THE GLAMOROUS MARY MEADE

It was March of 1953, and I was performing for the first time at The Empire Room of The Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, dancing with The Merriel Abbott Dancers. A dancer had not shown up for work, and they asked me to take her place, as I already knew the dance numbers. I was sixteen years old, a tall girl with long blond hair, quite attractive, a nice Catholic schoolgirl basically, suddenly thrust into the spotlight in more ways than one. The other girls had to show me how to put on stage make-up, fix my eyelashes with black wax to make them look thick and long, and put my headpiece on so it wouldn't fall off while I was dancing. That was the easy part. What happened next was something sudden. They asked me to walk out around the tables to the other side of the dance floor where we performed our shows, and wait for Miss Mary Meade who was the headliner.

They said, now just stand at the other side of the stage, and when she comes out, she'll hand you her black fox fur. You take it to the dressing room the same way you came out. This meant walking all the way around the tables and back again. They put me in a maid's outfit, with a little apron, black stockings and high heels. I looked like a pin up girl. Mary Meade was not that well known in Chicago, or anywhere else except Europe in the 1950's. She had been an actress in some "B" movies in Hollywood in the 40's, but for the most part, she was basically an unfamiliar face. She was quite beautiful, and she also had long blonde hair, just as I did at that time. We were both tall and blonde, and both pretty. So.......

The orchestra starts playing. I start walking around the back of the tables. The Master of Ceremonies introduces the star of stage and screen, the lovely Miss Mary Meade! And here she comes out of the same dressing room I came out of, only I reached the stage well before she did.
Just as they announced her, I stepped forward on the stage waiting dutifully for her to arrive with her black fox fur. The audience couldn't see her because she was on her way from the dressing room, making her way through the side tables. They took one look at me, and thought I looked similar to the picture on their table card, so they started applauding, loud and passionately, as good Chicago audiences were known to do. I smiled and grinned at the crowd which was staring at me, and then a somewhat irate Ms.Meade came strolling across the stage and handed me her fur with a cutting look I will never forget.

The musicians unfortunately started chuckling in the background, and the drummer made one of those stick on cymbal sounds they make at the punch line of a joke. I still had to walk all the way around the back tables. Ms. Meade started singing, but the audience continued smiling at me, as I walked fast to the dressing room. It was a story that went around town a bit, as the new girl who upstaged Mary Meade. She was quite unhappy about it, until they told her it was my very first night in show business, and I guess she decided to forgive me, as apparently it had been her idea to have a maid pick up her fur, and for some reason, somebody decided to have me do it. I'll never forget that night, as I didn't know whether to be elated at my sudden celebrity, or humiliated at my bold stance while I waited for her to appear. A charming memory now, but then, all the girls said, "nice going."


Jiva

(Copyright 2009)

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