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)

KATE WINS !!

KATE WINSLET WON TWICE !!
MICKEY ROURKE SUPRISED ME WITH HIS BEST ACTOR WIN.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE STOLE THE SHOW...
IT WAS A LOT OF FUN... CHECK IT OUT.


Jiva

GOLDEN GLOBES TONIGHT AT 8PM EST !!!

THE 66TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBES AIRS TONIGHT.
A PRINTABLE BALLOT IS ON THE HEADER LINK ABOVE. (title bar)
KEEP TRACK OF ALL THE WINNERS AND LOSERS!
I JUST LOVE HOLLYWOOD. I LOVE THE RED CARPET AND ALL THE FASHIONS.
50 STARS WILL BE PRESENTERS AT THE BEVERLY HILTON HOTEL
(where I just happened to be the first day the place opened in 1955)!
IT IS FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE ON NBC LIVE AND IN COLOR :)

The Golden Globes is the only awards show today that combines the intimacy and spontaneity of a party. As the night continues on, the famous and not so famous usually become
innebriated, thereby doing and saying outrageous things that make us all laugh and giggle.
That's the BIG difference between the Golden Globes and the rest of the award shows.

In case you don't know, the Golden Globes is put on by the Hollywood Foreign
Press Association. My experience is that they usually have no hidden agendas.
They just call it like they see it. NO politics!

I'll be on the couch with my Martini, my snacks and my ballot.
I love to guess who might win, I always play my favorites.
And of course BRAD PITT AND CATE BLANCHETT are right at the top of my list!

Happy Viewing.

Jiva

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

DANCING THROUGH LIFE... REPEAT THE TREAT

I POSTED THIS BEFORE... BUT HEY, IT'S A REALLY GOOD SONG.
FROM THE BROADWAY SHOW WICKED ~ I PRESENT IT AGAIN.






Jiva

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN CHARLOTTE RAMPLING?

Well, if you haven't, it's time you did.





I first saw her in Georgy Girl in the 60's.
I was absolutely mesmerized by her
in The Night Porter in the 70's.
I adored her wickedness in The Verdict
as she slyly took advantage of Paul Newman.
She is something else.

Jiva

ANGEL EYES

POST-HOLIDAY BLUES...




Courtesy: pagano60

A song written in 1953, the same year Mary Meade handed me her wrap,
with a look that my innocent eyes could not interpret,
as I was "living in the moment," and totally missed her point.
She's the arrogant blonde, right before Rita Hayworth pulls a sleeve up
over her right shoulder in Gilda.

(More later...)

Jiva

SPEAKING OF DANCING...

THE LOBBY OF THE PALMER HOUSE, STAIRS LEADING TO THE EMPIRE ROOM


My friend Parker thinks I should use my blog to tell visitors about my own
experiences in show business. Unlike the two kids in Grease whose dream came
true, I didn't even have a dream. What I had was an accidental merging with
opportunity. I hesitated to speak of these things, because I never intended
to talk about them on here, but after thinking it over, I decided, well,
maybe he's right, maybe it's the only time I'll ever do it in the first place.
Write about it, that is. He thinks oral history is a wonderful medium, and even
though I'm writing, it is kind of like oral history, isn't it... and so now
it won't be lost in the ethers of non telling.

I was fifteen years old, and my family had just moved to the western suburbs
of Chicago. I didn't know a soul out there, and I was very lonesome. A friend
of my mother's suggested that she send me downtown for dancing lessons to give
me something to do after school. I had taken lessons earlier in my life, but
then went on to other things, like riding my bicycle and playing baseball.
In high school, I was also captain of my basketball team, so I was very busy!
Dancing wasn't high on my list of priorities.

There had been a brief period when I was twelve, that I ushered at the Shubert
Theater in Chicago, in exchange for seeing shows for free. I had very
good seats for shows like South Pacific, Brigadoon, Miss Liberty, and one day,
I even went to the stage door and asked the manager if I could be in the currently
playing show, Guys and Dolls. He was so sweet. He said, "Go ahead in there,
watch the girls rehearse, and if you still want to be in the show, let me know."
I was thrilled! I sat in the fifth row and watched as these very tall women
walked around on the stage in time with the music, wearing only big hats,
daisies pasted on their upper and lower anatomy, bare otherwise, and singing.
Well, I knew I couldn't do that, my mother would kill me! I thanked
the manager, saying it really wasn't for me, and went home.

But in sophmore year, after school, there was this empty time. Both my parents
worked, my sister had married, and I was all alone in the house. So instead of
going home to the west, I took the Lake Street "L" to the east. Downtown.
Along the way, I discovered that the girl sitting across from me on the train
every day was none other than Carol Lawrence of West Side Story fame.
She studied, I studied, we were both going to lessons.
She to singing, me to dancing. Little did I know she would
one day become famous.



THE EMPIRE ROOM AT THE PALMER HOUSE HOTEL IN CHICAGO CIRCA 1953

After about a year of dance lessons at the Melba Cordes School of Dance, she
told me that there was nothing else she could teach me, and I should go over
to The Palmer House Hotel and practice the dance routines on the bandstand of
the world famous Empire Room with The Merriel Abbott Dancers. Turned out that
Melba herself had been a Merriel Abbott Dancer, and her mother was the
wardrobe mistress over there. Wow, was I ever surprised! So I went.
I mean, what else was there for me to do? I told my parents, and even
though they were amused, they knew that Ms.Abbott had an impeccable reputation
and that "her girls" were watched over and kept safe from the normal show
business elements. They had curfews, were not allowed to date musicians,
had to stay in school, etc. So my parents said it was O.K. I think they
were secretly quite proud of me!

I followed those girls everywhere. After rehearsal I would go with them
to the restaurant where they ate dinner. They would eat, and I would
have a coke. I usually didn't get home until eight o'clock at night. The
girls lived at the Palmer House and did two shows a night, one at 8 PM and
one at midnight. Well, one night, (just like in the movies) one of the
girls didn't show up for work! She called in sick. That is really unheard
of in show business. You know the song, the show must go on, even if you're
dying. Well, she wasn't dying, she just wasn't there. And guess who knew
all the dance numbers... ME! They pinned me into her costume, and the rest
as they say is history. She never came back, and I took her place in the line.
Isn't life just amazing!!??





HERE I AM AT SIXTEEN WITH THE WONDERFUL DOROTHY SHAY (PARK AVENUE HILLBILLY),
WALLY BOAG AND EDDIE O'NEIL, THE BANDLEADER OF THE ORCHESTRA.
(That strange looking dot is because this photo was in my scrapbook for the last
55 years, and something apparently dripped on it. Sorry about that)!

I'll tap into my brain archives more, next time the muse arrives.


Jiva

(Copyright 2009)

LET'S HAVE A LITTLE MORE DANCING

I LOVE DANCING. THE TWO LEADS IN GREASE WERE CHOSEN FROM A CONTEST ON TV.
HONEST! AND THEY ARE SO GOOD TOO. Laura Osnes and Max Crumm won the NBC TV Reality Series last year, winning by TV audience votes in addition to professional judges.









Aren't they terrific? Their dream came true.


Jiva

WINTER SUNRISE IN CHEYENNE, WYOMING

MY FRIEND MIKE SAID "Love that Western sky and the ability to see great distances."

ME TOO.


(Click on the pic for a larger version)


Jiva

CAREER COUNSELING ~

LET'S SEE... REAL ESTATE IS DEAD, NO BUSINESS THERE...

THIS LOOKS GOOD, WHAT DO YOU THINK...
STRAIGHT SALARY, NO COMMISSIONS.
LOVE THOSE OUTFITS!





Jiva

DO YOU WANNA DANCE ?

I FEEL LIKE DANCIN'


















See those dancers in the photos? ~ Late 1930's ~
(The Merriel Abbott Dancers)

See those dancers in the color video? ~ 21st Century! ~
(Palm Springs Follies)

Might be some of the same performers...

Yep.
The Palm Springs Follies

Can ya dig it?

Now you know... NOTHING is impossible!

Jiva