Marcella Wallace Lorfing

(I'm attaching an article I had printed in the SJ Mercury several years ago when I was waxing nostalgic for our high school years. I think you all will relate).

SATURDAY NIGHTS IN SAN JOSE

by Marcella Elliott

"Dream--when you're feeling blue,

"Dream--that's the thing to do . . ."

To the honey sweet strains of the Pied Pipers we all swayed and cuddled close on the dance floor, because we knew that was the last dance of the evening. Another Saturday night at St. Pat's was over. The year was l954, the place was San Jose, California, and we were enjoying a recreational pastime that has since disappeared, along with bobby sox and hula hoops--the local teen dance club.

High school in the '50s meant dancing. We danced every chance we got--in the cafeteria during our recess and lunch breaks at school, in our living rooms or kitchens at home, sometimes using the doorjamb as a partner. We even danced to TV when we watched Dottie Hansen's "Coke Time" and Frank Darien's "Record Hop" on Channel 11, precursors to the 60s' American Bandstand.

On weekends, however, we went to our favorite dance club. The three most popular when I went to San Jose High were the Hi Spot on Second and San Antonio, the Whutzit in Santa Clara, and St. Pat's on Ninth Street. This last one was my favorite. It was run by Father Flanagan of St. Patrick's parish. Every Saturday night we'd meet in the large meeting hall--empty at first, all bare wooden floors leading up to a heavily curtained stage that held a record player and oversized speakers. Folded chairs lined the side walls; eventually they would be opened and set casually around the edge of the dance floor, as dancers needed to rest. But we really hoped they'd never be occupied.

We lined up at the front door of the hall, dressed in Wondamere sweater sets and full circle skirts, white bucks and rolled anklets. We paid 50 cents to have our hands stamped with a large green X (in case we wanted to leave and come back). Other dance clubs required membership cards which would be punched each time, but St. Pat's never got that well-organized.

Once inside the dance hall, all the girls would head for the "john," a tiny cubby-hole restroom to the right, off the stage. There we'd light cigarettes, apply fresh lipstick, adjust our cinch belts and prepare to meet "the guys." Smoking was not allowed in the dance hall; we made up for it in the restroom.

The guys all stood around in nervous clumps, surveying the scene and waiting for the lights to dim before making their move toward equally nervous clumps of giggling females. The music alternated with fast and slow numbers. "Sh-boom" would get us all out on the floor; then if you liked your partner, when the music flowed into something slow like "Blue Velvet," you melted into your partner's arms and moved smoothly, dreamily around the dance floor. If you didn't like your partner, you headed for the sideline and the folding chairs with a "Whew! that really wore me out--gotta get some air!" Or we slipped out to the "john" again, to apply a fresh dab of Evening of Paris perfume.

One interesting feature at St. Pat's was Father Flanagan's method of keeping us all morally upright. As the evening wore on, the lights were allowed to dim somewhat, especially during the last slow dance (to that lovely "Dream"), but Father Flanagan would circulate through the tightly clasped bodies with a flashlight and a whistle. If he spotted a couple who, in his opinion, were dancing too close, he'd shine his light on them and blow his whistle. It became a badge of honor to have the whistle blown on you--it meant you'd found someone really good.

The Hi Spot was located in the basement of the YWCA building downtown. Each dance club seemed to favor a certain kind of music, and at the Hi Spot we listened to rhythm and blues in its earliest form, because that's where all the Mexican and black kids went to dance. They considered the music at St. Pat's and the Whutzit to be "Hit Parade junk." At the Hi Spot you were sure to pick up on the very latest dance steps, all invented (it seemed) by the five or six black students we knew. We "bopped" erratically to songs like "W-P-L-J" (White Port and Lemon Juice) or tried exotic rumba steps to "Cubano Jump"--never really equaling the smooth and flowing movements that our darker brothers and sisters could make. But we loved the music nevertheless. To this day, whenever I hear "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight: by the Spaniel, I see another "last dance" with lots of leather jackets and beehive hairdos, moving slowly on the dance floor at the Hi Spot.

The Whutzit was in Santa Clara, by the University. It had been started in the late '40s by some students at Santa Clara High, and was by far the best organized. In the '50s the dances were held in the Sodality Hall next to St. Clare's Church. They not only had a dance floor but also a large recreation room with a pool table and a soda fountain. My girlfriends and I spent a lot of time in that room, because for San Jose High girls to go to the Whutzit took some courage. We didn't know many of the guys, so we usually ended up dancing with each other (just the fast dances, of course!).

Whutzit members built themselves a new dance hall, a splendid multi-purpose building that has since been converted to a Senior Center. Some of the club's charter members probably still attend functions in the building that carries so many memories. I wonder if they still play "I Can't Get Started" as their last dance.

The clubs are gone now, but hauntingly the music has endured. Every radio station today plays its share of Golden Oldies, and sometimes, in the middle of going-home traffic on Lawrence Expressway, I am transported back to St. Pat's in l954 with the sound of

"Dream, -- when you're feeling blue..."

10-28-06

Hi,

Ruby (Kurasaki) Kobashi sent me a copy of the memory book--

what fun to look through. Congrats to the Memory Book folks.

Since I'm living in Seattle now, I looked for any alums with a

Pacific Northwest connection; I saw four.

Deanna Taketa

10/26/2006

Hello to all of you San Jose Hi students.

It was really great seeing all of you. I had more fun realizing that many of

you played an important part of my every day life at San Jose Hi. There were

so many of you that I want you to know you touched me in ways I didn't remember

until I saw you again. It was a joy to be among friends and realized we were a

great bunch of kids and that life has been fairly good to us.

I left school early and did not keep contact with anyone.

I would love to now, renew old friendships and share an late lunch or early dinner

and catch up with what you have been doing and what you are doing now. Some of us

shared so much. It is sad that I did not know how to keep in contact with people

I cared about, or people who cared about me.

I hope to hear from some of you.

Maybe we will see each other at the Big Game on Thanksgiving Day.

I'll be there I'll ware one of my Funny hats.

love and hugs. Helen Garza

10/26/2006

Hello, hello,

I am so very sorry that I did not get a chance to join you all!

Thank you, thank you for the wonderful memory book.

I was fascinated to read about my classmates. I know that the Committee

worked long and hard to make this a great event.

Let me tell you why I was not at the reunion. At the very same time that you were

celebrating, my brother and I had a reunion with the American GI

(now retired as a full colonel) who found my family after WW II in

what was for many years East Germany(DDR). He broke military silence

on post war governance and got us to the American zone before the Soviets

rolled in. He never lost track of us throughout our stays in post war DP

camps and eventually got his family to sponsor us to the US. That is how I wound up in San Jose!

He and his wife are in their eighties now and living in a retirement facility in California.

He was 21 years old at the end of the war when he came in dirty and disheveled from fighting

(Patton's 3rd) into the small town where we were refugees. I went to visit that town last summer.

They were the great, if not the greatest generation.

It was a very difficult choice to make, and I wish I could have been in both places,

but that was not possible. I love looking at the pictures, and best, best regards to all of you!!!

Fondly, Lelde

Greetings to you all, good health, love and wealth in that order!

10/26/2006

Thanks to all who took the time to put the photos together

and create this awesome "memory photo stroll" of our wonderful weekend!

And to all who submitted photos.

I look forward to ordering the CD when it is available.

Once mine are downloaded and sorted, I'll forward them to you

if there is anything different than what we already have.

Love,

Arleen

Dr. Arleen Bump

Pastor, Religious Science Fort Lauderdale

Cellphone: 1-954-829-3075

"We are not here just to survive and live long ....

We are here to live and know life in it's multi-dimensions,

to know life in its richness, in all it's variety.

And when a man lives multi-dimensionally, explores all

possibilities available, never shrinks back from a challenge,

goes, rushes to it, welcomes it, rises to the occasion,

then life becomes a flame - life blooms."

- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

10-17-06

Thank you for a well organized 50th Class Reunion.

And most of all, thank you for the short walk through memory lane.

Frank J. Espinosa

10/16/06

Hello everyone:

Thanks for the Memories!

For the years at SJHS that are unforgettable, memorable and irreplaceable ---

and the memories of a glorious weekend celebration of 50 years.

Old friends, new friends, true friends, always friends......

My email address was left off of the Memory Book and I want you to have it.

drabump@aol.com

May the rest of our lives be the best of our lives!

Arleen Cuffaro Bump

10/14/06

Congratulations to the committee. It was a great job.

Barbara and I thorourghly enjoyed the reunion.

The format was great. We're ready for the next one.

Thanks to all,

Lee Nelson

10/11/06

The reunion was great! Thanks for all your efforts in putting it together.

We look forward to the next get-together!

Terry and Carol Feist

Recieved 10/8 and 10/9 2005

To all the committee, organizers and classmates:

Thank you for preparing and organizing a wonderful event. It was lots of fun!

We had the opportunity to renew old friendships and make many new ones, so we look forward to the next reunion.

Dave (and Dian) Ruder

Thanks for all your hard work. It was a great day!

Gloria Cuen Garcia

We had so much fun and were so happy we attended.

Everything was great: the venue, the delicious and plentiful food, the conviviality, and the memorabilia.

The book is the ultimate remembrance - so beautifully done!

Thanks to all of you!

Adrienne Akahoshi Iwanaga

(attended with Ruby Kurasaki Kobashi and Margaret Jumura Abe who felt the same way)

I took home a lot of good and warm thoughts and memories

Thank you very much

Carl W.Cannon

To the Reunion Committee,

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

The reunion was a tremendous success--reflective of all of your hard work and tireless effort.

It was such fun remembering old acquaintances.

All your hard work and tireless efforts was much appreciated.

I hope to see you all in two years.

With much Bulldog Pride,

Sharon Seymour Mattson

The whole weekend was perfect. I felt rejuvenated. What fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really appreciate all your hard work.

Sincerely,

Jean Nigro Rodriggs

Thank you!

The Committee did an excellent job!

We enjoyed the reunion.

Emil and Martha Trimillos

HI CLASS OF "56".

THANK YOU SO FOR THE ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL TIME.

SEEING ALL OF THE UPPER CLASSMATES WAS FANTASTIC.

I HAD A GREAT TIME AND WILL BE LETTING YOU KNOW WHEN WE, THE CLASS OF "57" WILL BE HAVING OUR RE-UNION.

THANKS AGAIN

PATRICIA EMERY

In case I missed any of the committee I just want to tell ALL of you what a super job you did on planning our big bash!

Thank you, thank you. I had a wonderful time.

I know I missed speaking to a couple of people and wish there had been more time to talk to everyone.

Correction: My phone number in the Memory Book is incorrect. It should be 408-258-5478.

Barbara Balvanz