the city. Thousands witnessed these parades, whose entertainers were adorned with bright and colorful costumes. Bands were included in the parades, and often featured a calliope, which could be heard throughout the city while the circus was in town. Following the parade, people filled the circus grounds to view the matinee performance of the circus.

Clowns were a popular attraction at the circus, and the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus was no exception when it graced the Fond du Lac fairgrounds for two performances in 1927. Over 75 clowns performed in this circus, and the clowns made even adults laugh out loud at their silly antics. The circus ended with a grand pageant in which riders and animals were costumed to depict the countries they represented. ¹²

The city of Fond du Lac embraced these circuses wholeheartedly, as was evident by the sell-out crowds, year after year. One reporter for the Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth wrote: “Yes, circuses are much the same, but there is always something new, something a little more daring than we have seen before. And so we go, and don’t regret. We have caught the spirit of youth, adventure and daring for a couple of hours.” ¹³ Circuses were a mainstay in the public entertainment presented during the 1920s in Fond du Lac, for every summer several circuses came to town to entertain the community.

Musical performances played an important role in occupying leisure time for the people of Fond du Lac. Concerts, including artists with national reputations as well as local talent, were common during the 1920s. These concerts were always well attended, whether they were given in a concert hall setting, at one of the local theaters in town, or in the City Park, now known as Lakeside Park, where a band shell was often in use during the summer months. Orchestras from throughout the Midwest came to perform in Fond du Lac. One such orchestra, the Blackstone Hotel Orchestra from Chicago, played for a dance at the Elk’s Club. ¹⁴ Such dances took place almost monthly, and they featured dancing by hundreds of people gathered at the Elk’s Club to the music of a live orchestra that played the hits of the day.

Another musical form that gained great popularity in Fond du Lac during the 1920s was opera. Fond du Lac citizens formed the Fond du Lac Opera Chorus in 1920 in order to awaken an interest in music in Fond du Lac. ¹⁵ Operatic events staged in Fond du Lac drew huge audiences, including 2,000 people for one show, who came from all over the state of Wisconsin.

These performances gave Fond du Lac a name in serious entertainment throughout the state. The organizers of the Opera Association claimed that money was no object in producing a show of top quality for the citizens of Fond du Lac. They handpicked the talent that was to perform on the stage of the Henry Boyle Theatre. On the opening night, opera stars of the day such as Lillian Eubanks, Arabel Merrifield, Ernest Davis, and Louis Kreidler performed for the Opera Association. These entertainers came from opera companies in Chicago, Minneapolis, and New York, and the orchestra was also composed of professional musicians from various organizations as far away as New York. Because the performers came only for the opening performance, they did not rehearse prior to the show, due to other engagements. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, they performed to a standing ovation.

Local performers were also much in evidence. The Fond du Lac Drum and Bugle Corps was sponsored by a local American Legion Post, and this group competed in several different events during summer months in various cities around the country, representing the city of Fond du Lac. During the summer of 1925, the city of Fond du Lac congratulated its drum and bugle corps for a fourth place finish in a competition held at the national convention of the American Legion, held in Omaha. The corps had been judged on the basis of its uniforms, marching appearance, rhythm, cadence and maneuvers. ¹⁷

In addition to local bands that performed for Fond du Lac citizens, the city was graced by the President’s own band in 1925, when the United States Marine Band performed two concerts at the Senior High School Auditorium. All the city schools, both public and private, were closed early to allow the children to attend the concerts. ¹⁸ Events like these were exciting for the city of Fond du Lac, and many citizens took advantage of the opportunity to see what the local newspaper considered the finest band in the country. It was reported that 2,000 listeners attended the programs. ¹⁹

Public music performance was indeed alive and well in Fond du Lac during the 1920s. One of the main reasons for this was due to the efforts of Fond du Lac’s own Military Band. Each summer, the Military Band performed in several concerts at City Park. The band was a symbol of both civic pride and a love for music in the city. Park concerts began their season on Memorial Day and continued throughout the summer. ²⁰ Hundreds of people attended these concerts during the summer months, often combining a musical evening with a picnic dinner in the park and conversation with family and friends. These were evenings in which families could be together and enjoy some great music by local musicians.

Many famous musicians gave stellar performances in Fond du Lac, but perhaps one of the most notable entertainers to grace a stage in Fond du Lac was the world-famous contralto and mezzo-soprano, Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, who gave her final Wisconsin concert in Fond du Lac. The mayor of Fond du Lac was so excited to have her in town that he bestowed honorary citizenship upon her. This was the first time that anyone had received this title. ²¹

Theaters provided notable leisure activities in Fond du Lac. In some ways the 1920s represented a high point for theaters in the city. The relatively new medium of film was coming into its own, bringing about technological transformation of the buildings, and Fond du Lac experienced a theater boom, with both new construction and renovation of existing buildings. During the 1920s several renovations occurred in the theaters located in Fond du Lac. Large sums were invested, in one case as much as $600,000. Owners of the theaters competed to ensure that the opening nights of new or renovated theaters outdid their competitors for glamour. The red carpet was rolled out, and in some cases, famous celebrities graced stages in Fond du Lac for special openings.

The theater business appears to have operated on very narrow margins, for ownership changed frequently. The Henry Boyle Theater, which opened in 1910, was taken over by a new owner in January 1920. The new owner promised top quality shows and entertainment for the patrons of the Henry Boyle Theater.²² Nevertheless four months later the headlines of the local Fond du Lac paper read, “Henry Boyle Theater Sold.” ²³ A main reason for the high turnover rate was that theater was an expensive business in Fond du Lac. Smaller theaters tended to be less economically viable, and the trend was toward consolidation, larger size, and corporate ownership.

The Henry Boyle Theater saw another change later that year, as its name was changed to the New Garrick Theater. The theater was closed for a facelift in which 250 extra seats were put in the balcony section of the theater and a new moving picture mechanism was installed to attempt to make the theater more cost-effective. The New Garrick Theater combined films with a forty-week live stage vaudeville season. Each vaudeville program consisted of five acts. In the 1920s, vaudeville remained a major part of theater entertainment, both in Fond du Lac and in the nation. Almost every theater in Fond du Lac presented vaudeville shows. The New Garrick Theater was part of an entertainment circuit that included theaters in Madison, Racine, Kenosha, Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Eau Claire, and Minneapolis. ²⁴ The entertainers traveled from town to town, performing in each of the theaters on the circuit.

An exception to the prevalence of vaudeville entertainment was the Orpheum Theater, which primarily showed films. The Orpheum also received a remodel in 1920, during which it was closed for four weeks for changes that cost $30,000. The Orpheum was a large movie house that seated over 700 people. Three showings a day, a matinee and two evening screenings, were a typical schedule for the theater. ²⁵

Some people claimed that this was the golden age of films, and there were several significant improvements in production during the 1920s. Gestures captured on film became less jerky, the settings became less improbable, the connections between sequences were smoother, and one no longer had to wait for a minute or two every time one reel was removed from the projector and another threaded. ²⁶ Improvements in the technical and production quality of films helped them gain popularity among patrons in Fond du Lac.

Competition among Fond du Lac theaters was intense as the owners jockeyed for popularity among patrons. Smaller theaters closed and theater chains were growing. In 1923 the Fond du Lac Theater Company combined the New Garrick, Bijou, and Orpheum theaters all under the same ownership. ²⁷ Newer and bigger theaters were also being built in the city. Two new theaters were erected on Main Street in 1925.

The first of these, owned by Fischer Paramount Theaters, was a combined movie and legitimate playhouse, meaning both films and live theater were presented. The new theater building also housed seven stores and 20 apartments. Its auditorium of roughly 26,400 square feet had enough seats for 2,000 audience members. This theater was regarded as the most impressive building in Fond du Lac at the time. It occupied a lot fronting 140 feet on Main Street and extended east from Main Street 240 feet. ²⁸ Mr. Fischer claimed that Fond du Lac was “the most progressive city in the state of Wisconsin and that it would support a theater that was capable of giving people high quality amusement.” ²⁹ When Fischer’s theater opened in 1925, Miss Gladys Ralston, Miss Paramount, was the emcee for the event. The total cost of building the Fischer Theater was nearly three quarters of a million dollars. ³⁰ The opening of the theater was a gala event that many anticipated eagerly. According to the Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, most people had never seen an event quite like this one.

The building itself was impressive. The sign on the outside of the theater alone cost $7,000. It weighed roughly two tons, was 50 feet high, contained 794 25-watt lamps in the letters, and had 672 15-watt lamps in the flashing border. ³¹ If the sign meant anything, this theater was huge, especially for a town the size of Fond du Lac. There was a spacious lobby area with a beautiful ceiling decorated with tan and gold colors. A massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling provided light for the guests. All three upper levels of the theater overlooked the gorgeous lobby area. Once inside the theater, patrons who looked up at the ceiling saw a beautiful decorative plaster relief, a huge dome, glittering chandelier, massive beams and artistic mural paintings. ³² The management claimed that no show was too large, no attraction too small, to be efficiently handled. The Fischer Theater, they asserted, rivaled any theater in the country.

In close competition with the Fischer Paramount Theater was the Retlaw Theater, which was owned by the Saxe Brothers, who controlled more than thirty theaters in Wisconsin. ³³ Opening only a month after the Fischer Theater, it was just as impressive. On the second level of the theater was a lounge where patrons could rest and relax, while on the third floor there was an impressive ballroom, one that experienced much use during the1920s. On the opening night of operation, after the performances in the theater, patrons went to the Retlaw Roof and danced to music provided by Dexter’s Wisconsin Roof orchestra. ³⁴ Both theaters were located on Main Street, within two blocks of one another. The two represented an impressive entertainment array for this city.

In response to the opening of these two picture palaces, the New Garrick Theater was again remodeled, because it was losing patrons to the two brand-new theaters. In their advertising, W.L. Ainsworth and F.R. Smith, who owned the theater, also played on the fact that their remodeling, unlike the construction of the two new theaters, was completed using exclusively local workers. ³⁵ Though the owners had great hopes for their renovated theater playhouse, no theater in town could compete with the two impressive new theaters in Fond du Lac, both of which had major corporations behind them. Gradually the smaller theaters in Fond du Lac closed, unable to compete with the larger theaters in the city due to their backing from big corporations that produced higher quality entertainment at a lower cost than could be obtained by the locally owned, smaller theaters.

Another activity that was extremely popular in Fond du Lac was dancing. The “dance craze” that swept America and Europe after World War I was much in evidence. Several new dances were introduced to the people of Fond du Lac from an array that included the “twinkle”, the “jog trot”, the “vampire”, the “camel walk”, and the “Charleston”. ³⁶ People tried out the new steps at local halls where formal dances were held. One of the more popular Fond du Lac spots for dances was the building known as Armory “E”, a National Guard training center where every New Year’s Eve couples dressed up in their best attire to bring in the New Year. At the dance that was held in honor of the New Year of 1920, 300 couples danced to an orchestra that played “all of the hits the guests wanted to hear.” ³⁷ Another popular place for dancing was the Elk’s Club, and they also welcomed in the 1920 New Year with what they called the “Sylvester Ball”. The Elk’s Club served dinner to 250 people, many of whom came from Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Chicago, and they danced all night long, or at least until the orchestra stopped playing at three in the morning on New Years Day. ³⁸

Armory “E” hosted many events in Fond du Lac during the 1920s. Anything from sporting events to dances might happen on a given week, but the biggest events staged there were the dances held several times during each year. One of the more impressive dances held at the Armory was the 1920 “Leap Year Ball,” sponsored by the Charity Club. ³⁹ As was typical, dinner was served to those in attendance early in the evening. During dinner, the orchestra played background music. Afterward, the band fired up all of the great hits, and people danced. The halls were decorated, and those in attendance were in fancy dress. Gentlemen wore tuxedos, and ladies wore very nice gowns, which everyone showed off in the Grand March that typically took place during the middle point of the evening. The Grand March featured couples walking around the dance floor while the orchestra played a tune. As each couple promenaded around the floor, everyone could see who was in attendance and admire what the women were wearing.

In the 1920s, people in Fond du Lac always seemed to be looking for a reason to host a party. At one Halloween party sponsored by the city, 10,000 people showed up for the event, and 3,500 apples were consumed during a “bobbing for apples” contest. ⁴⁰ Such large publicly sponsored social events formed a major part of organized leisure activity in Fond du Lac.

Spectator sports also played a large role entertaining the community during the 1920s. Such sporting events had first gained popularity in the decade before World War I, but during the 1920s, they came into their own. Boxing was one of the principal spectator sports in Fond du Lac during the 1920s. The Fond du Lac Boxing Club was formed in 1920, and Jack Brunkhorst was named the promoter for the organization. ⁴¹ The first event put on by the Boxing Club was staged at Armory “E” in front of 2,000 vociferous people. The fans were treated to three bouts that night, and in the main event they witnessed Mike Ertle defeat Pekin “Kid” Herman in 10 rounds. ⁴² This event saw the biggest crowd ever to grace the Armory “E” building. It was a night of firsts, for according to the Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, it was the first time in the history of boxing that women had been permitted to be spectators at ringside. Reporters recalled that the women seemed truly to have enjoyed themselves at the event. ⁴³

Participation and spectatorship in sports both played a big part in the community, bringing people closer together to play the game or to support the home team on the baseball field or on the basketball court. F.J. Rueping of Rueping Leather Company helped fund a sports facility, known as the Rueping Athletic Field, which was home for Fond du Lac’s baseball team during the 1920s. ⁴⁴ Fond du Lac played in the Fox Valley Baseball League, which played semi-professional baseball. The league featured other teams from Appleton, Menasha, Kaukauna, Oshkosh, and Sheboygan. Crowds of over 3,000 witnessed the games played at Rueping Field. ⁴⁵

Another popular sport in Fond du Lac was basketball. The games were played at the Armory “E” building, and the community supported these games well. A national tournament was hosted in Fond du Lac in 1921. A first prize of $600 was awarded to the winning team. Teams from all over the nation came to compete, and they played before packed Armory “E” crowds during the course of the tournament. Basketball was not only popular with adults in the community. It also had a tremendous following at the high school level. Coach E.D. Fruth, for whom the Fond du Lac High School football field is named, coached the local high school team to the 1922 state championship. The entire city of Fond du Lac celebrated as Coach Fruth put Fond du Lac athletics on the map. ⁴⁶

During the 1920s, Fond du Lac sporting teams played some tremendous games on the floor of Armory “E,” but none was as big as a basketball game between the local team, the Legionnaires, sponsored by the local American Legion Post, and a professional team from New York known as the Globetrotters. The Globetrotters were expected to beat the Fond du Lac team handily and go back to Oswego, New York the victors. The Legionnaires, however, did not listen to what the media were writing, for the Fond du Lac squad defeated the Globetrotters in both of the games they played in 1923. The Fond du Lac team downed the Globetrotters 18-15 on Saturday night and then more convincingly on Sunday afternoon, 30-15. ⁴⁷ Both games were played before sold-out crowds who cheered their home team to victory. While sports often seemed to be of primary importance in Fond du Lac, contests sometimes had to take a back seat. On at least one occasion, a night of basketball games was cancelled because the National Guard needed the Armory for drilling. ⁴⁸

Most sports in Fond du Lac were very competitive. One that was gaining in popularity as a gentlemen’s game, one that is still popular today, was volleyball. This was a winter sport commonly played by businessmen who enjoyed this indoor game during cold weather. Volleyball games were played during lunch hours at the local Y.M.C.A., and leagues formed in both Fond du Lac and Appleton. Appleton had several strong teams, and members of clubs from Fond du Lac often traveled to Appleton to participate in games against the Appleton squads. ⁴⁹

Racing was also very popular in Fond du Lac during the 1920s. Horse races, of course, were a traditional entertainment. A new wrinkle was automobile racing. Fond du Lac seems, however, never to have developed an interest in bicycle races, which were popular elsewhere in the 1920s, beginning with the Tour de France that had first been run in 1903.

The Fond du Lac racetrack was located at the fairgrounds, and both automobiles and horses raced there before capacity crowds. That the City of Fond du Lac loved the sport of horse racing was evident from the number of races that took place during the summer months. Most of these races occurred during the County Fair, and riders came from all over the state to participate. ⁵⁰

Not all entertainments in Fond du Lac were civic-sponsored or public. Not all were legal. Speakeasies and bootleggers thrived in Fond du Lac during prohibition, and the city had always had its share of houses of ill-repute. These activities are only recorded in police files and court records of the period. There was a darker side to public entertainment, too, for Fond du Lac hosted at least one large Ku Klux Klan rally during the 1920s. ⁵¹ One may also speculate about how many hip flasks found their way into Fond du Lac’s many dinner-dances.

There were also traditional informal entertainments. A popular activity that children enjoyed during the summer months was swimming. Children had many opportunities to go swimming in a variety of places. The top three were the old swimming hole, Lakeside Park on Lake Winnebago, which featured a large water slide, and the pool at the Y.M.C.A. The swimming hole was located on the bank of the Fond du Lac river, just outside the southern city limits. The children who went there were normally seen walking around barefoot and soaking in the sun while enjoying the afternoon. Out of the three possibilities for swimming, the children’s favorite place was the swimming hole, perhaps because it was the cheapest and least regulated. ⁵²

While the children had the swimming pool and swimming holes to enjoy during the summer months, many adults preferred steamboat rides on Lake Winnebago, at least during the early years of the 1920s. Several boats were used for excursions on the lake, including Lily, and Laura May, both of which took people out on the lake or on excursions to Winnebago Park and Calumet harbor. Those days were short-lived, however, for 1922 was the last year in which passenger steamboats were operated on the lake. The last two boats used on the lake were the Paul L and the Valley Queen. The Valley Queen made Sunday and nightly trips from the Fond du Lac end of the lake to other points from Winnebago Park to Calumet Harbor. The steamer often carried 400 to 600 people for a day of pleasure, and crowds gathered at the river dock to see the boat come in after an evening run. ⁵³ One hazard of these excursions was fire. The last boat in operation in Fond du Lac, the Valley Queen, caught fire in her berth and burned to the waterline, bringing to an end the era of steamboat excursions from Fond du Lac. ⁵⁴

Band trips highlighted the boating excursions. The Fond du Lac Military Band participated in excursions to Winnebago Park, where the band played in the park pavilion and the passengers danced the night away. Often, fireworks greeted the patrons upon their arrival to Winnebago Park. Perhaps it was the automobile that brought an end to the passenger boats. With the advent of the car, people could get to other cities more easily on a rapidly improving road system. This meant that many people started to prefer a ride in the countryside in a private auto instead of a steamboat ride.

Fond du Lac offered its citizens an impressive array of leisure activities and spectator sports in the 1920s. More people had disposable income to enjoy such pursuits and improvements in transportation, especially the automobile, which permitted people from surrounding communities to come to Fond du Lac, swelling the large crowds who attended many events. During the 1920s public entertainments were a major fixture in this small community. Organized spectator and participant events helped create greater sense of community, and they provided socially acceptable outlets for newly gained spare time. Many such public entertainments had come into existence in the nineteenth century; others, such as the dance craze and spectator sports, were phenomena of the 1920s. Commercial television did not exist during the 1920s, and the radio was in its infancy. Fond du Lac’s first station, KFIZ, was licensed in 1923, and the station was only beginning to experience commercial development. ⁵⁵ Therefore, mass entertainment was a more public phenomenon in that era, one in which groups of people came together to be entertained and emphasized by limitations in transportation that left smaller communities like Fond du Lac to thrive as autonomous regional cultural centers. By the end of the decade, further dramatic changes had taken place, as older forms of entertainments disappeared, the depression limited disposable income, and technology began to shape entertainments such as films in ways that made that medium even more important and more homogeneous, at the expense of local and regional live entertainment. In retrospect, the 1920s must be seen as a transitional period in which mass leisure activities, spectator events, and publicly organized popular culture were beginning to evolve, yet one in which some older, traditional forms of entertainment still persisted.

1 - Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, May 28, 1970. return

2 - Paul W Glad, The History of Wisconsin, v. V: War, a New Era, and Depressio,n 1914-1940, (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1990), 248-9. return

3 - Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, The Century, (New York: ABC News, 1998), 115. return

4 - Robert Graves, and Alan Hodge, The Long Weekend: A Social History of Great Britain, 1918-1939, (N.Y.: W.W. Norton Co., 1963, 2nd ed.), 39. return

5 - Graves and Hodge, 41. return

6 - Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties, (New York: Harpers Row, 1957), 77. return

7 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, May 20, 1925. return

8 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, July 29, 1921. return

9 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, June 22, 1923. return

10 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, October 10, 1924. return

11 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, July 22, 1925. return

12 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, July 14, 1927. return

13 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, August 3, 1929. return

14 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, January 14, 1920. return

15 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, April 5, 1920. return

16 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth , October 9, 1925. return

17 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, October 9, 1925. return

18 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 4, 1925. return

19 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 5, 1925. return

20 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, April 7, 1928. return

21 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, July 11, 1928. return

22 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, January 30, 1920. return

23 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, April 30, 1920. return

24 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, April 30, 1920. return

25 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, June 7, 1920. return

26 - Graves and Hodge, 137-138. return

27 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, May 31, 1923. return

28 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 14, 1923. return

29 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 14, 1923. return

30 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 25, 1925. return

31 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 25, 1925. return

32 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 25, 1925. return

33 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, December 26, 1925. return

34 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, December 28, 1925. return

35 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, May 11, 1926. return

36 - Graves and Hodge, 119. return

37 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, January 2, 1920. return

38 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, January 2, 1920. return

39 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, April 9, 1920. return

40 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, November 1, 1923. return

41 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, February 18, 1920. return

42 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, March 6, 1920. return

43 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, March 6, 1920. return

44 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, June 21, 1920. return

45 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, August 10, 1922. return

46 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, March 27, 1922. return

47 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, January 22, 1923. return

48 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, April 5, 1920. return

49 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, September 26, 1921. return

50 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, September 18, 1926. return

51 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, July 6, 1926. See Sally Albertz, “Fond du Lac’s Black Community, and Their Church, 1865-1943,” in Clarence B. Davis, ed. Source of the lake:150 Years of History in Fond du Lac, (Fond du Lac: Action Printing, 2002), 48-50. return

52 - Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth, June 23, 1921. return

53 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, June 9, 1923. return

54 - On steamboat excursions, see Timothy A. Casiana, “Down the Not-So-Lazy River: Commercial Steamboats in the Fox River Valley, 1843-1900, in Clarence B. Davis, ed. Source of the lake:150 Years of History in Fond du Lac, (Fond du Lac: Action Printing, 2002), 193-94. return

55 - Anne Kelly, “KFIZ: Fond du Lac County’s Original A.M. Radio Station,” in Clarence B. Davis, ed., Source of the Lake: 150 Years of History in Fond du Lac, (Fond du Lac: Action Publishing, 2002), 269. return

Copyright Clarence B. Davis 2005. Marian College Press, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 2005.
Electronic publication by Fond du Lac Public Library has been approved by Clarence B. Davis.

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