Ridotto Ballroom, Havelock, IA
Iowa Ballroom Project
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photo submitted by Rick Carroll
from an e-mail sent by Rick Carroll (rickcarroll@vol.com)
photo submitted by Rick Carroll
from an e-mail sent by Rick Carroll (rickcarroll@vol.com)
Award-winning
author Rick Carroll, whose uncle built and operated the
Ridotto Ballroom from the '30s to the '60s, is seeking
first-hand accounts of all who ever danced there for a new book.
"Tell me, please, your memories, good or bad, of nights at the Ridotto," Carroll asks. "Did your sweetheart become your wife? Or did she dance off with another? What do you remember?"
His book, entitled Ridotto, is a historical memoir that celebrates the heyday of music and dance in Iowa from the Swing era to rock 'n roll.
Carroll's uncle, Darlowe Oleson, built the Ridotto on 2.5 acres of a cornfield near Havelock in 1937. He incorporated the ballroom, night club, gas station and five houses, as "The biggest little city in America" and served as Mayor.
Oleson once owned five Iowa ballrooms including the Roof Garden at Lake Okoboji. He died in a private plane crash in the 70s.
Carroll's mother, Darralene (Oleson) Carroll, now 90, operated the Ridotto when her brother, Darlowe, was drafted into the army at the start of World War 2.
"Ridotto, the book," Carroll said,"is based on memorabilia, journals, historical documents and stories my mother told me of a time and place that no longer exists, except in the memory of those who danced Saturday nights at the Ridotto.
"It is a memoir, a musical history, and a family story about a remarkable brother and sister, and their parents, who created great excitement in an otherwise empty landscape."
Carroll, who has written other non-fiction heritage books, has gathered old news clippings from Iowa newspapers, dance bills, posters and autographed photos of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Anna Mae Winburn, Big Tiny Little and others who appeared at the Ridotto.
He is the author of Iz Voice of the People, the biography of Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book of 2007.
He now publishes art, jazz & heritage books including, Beaufort By The Sea: Journey Back in Time, Right Down Front Ron Hudson Jazz
Images, and Three Centuries of Seafaring: The Maritime Art of Paul Hee, all available on amazon.com.
Born in Fort Dodge, Carroll spent the first three years of his life in a little white frame house with red shutters between the Ridotto and a cornfield.
Fire razed the ballroom in the 40s, but it was rebuilt and stood until the 70s, when it closed, folks moved on, and the New York Times said, Ridotto became a ghost town.
Contact: rickcarroll@vol.com
"Tell me, please, your memories, good or bad, of nights at the Ridotto," Carroll asks. "Did your sweetheart become your wife? Or did she dance off with another? What do you remember?"
His book, entitled Ridotto, is a historical memoir that celebrates the heyday of music and dance in Iowa from the Swing era to rock 'n roll.
Carroll's uncle, Darlowe Oleson, built the Ridotto on 2.5 acres of a cornfield near Havelock in 1937. He incorporated the ballroom, night club, gas station and five houses, as "The biggest little city in America" and served as Mayor.
Oleson once owned five Iowa ballrooms including the Roof Garden at Lake Okoboji. He died in a private plane crash in the 70s.
Carroll's mother, Darralene (Oleson) Carroll, now 90, operated the Ridotto when her brother, Darlowe, was drafted into the army at the start of World War 2.
"Ridotto, the book," Carroll said,"is based on memorabilia, journals, historical documents and stories my mother told me of a time and place that no longer exists, except in the memory of those who danced Saturday nights at the Ridotto.
"It is a memoir, a musical history, and a family story about a remarkable brother and sister, and their parents, who created great excitement in an otherwise empty landscape."
Carroll, who has written other non-fiction heritage books, has gathered old news clippings from Iowa newspapers, dance bills, posters and autographed photos of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Anna Mae Winburn, Big Tiny Little and others who appeared at the Ridotto.
He is the author of Iz Voice of the People, the biography of Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book of 2007.
He now publishes art, jazz & heritage books including, Beaufort By The Sea: Journey Back in Time, Right Down Front Ron Hudson Jazz
Images, and Three Centuries of Seafaring: The Maritime Art of Paul Hee, all available on amazon.com.
Born in Fort Dodge, Carroll spent the first three years of his life in a little white frame house with red shutters between the Ridotto and a cornfield.
Fire razed the ballroom in the 40s, but it was rebuilt and stood until the 70s, when it closed, folks moved on, and the New York Times said, Ridotto became a ghost town.
Contact: rickcarroll@vol.com