Last week, I visited a dear college friend, Josephine, in Phoenix. She and her friend David took me to a “Night in the 40's Big Band Hangar Dance” at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. The event flyers said, “Take a Sentimental Journey back to 1943 with ‘A Night in the 40s’ Big Band Dance. This glamorous event is one of the largest big band dances in the country. The ‘Night in the 40s’ features a WW II 1940’s musical show followed by a big band orchestra playing sounds of the era to dancing men and women dressed in period styles – all in the shadow of the vintage B-17 WW II Flying Fortress bomber ‘Sentimental Journey’!”
Of course, doing this blog has fueled my obsession with the 1940s and World War II so I was game to go along with them because my parents loved this kind of music (select Glen Miller at http://www.pandora.com). While riding out to Mesa, I drove Josephine and David nuts talking about all my parents’ stories that I want to put in this blog.
Once when I was about nine years old, we took a car trip across the country to California. On the way home, we stopped in Las Vegas and the first thing my parents did was make a reservation for a big band show, starring Russ Morgan (I couldn’t believe it’s still in existence: http://www.russmorganorchestra.com/). I remember my sister and I dying of boredom as my parents danced and listened so excitedly. We wanted to see real movie stars. The band droned on and on, and we tried to get into the gambling room. We’d been playing slot machines for a long time because, in the 1960s, children could play slots in Hot Springs, Ark. Of course, we couldn’t understand why we were quickly removed from the gambling area. Back home, my parents bought a little stereo record player, and the first record they bought was Glen Miller, which they played all the time. The stereo was amazing technology for the time, and I sneaked a lot of rock and roll records in.
So back to the “Night in the 40s.” There was a costume contest and an amazing dance contest. It was sentimental to watch. Several women dressed as Rosie the Riveter, Norman Rockwell’s painting (http://www.rosietheriveter.org/painting.htm ) that symbolized how many women helped the World War II effort. Now Crystal Bridges, the new art museum being built in Bentonville, Ark., owns “Rosie” so I was excited to see these women, especially a little three-year old girl named Quinn dressed as Rosie. Quinn went on the win the costume contest.
Several times I “teared” up during the night, thinking about my parents and their lives during the time the music was so popular. I was especially emotional looking at some of the World War II memorabilia around the hangar. There was one display with a replica of one of those, “Your loved one is missing in action . . .” telegrams. That got me as I have a real one exactly like it.
I believe the 1940s will always be with us. I hope that people start having 1940s parties (I have a costume ready) and they become as popular as 1960s parties.
Of course, doing this blog has fueled my obsession with the 1940s and World War II so I was game to go along with them because my parents loved this kind of music (select Glen Miller at http://www.pandora.com). While riding out to Mesa, I drove Josephine and David nuts talking about all my parents’ stories that I want to put in this blog.
Once when I was about nine years old, we took a car trip across the country to California. On the way home, we stopped in Las Vegas and the first thing my parents did was make a reservation for a big band show, starring Russ Morgan (I couldn’t believe it’s still in existence: http://www.russmorganorchestra.com/). I remember my sister and I dying of boredom as my parents danced and listened so excitedly. We wanted to see real movie stars. The band droned on and on, and we tried to get into the gambling room. We’d been playing slot machines for a long time because, in the 1960s, children could play slots in Hot Springs, Ark. Of course, we couldn’t understand why we were quickly removed from the gambling area. Back home, my parents bought a little stereo record player, and the first record they bought was Glen Miller, which they played all the time. The stereo was amazing technology for the time, and I sneaked a lot of rock and roll records in.
So back to the “Night in the 40s.” There was a costume contest and an amazing dance contest. It was sentimental to watch. Several women dressed as Rosie the Riveter, Norman Rockwell’s painting (http://www.rosietheriveter.org/painting.htm ) that symbolized how many women helped the World War II effort. Now Crystal Bridges, the new art museum being built in Bentonville, Ark., owns “Rosie” so I was excited to see these women, especially a little three-year old girl named Quinn dressed as Rosie. Quinn went on the win the costume contest.
Several times I “teared” up during the night, thinking about my parents and their lives during the time the music was so popular. I was especially emotional looking at some of the World War II memorabilia around the hangar. There was one display with a replica of one of those, “Your loved one is missing in action . . .” telegrams. That got me as I have a real one exactly like it.
I believe the 1940s will always be with us. I hope that people start having 1940s parties (I have a costume ready) and they become as popular as 1960s parties.
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