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Sky dancers thrilled Cape Girardeau crowd
The son of a good friend of mine is an enthusiastic participant in the swing dance craze. I wonder what he would think about the two dancers -- Bette and Bob -- who jitterbugged high over Broadway in November 1939, much to the delight of large, thrill-seeking crowds.
The event was sponsored by a number of Cape Girardeau businesses: Libson Hosiery Shop, Buckner-Ragsdale Co., Sunny Hill Farms Dairy, Walther's Furniture Co., Bartels Mercantile Co., J.C. Penney Co., Cape Cut Rate Drugs, Feinberg's Shoe Department, Firestone, Carps, F.W. Woolworth Co., Montgomery Ward, Rigdon's, Missouri Utilities Co., Dolly Hat Shoppe and Ross Young's Place.
In addition to their three performances 100 feet in the air, the dancers gave two floor shows at the Moonglow Club.
A photograph and article published Nov. 3, 1939, in the Southeast Missourian explained how a "steel mast" supporting a small platform/dance floor was rigged atop the Fletcher Building.
As this photograph was taken this morning, riggers were competing erection of a high steel mast on which Bob and Bette, current sky dancers, will present their act in Cape Girardeau three times Saturday. Free to the public, the shows will be at 10:30 o'clock in the morning, at 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon and at 9:15 o'clock at night. The two dancers will do the jitterbug and similar other dancers on a small platform atop the steel pole shown in the photo, the pole being erected on the Fletcher Building on Broadway Hill.
COLD WEATHER NOT TO DETER SKY DANCERS IN CAPE SHOW
It may be chilly on top of the 18-inch platform high over the Fletcher Building on Broadway hill Saturday, but Bob and Bette, the sky dancers, will perform just the same.
It will all be free to the public, and spectators may gather along the edges of Broadway, Main, Spanish and other streets to look on, as well as in Courthouse Park.
There will be three shows, at 10:30 in he morning, 2:30 in the afternoon and at 9:15 o'clock Saturday night.
The steel shaft was erected today and will be all ready for Saturday. A crew of riggers of the Bob & Bette Company placed the steel pole. It is made rigid by a triple steel shaft design, and on top is a tiny stage.
The toe maneuvers will include jitterbug dancing, acrobatic dance steps, the Devil's Merry-Go-Round, etc.
The dance team, training here all week, were reported today to be in good physical condition for the one big day in Cape Girardeau.
Coupons, in connection with the sky dance contest, must be deposited in stores by 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon, for contestants to be eligible for prizes.
Winners of prizes will be announced at the night performance, and will be published in the Missourian Monday. Premiums may then be claimed at the designated stores.
Unfortunately, if Missourian photographer G.D. Fronabarger took pictures of the fleet-footed frolickers, the negatives did not survive. We are left with a poor photo that ran in an advertisement for the event and a crowd shot, likely taken by Fronabarger. Both images were copied from Missourian microfilm.
Published Nov. 3, 1939:
Published Nov. 4, 1939:
CROWD THRILLED BY SKY DANCERS
Bob and Bette to Give Act Atop High Pole Again This Afternoon and at 9:15 tonight.
As hundreds of people lined Broadway, Spanish and other nearby streets and points of vantage, Bob and Bette, daring sky dancers, presented their initial round of dances atop a high pole over the former Park Hotel building on lower Broadway this morning.
Not only did the snappy weather furnish thrills to the crowd, but the doings of Bob and his partner furnished tingles besides.
This afternoon at 2:30 o'clock they will go up for another entertainment featuring acrobatic and trick dancing. Then the main 45-minute show on the high stage will be at 9:15 o'clock tonight.
The 25-minute show this morning ranged from a head stand by Bob to a stomach balance by Bette, when she was alone on the high stage.
All Kinds of Dances.
The girl did tap dances, and even a split on the little stage, as the cold wind blew through her hair.
Foxtrots and jitterbug numbers, often with their toes or heels sticking over the edge of the 18-inch oval board, were among the features by the sky dance pair.
The morning crowd was strung along Broadway from Lorimier Street to the river, and hundreds looked on from Courthouse Park, the performance being so high it could be seen from many points, even blocks away.
Music for the dancing goes through a public address system and may be heard by all attending. Details of the show are announced as a running account of the entertainment.
The sky dance concert winners will be announced tonight at the sky dance headquarters, known as the Deal Sales Co. building, and will also be published Monday in The Missourian.
Published Nov. 6, 1939:
Shown in the photograph above is a part of the crowd that gathered along Broadway Saturday afternoon to watch Bob and Bette, the sky dancers, due to their stunts atop a high pole on the Fletcher Building. The crowd also jammed other streets nearby, many being as far away as four blocks. A much larger crowd saw the act at night.
THOUSANDS SEE SKY DANCERS
Jam Streets Four Blocks from Scene.
The sky dance act, as presented by Bob and Bette atop a high pole on a building on lower Broadway, brought out three large crowds Saturday.
The one Saturday afternoon excelled the morning crowd in size and the one at night was far larger. While estimates were impossible due to the fact that people lined the streets as far as four blocks away, the number seeing the night act was estimated from 15,000 to 25,000. Police were aided by state troopers in trying to keep traffic moving through the jammed streets.
Winners in the sky dance contest, as announced were:
Contest Winners.
Parker pen and pencil set from Cape Cut Rate drug stores, Lorna Fields, Good Hope Street; occasional chair from Walther Furniture Co., Pauline Elms, 520 S. Sprigg St.; $5.95 Chenille bedspread from Bartels, Zula Medcalfe, 225 S. Lorimier St.; $5 in cleaning or laundry from Rigdon's, Jeanette Clack, 152 S. (West End) Boulevard; 10 gallons gasoline, wash and lubrication from Firestone Auto Supply and Service Stores, Ellwood Mills, 111 N. Middle St.; 32-piece set of Rainbow dinnerware from F.W. Woolworth & Co., Jimmie Hill, 1315 Broadway; $14.95 radio from Montgomery Ward, Ruth Heinemann, 525 S. Middle St.; $4.98 house coat from Libson Shops, Nettie Baumley, 418 Themis St.; quart of Sunny Hill milk daily for 30 days from Sunny Hill Farms Dairy Co., Betty Ann Besel, 1609 Themis St.; $5 Esmond blanket from Carps, Alice Mickie, 601 North St.; Paris Fashion suede slippers from Feinberg's shoe department Dr. J.H. Howard, Jackson; $3 hat from Dolly Hatt Shoppe, Gerry Gockel, 235 S. Spanish St.; $5 pair of shoes from Buckner-Ragsdale Co., Audice Thompson, Idan-Ha Hotel; $5 wool blanket from J.C. Penney Co., Mrs. Edwin J. Karcher, 1315 Broadway; I.E.S. floor lamp from Missouri Utilities Co., Bob Schlue, 325 Good Hope St.; pair of men's trousers from Ross Young's Johnson Dry cleaners, George Dupin, 401 Good Hope St.
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