I can't remember when our first dance practice was but Wendy Villasenor brought costumes. We were planning our debut at the Cow Palace. There were six dancers, Linda Haggerty, Kit Lacy, Wendy Villasenor, Debbie Page, Karen Carlson, and Lorna Doone. Debbie and Kit had matching blue leotards with one strap over the left shoulder and a glove on their right arm with no hand part to it. Gold fringe hung from their arm gloves and various parts of their leotards. Linda and Karen wore gold bathing suits with pink trains sprinkled with little golden flecks. The trains were about three feet long and sort of stuck out limply in the back because they were made of a stiff semi mesh material. Wendy and Lorna rigged up makeshift costumes that didn't quite match but still caught the eye and since they did a dance solo together they needed to be a little more individualistic.
We practiced a lot but most of our practices were spent laughing. Lori Beam (LB) and I wore 1890 bathing suits ( I have no idea where they came from) with little matching caps. We were lead singing on "Smilin' Makes Your Wrinkles Go Away", the song that the dance was to be performed to. Then came the day of our big gig at the Cow Palace which turned out to be in one of the stock yard barns where they were having a rummage sale for the needy people in the Hunters Point district.
There was another band there that day. They went on first, turned their volume up to 10 and were asked to leave after playing two songs. Then the Choir played and Scarlet and Sybil and some of the choir kids danced out in front of us through the whole set. The older ladies that were there had tears in their eyes.
We had so much love flowing from our hearts that day. An Asian man came up to me after the set and asked if we would come and play at a Wild West show that he was putting together for the Indians. I referred him to Cheryl Gurley as I always did. Then we gathered our belongings and all went home. And what happened with the dance? I honestly don't remember. But it was a great day for everyone.
As the months went by the dance and the dancers changed. I remember the Smilin' costumes morphing into pink skirts and pink halter tops and if you had silver tap shoes you were really in. Marlin had this big soulful voice with a perfect vibrato. She sang with the tenors. She sang a solo on "Amazing Grace" and it was one of our most touching songs. She had become one of the dancers and her greatest fear was that she would have to sing her lead on this song while still wearing her Smilin' costume. Before each gig we would go through this little routine about whether or not she would have enough time to change between songs or not. I'm sorry to say that one time she had to wear the costume while singing her song but it never happened again after that.
Then the inevitable happened. The dancers who had somehow gotten the name the "WILD TURKEYS" stamped upon them (probably because of the little drink that used to appear sometimes before gigs and was sipped for medicinal purposes only to calm nerves) refused to dance the Smilin' dance anymore. This broke my heart. You know how it is when you really love someone and everything they do is infallible. Well that is how I felt about the Wild Turkeys. I truly loved them. Just as I was trying to figure out a way to fill in for them with my own dance routine which consisted of a few shuffling steps and some twirls this guy named Christopher came to the rescue. This guy could really dance!
Here come the beggars into town
Some dressed in rags and some in gowns
Four winged horses flying high
Leaving a trail of flame in the sky
Choir caravan leaving town
Don't you feel sad don't you feel lowdown
Between my heart and the deep blue sea
A nickel for you and a dime for me
