for contest= remember when

I was a majorette for a well know organization and this was August. This was the month every “Georgette” waited, practiced, saved, planned for all through the year. The second week of August, ours in our traditional section of the Clarendon Hotel and ours scheduled to perform at the Tony Grant Children’s Theatre on Atlantic City’s famous Steele Pier.

The Tony Grant Show had been the kick off point for a number of successful performers not the least of them being Bobby Rydel. and Frankie Avalon. Most of us kids weren’t looking to become famous we just loved our three appearances a day and that special feeling of being four star for a little time.

This was the first summer I was a member of the senior troupe and would have non adult “out” time. Don’t get me wrong. Supervision was very well organized with long standing check-ins at your scheduled time ( you could drop in on any adult at any time) as well as required group activities. Breakfast was run in three shift seating where everyone has their daily age appropriate speech and rule reminders. We also got in line to get whatever daily allotment of money we needed. We all put our funds from home in the care of the Director who kept the group bank , a locked box of named envelopes, never miscounted. She knew every girl and even religious affiliations. Wheather or not you attended service routinely, this week you lined up and headed out for the already noted churchs or synagogue in the area.

Mrs. Hampson was the Director and owner of the organization and she ran a tight ship wheather at weekly practice, at a show or parade, or "down the shore" in August. She kept track of report cards and had a minimum grade point to remain active ( didn’t mean you didn’t show up for practice you showed up with books and work to do ). There wasn’t a girl who spent time under her wing who didn’t love her or become a better person because of her.

Being a senior came with responsibilities, for which there was no excuse accepted for not complying to. We became responsible to get ourselves to the theatre on time for the shows with necessary accessories, uniform ,make up ,etc. And we felt so special entering and exiting from the stage door. This made us feel like the Rockettes themselves.

There were wonderful perks aside from our reason for being there. We seniors had free passes to the Ed Hurst Summertime on the Pier dance show. It was televised on Saturdays. Of course we made sure all of our friends back home knew we were going to be there and the crew, knowing who we were, paid special attention to getting us all on camera frequently. The show exposed and highlighted current bands and such. They too knew who the children’s theatre girls were and paid us special attention. Of course we had no idea that this was all perks of the program, we each felt special that we were being given individual attention. And everyone of us felt like some 1970s version of Sandra Dee.

Quite a few of us had our first summertime romances. The atmosphere was just conducive to them. The piers of amusements that were along the boardwalk, the arcades where the boys won us stuffed toys that we could prove our stories, of romance, with were filled with magic. And oh, the lucky one’s who pressed their names into the coins, 'Debbie & John 4-ever', 'sue & Chuck 1970'. Now they were special tokens for the memory boxes many of us kept. Tandem bike rides along the boardwalk right after breakfast. How could you NOT feel grown up and magically transported into a world of something wonderful and special. Nothing could compare to how special it was to being a Georgette, especially that second week in August. And none were more memorable than the August of 1970.

Things are different now. Where the Steele Pier once housed the Tony Grant Theatre, the Summertime on the Pier ,the famous diving horse, and the many other famous sites, there now sits condos. Our magical home base, The Clarendon, was swallowed up by the casinos as were the arcades and souvenir shops. Of course the amusement piers did nothing for the ambiance of the casinos and their own version of magic, so they too are gone.

I can smile though as I look back, giggling sometimes that I even remember the grand finale song and knowing that tucked safely in the back of my closet are the batons that will be with me when I get to majorette heaven.