“She was first a theater and then a motion picture house. The joys and sorrows of the City of Manitowoc were reflected in her owlish windows.”

“They signed the contract one day. On the very next day the wrecking crews moved in and in no time at all an ancient landmark of the City of Elevators was reduced to rubble and dust.”

Fred and Edwards’ story intersect with the deadliest theater fire in American history. The Iroquois Theater fire killed more than 600 people, but Manitowoc’s Bahr family survived to grow their lives in our community.

Knowing well the story of Baron Georg and Baroness Maria von Trapp and their children who fled Austria to escape Nazism in 1938 (the inspiration for the musical play and film The Sound of Music), I was quite surprised to learn of the family’s evening performance on Monday, November 30, 1953 in Manitowoc.

According to Roy Valitchka of the Manitowoc Herald-Times on December 1, 1953, “an evening of joyous song was the reward” for those who crowded Lincoln High School auditorium to hear the Trapp Family Singers, America’s favorite musical family. The 90-minute performance was described as “flawless” with “voices that were fresh and true.”

Staff of the Rivoli Theater portrayed ghosts for the Municipal Recreation Department’s Halloween Saturday afternoon show. The Manitowoc Herald Times featured the event with an article on October 30, 1953 saying, “Eight young misses will portray the roles of ghosts in serving as ushers at the event for the kiddies. Their adopted theme song will be ‘A-Haunting We Will Go’.” The ushers for the evening included Natalie (Spooks) Lueck, Betty (Spirits) Fronk, Nancy (Shadow) Henrickson, Dorothy (Goblin) Shavlik, Shirley (Screams) Richard, Shirley (Shreaks) Beth, and Lou Ann (Groans) Prausa.