Skeeter Bonn at the Lorain Arena – May 1956

Although the Lorain Arena is known for having hosted rock and roll revues, here’s a reminder that the popular concert facility also catered to other musical tastes.

It’s a tall ad for a big Country-Western Show and Dance at the Lorain Arena that ran in the Lorain Journal on May 19, 1956.

The headliner was Skeeter Bonn and his Pickin’ and Singing’ Boys, with Coy Martin (on steel guitar) and Sally Jo “direct from WWVA, Wheeling, W. Va.”

Courtesy JumpingFrog.com

Skeeter Bonn had a nice musical career. According to his Wiki entry, "Skeeter Bonn was a singer and guitar player on several national country music radio programs and had several singles on RCA Victor in the 1950s. He was known as the "pickin' and singing' boy."

"He was born in 1923 in Sugarville, a small settlement in Fulton County, Illinois. At age 13 he left the family farm for nearby Canton. He joined the United States Navy in 1942, married Mary Louise Strode of Canton in 1945, and received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1946.

"He won a singing championship in Illinois in 1949, and by 1951 he was on the Iowa Barn Dance Frolic on WHO (AM) in Des Moines, Iowa. After that he was a regular on the WLS National Barn Dance from Chicago, WLWMidwestern Hayride from Cincinnati, and WWVA Jamboree from Wheeling, West Virginia. 

"In addition to his ten or so singles on RCA Victor, he also had a single on Sims Records, No. 325 "Let Me Be The One", backed with "Off To Vietnam (In The Green).”

Here’s Skeeter performing “Rock-A-Bye Baby.” It’s pretty catchy (and not the same tune that Jerry Lewis performed).

How about some more Skeeter? Here he is performing "Yodelin’ Bird” from 1955.

Skeeter passed away in November 1994.

Also appearing on the Lorain Arena bill was Pie Plant Pete from Cleveland radio station WGAR, and Slim Luse and his Swinging’ Raiders.

Click here for a nice biography of Pie Plant Pete in the www.hillbilly-music.com website. He was so popular on WTAM in Cleveland that his show was broadcast coast-to-coast.

Here he is performing "Over Yonder Over There" with his sometimes partner, Bashful Harmonica Joe.

Popular local talent Slim Luse was mentioned on this blog before, as he performed at the Grand Opening of Johnny’s Country & Western Bar in Lorain (which I wrote about here).

A blurb in the November 13, 1954 edition of Billboard notes, “Slim Luse, former fiddler with Pee Wee King and the WSM “Grand Ole Opry,” now has his own unit, the Swingin’ Raiders, doing a regular Saturday night jamboree show over WEOL, Elyria, O., in addition to playing dances and shows in the area.”

All in all, it sounds like it was a great show at the Arena back in May 1956.