Singer, dancer, and actress Jane Powell (Suzanne Lorraine Burce)

Powell was born the only child to Paul E. Burce (a Wonder Bread employee)
and Eileen Baker Burce (a housewife) in Portland, Oregon, At five, she was
on the KGW radio children’s talent program Stars of Tomorrow. She attended
Beaumont Grade School and Grant High School in Portland.

During the summer of 1943, Jane and her parents went on a vacation to
Hollywood. where she appeared on Janet Gaynor‘s radio show Hollywood
Showcase: Stars over Hollywood. It was a talent competition, and Powell
won and soon auditioned with Louis B. Mayer at MGM as well as David O.
Selznick. Without even taking a screen test, Powell was then signed to a
seven-year contract with MGM.

As of 2013, Powell lives with her fifth husband, former child star Dickie
Moore, in New York City and Connecticut, and is still active in television
and theater.

1951

 
Chubby Checker ( Ernest Evans) turned 72 in October

"Pony Time" by Chubby Checker is his second U.S. #1 hit after
“The Twist” in 1960. It introduced a new dance style.

Rear view of the Fender amplifier showing the  Jensen 15” speaker

The 1951 Fender “Pro – Amp” regularly used by Buddy Holly in 1958 can be seen in
the museum at the Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, NM.

1958

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From left: Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly, and Tommy Allsup

It was on this day in 1959 that Buddy Holly kicked off the twenty-four date Winter
Dance Party at the Million Dollar Ballroom in Milwaukee, backed by Tommy Allsup
on lead guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass and Carl Bunch on drums.

 Cotillion Hall at 1332  W Burnside Street   

  Crystal Ballroom today                                                                From Wikipedia

Crystal Ballroom (above), originally built as Cotillion Hall, is a historic building in
Portland, Oregon. Cotillion Hall was built January 21, 1914 as a ballroom, and
dance revivals were held there through the Great Depression. Starting in the
1960s, the hall has also been host to many popular pop, rock, folk, blues and
jazz artists, as well as beat poetry and other entertainment.  

It was originally owned by Montrose Ringler who lost the ballroom in the early
1920s. Dad Watson then bought the building in the mid-1920s, when mostly
square dances were held during that time. After Watson’s death in the 1930s,
Ralph Farrier bought the ballroom and renamed it the Crystal Ballroom. The
venue continued hosting square dances through the 1950s.

In the early 1960s new acts were brought in, such as gypsy brass bands and
R&B performers, such as James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Ike & Tina Turner.

In 1967, largely psychedelic acts such as the Grateful Dead performed in the
ballroom. This was cut short in 1968, due to concerns about what such music
was doing to the youth of Portland.

From the 1970s through the mid-1990s, the ballroom was not used for any public
events. In 1979, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as Cotillion Hall.

 
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                                                                                                                                                      Photos: facebook

Adoline Ceciliani and Arkie Benedict on opening night, Dec. 1948 

                                                          
             Adoline E. Ceciliani     (Jan. 17, 1921 – Jan. 5, 2014)                

Adoline and her husband, Charles Carl Ceciliani who passed away in 1995,
built and operated Division Street Corral (“D-Street”) on Portland’s eastside
near 174th and Division. The popular dance hall, now a housing development,
had one of the largest dance floors in the country until 1979. Some of the live 
music artists included Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Roy Orbison, and Portland’s
own Heck Harper along with The Ventures and Paul Revere and the Raiders. 
 
In 2006, Adoline sold the corral and moved out of the neighborhood she called
home for 63 years.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, January 18 at Lincoln Memorial. 

    Heck Harper being introduced on the “D-Street” stage