Ballroom manager's daughter recalls big names

Thursday, September 1, 2005
Jim Corcoran, owner of "The Gayway Ballroom and Cafe" in the late '40s in McCook, looks over the shoulder of jazz legend and composer Duke Ellington, who performed at the Gayway. (Corcoran family archives/Courtesy photo)

GERING -- A Gering woman would like a brick or two from the old Bureau of Reclamation building in McCook when it's torn down this fall. JoAnn Corcoran Duke remembers the building not only as the Bureau, but also as "The Gayway Ballroom and Cafe" run by her father, Jim Corcoran.

A brick salvaged as the building is razed to make way for parking for the new Bureau office could be added to the other memorabilia JoAnn has from the Gayway.

"I still have the two-page spread that appeared in the Gazette, along with all the contracts and many autographed pictures," JoAnn wrote recently, after a story on the Gayway appeared in the Aug. 10 issue of the Gazette.

In a contract dated May 20, 1948, Eddy Howard and his orchestra were guaranteed no less than $1,500 and 60 percent of the gross receipts to play at the Gayway's inaugural dance. JoAnn said all the bands received similar deals.

JoAnn's collection of autographed pictures includes Harry James, Gene Krupa, Duke Ellington and Law-rence Welk.

JoAnn wrote, "Gene Krupa, on a break from the bandstand, let a local boy, Gene Stevens, play his drums." Gene Stevens was the twin brother of Jack Stevens of McCook.

JoAnn writes, "Lawrence Welk visited in our home many times. He and Dad exchanged Christmas cards for many years."

JoAnn said the demise of the Gayway could be blamed on several "signs of the times," including the growing popularity of rock-and-roll music and of the ultimate rocker, Elvis Presley.

"The Big Band era was ending," she writes. "They (the bands) stayed in the big cities or disbanded."

JoAnn also said the closing of the Army Air Base north of McCook also played a part in the Gayway's end. The Air Base closing meant that soldiers and theirs dates and wives were no longer coming into town for entertainment.

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