Farrell, Reed

Reed Farrell Soundex Code F640

Reed Farrell was a local disc jockey who, along with "Spider" Webb applied for a license to present Friday night record hops for teens at the Capri Ballroom, 1550 W. Devon Avenue. This caused a minor skirmish in Rogers Park because, at that time, (circa 1957) it was commonly felt by "the establishment" that rock and roll would drive innocent teens to delinquency, if not savage frenzy.

One thousand eight hundred fifty concerned residents quickly signed a petition opposing the dances and Rogers Park Police Captain, Ralph Petacque, recommended that the license application be denied. Residents opposed to the dances were concerned about "the rock and roll nature of the dances," a "lack of organized sponsorship and supervision," and the ever-popular, "the dances can bring juvenile delinquency into the neighborhood."

Farrell and Webb responded:

"We are operating the dances in an effort to avert juvenile delinquency by giving teen-agers some place to have good clean fun outside of school and church or temple."