TAKING A LOOK BACK AT BLOGGING

THIS IS A PICTURE OF BILL GATES WITH BLOGGERS. SINCE WE OWE BILL A DEBT OF
GRATITUDE FOR MAKING ALL THIS POSSIBLE, HE SEEMED THE IDEAL PERSON TO SIT WITH BLOGGERS.
HERE IS A LINK TO PAGES AND PAGES OF PHOTOS OF BLOGGERS. KNITTING BLOGGERS, QUAKER BLOGGERS, REUNION BLOGGERS, COMPASSION BLOGGERS, GORGEOUS BLOGGERS, SEX BLOGGERS, KUWAITI BLOGGERS, INTEL BLOGGERS, PERTH BLOGGERS, LONDON BLOGGERS.
THE WORLD BLOGS.

A little aside here... do you notice how no one in California ever wears a tie???
You have to love a place like that. I'm wondering why I typed this entry in CAPS.
3 in the morning, too much drinking at dinner, good grief. (Inserted post blog).

I WROTE MY FIRST BLOG ENTRY BACK IN AUGUST OF 2007, NOT SO LONG AGO REALLY, BUT I REMEMBER BEING VERY EXCITED AT HAVING STARTED. THOSE WERE THE DAYS WHEN I WENT AROUND ASKING "WHAT IS A BLOG ANYWAY?" I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE WORD MEANT! WEB LOG. BLOG.

TONIGHT I WAS HAVING DINNER WITH TWO GIRLFRIENDS, AND ONE ASKED WHAT THE PURPOSE OR POINT WAS TO WRITING A BLOG, AND WHY WOULD ANYONE READ THEM? I TRIED TO EXPLAIN. BLOGGING IS THIS WRITING OF WHAT AMOUNTS TO A KIND OF JOURNAL OF YOUR SOUL. WHEN I FIRST STARTED, I COMMENTED ON THE DAY'S EVENTS, ADDED PICTURES, VIDEOS, THINGS THAT I FOUND INTERESTING, HOPING THAT SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE IN THE ETHERS MIGHT THINK IT AMUSING. WHATEVER.

AS TIME WENT ON, I FOUND OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS. I READ THEM, KEPT THEM, MADE THEM FAVORITES. DISCOVERED THE WORLD OF BLOGGING. NOT JUST MY BLOG, BUT MANY BLOGS OF NOTE WRITTEN BY TRULY INTERESTING FOLK. IT'S LIKE AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY DEDICATED TO REVEALING THEMSELVES. REVEALING THEIR HOPES, THEIR DREAMS, THEIR PAST, THEIR PRESENT.

LIKE PARKER SAYS, IT'S ORAL HISTORY. EVEN THOUGH THE WORDS ARE WRITTEN.
AND WHEN I LOOK AT OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS, I SEE THEIR LIVES.

IT REMINDS ME OF WHEN I WAS YOUNG, LIVING AT HOME, AND WE WOULD SIT AROUND THE TABLE
AFTER DINNER, TALKING ABOUT OUR DAY, ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE MET, EVENTS WE EXPERIENCED,
AND LAUGHING AT THE FOIBLES OF LIFE. THAT'S WHAT BLOGGING IS LIKE FOR ME.

I'M SITTING AROUND WITH BLOGGERS, TELLING IT LIKE IT IS, HEARING WHAT IT'S
LIKE FOR THEM. IT'S AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION WITH A FEW ZILLION FOLKS.

WITH LOVE, FROM JIVA THE BLOGGER
AND JUST FOR THE RECORD, JIVA MEANS "ESSENCE OF LIFE" IN SANSKRIT.
IT'S NOT MY REAL NAME, IT'S MY BLOGGIN' NAME!

DANCING DAYS SO LONG AGO...

REUNION OF THE MERRIEL ABBOTT DANCERS AT THE STAIRS UP TO THE EMPIRE ROOM OF THE PALMER HOUSE HOTEL IN CHICAGO SOMETIME AROUND 1970 OR 1971.
MERRIEL ABBOTT IS FRONT AND CENTER WITH A FLOWER LEI AROUND HER NECK, SMILING AT JUNE TAYLOR OF JACKIE GLEASON SHOW FAME, A FORMER MERRIEL ABBOTT GIRL HERSELF.

THE STORY OF MERRIEL ABBOTT AND HER DANCERS SPANS ALMOST 30 YEARS. SHE CHOREOGRAPHED SHOWS ON BROADWAY IN 1929 AND THE 1930'S. HER DANCERS WERE IN MANY FILMS WITH JACK BENNY: BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN, MAN ABOUT TOWN, AND LOVE THY NEIGHBOR IN THE LATE 1930'S AND EARLY 1940'S. OTHER FILMS INCLUDED SWING FEVER AND LOVE ON TAP.
THEY DID A LOT OF TOURING, DOING NIGHT CLUB PERFORMANCES BACK WHEN NIGHT CLUBS
AND SUPPER CLUBS WERE THE SOCIAL EVENING OUT ENTERTAINMENTS OF THAT TIME.
BUT EVEN THOUGH HER GIRLS TRAVELED THE WORLD, THEY WERE BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR NIGHTLY PERFORMANCES IN THE ELEGANT EMPIRE ROOM OF THE PALMER HOUSE HOTEL IN CHICAGO.


FOUR MERRIEL ABBOTT GIRLS IN HOLLYWOOD, 1940

DURING SUMMERS, THEY WOULD TRAVEL THE USA, WORKING IN LAS VEGAS, MIAMI BEACH, AND LOS ANGELES. THEY PERFORMED ON THE COLGATE VARIETY HOUR IN THE SUMMER OF 1955, WHICH COINCIDENTALLY OPENED THE BEVERLY HILTON HOTEL IN LOS ANGELES, WHERE MANY OF THE AWARDS BANQUETS AND DINNERS ARE HELD, NOTABLY THE GOLDEN GLOBES.

ONE OF THE REASONS THE GIRLS WERE SO FAMOUS WAS BECAUSE OF THEIR SKILL IN PERFORMING ALL THREE OF THE BASICS OF DANCE: TAP, BALLET AND ACROBATICS. THOSE GIRLS COULD DO FLIP FLOPS, AERIEL SUMMERSAULTS, AERIAL CARTWHEELS, SPOT WALKOVERS AND JUMP SPLITS. MOST DANCERS STICK TO DANCING WITHOUT THE ACROBATICS. IN FACT, BY THE TIME HER DANCERS WERE PERFORMING IN THE 1950'S, ACROBATICS HAD ALL BUT DISAPPEARED FROM THEIR PERFORMANCES, AS NONE OF THE GIRLS AUDITIONING HAD THE BACKGROUND, AND BY THEN MS.ABBOTT NO LONGER HAD HER FAMOUS SCHOOL WHERE THESE SKILLS WERE REQUIREMENTS. IF YOU EVER HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE ONE OF THE JACK BENNY FILMS THAT THE GIRLS ARE IN, YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF. I KNOW THAT I, A FORMER MERRIEL ABBOTT GIRL MYSELF, ALMOST FELL OVER WHEN I SAW THE LEVEL OF WORK THEY DID IN THEIR FILMS.


MERRIEL ABBOTT GIRLS IN LONDON ON ONE OF THE VERY FIRST TV SHOWS FOR THE BBC 1937

THEY SPENT TIME IN LONDON, PARIS, AND SOUTH AMERICA. TO BE A MERRIEL ABBOTT DANCER WAS QUITE A FEAT BACK IN THOSE DAYS. THE LAST PERFORMANCE THE GIRLS MADE WAS IN 1957, A LONG WAY FROM 1929. AND EVEN AFTER THAT, MS.ABBOTT CONTINUED WORKING FOR CONRAD HILTON AS A BOOKING AGENT FOR ALL HIS HOTELS THE WORLD OVER UNTIL HER DEATH IN THE 1970'S. THERE WAS A REUNION HELD AT THE EMPIRE ROOM, AND I'M GLAD SHE WAS ABLE TO BE THERE BEFORE SHE DIED.


MERRIEL ABBOTT IN 1938 AT THE PEAK OF HER SUCCESS WHICH LASTED THROUGH THE 1950'S.

(Copyright 2009)
Jiva