“Peace for our time” didn’t quite work out that way, 80 years ago

In the fall of 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made history by signing the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler. That gave Germany parts of Czechoslovakia, as a way to avoid a second World War. Chamberlain is remembered for returning to England and showing off the treaty with Hitler’s signature on it. War started less than a year later when Germany invaded Poland, and Chamberlain’s reputation took a big hit.

German-sounding culture was popular in La Crosse in ’38. Freddie Fisher’s Schnickelfritz Band out of St. Paul played at the Avalon Ballroom. They were billed as America’s “most unsophisticated band”…musical cut-ups who helped inspire other wacky musical groups such as Spike Jones and his City Slickers.

More serious musicians formed the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in 1938, as a spinoff of the former Cathedral Orchestra.

In time for Halloween that year, the Wisconsin Theater in La Crosse showed a double-feature of two classic horror movies from the early 30’s…”Dracula” with Bela Lugosi, and “Frankenstein” with Boris Karloff. Eighty years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.