Did Bill Haley & the Comets Ever Play the Lorain Arena?

Earlier this year at the Lorain Public Library, I was asked if I had any knowledge of Bill Haley and the Comets ever playing at the Lorain Arena in his heyday.

I checked available online 1950s concert listings, which include several shows in Ohio. But even when Bill Haley and the Comets were performing nearby (such as an appearance in Cleveland on May 8, 1956) I never could find any indication on newspaper microfilm of a stopover in Lorain, either before or after. There weren’t even Journal ads for the concert in the neighboring cities.

Anyway, while scrolling around on the microfilm from the timeframe of one concert, I did find an advertisement and Journal movie review of Rock Around the Clock, which was playing at the Tivoli Theatre in May 1956. Above you see the ad and review, as well as the whole page of movie ads from May 12, 1956.

The Journal’s review is laced with hip language, Daddy-O.

If anyone has any knowledge of seeing Bill Haley at the Lorain Arena (or any Lorain venue), be sure to leave a comment!

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Anyway, judging from the full page of movie ads, there was something for everyone playing on Lorain movie screens back in May 1956. Here’s a sampling...

Jungle hi-jinks was the theme at the Lorain Theater, with Simba, Terror of Mau Mau, Tarzan’s Peril and Skabenga (1955).

Ohio Theater kept it wholesome with an all-Disney lineup of Music Land, Johnny Appleseed and The Littlest Outlaw.

Over at the drive-ins, Carlisle Drive-in had Hell on Frisco Bay, Treasure of Pancho Villa and Crossed Swords, while Tower Drive-in had Mighty Joe Young providing cinematic monkey business. Lorain Drive-in was playing the hits, with a triple feature that included James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” and John Wayne in “Rio Grande.”

John Wayne was also flying high at the Grove Theater in The High and the Mighty.