In my high school days, the State Fair was the truly big deal of the September Fall season and all of us kids would not just go once, noooo, we'd go every single day, stay all day, and right through until the fireworks marked the close of the night. The fair was a yearly dream come true and one of the reasons was....ok, here it comes....the live strip shows. They didn't care if you were the prerequisite age to get in, oh heck no; they let everyone in. My best buddy, Billy, and I made a point to go to these every year, day after day. There were 2 entirely different shows, one at one end of the fair and the other at the other end. One was called The Red Hot Rambler and man alive, the music was the hottest (and loudest) rhythm and blues a person could ever want. There was no way to sit or stand still in that show. Well....the strippers in that show were a bit on the grungy side but the music, ohhh the music! Billy and I would sit through at least 2 shows at a time in that tent, groovin' to the beat and trying not to cringe during the strip acts. Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't raided.
Next we'd slip out of the back of the tent and make our way to the other side of the fair and straight to The Stardust. Whole different ballgame. The main glossy, very blond stripper went by the name of Serena and there was an actual big board with her photo being crowned Miss Norway 1950-something. Now a stripper, once a beauty queen; who knows what happens in life. But she was undoubtedly beautiful and her stripping was just like Gypsy Rose Lee -- gloves would come off oh so slowly while she glided across the stage; the show of a shoulder, of a leg, the turn and dropping of the top to show tassels, the twirling in every direction possible, and then all of a sudden the whipping off of the skirt so fast that you'd miss it if you blinked because she'd throw the curtain around herself, a wink and a smile, and be gone. The entire act was always to the same music. Always. Buddy Morrow's Night Train. I can hear it as we speak; I can see every move she made and every twirl of the tassels. I was fascinated. Yes, every year Billy and I went back and back and saw the same repeat of these shows, never tiring of even a second. The last year we went, Billy went backstage and actually met Serena and looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. There's a reason for this, just hold on.
Christmas came along and all of us kids would exchange gifts and try to outdo each other in originality. There was a knock at my door. Billy, with that same canary grin from September, was holding out a very 'well wrapped' present to me. It was the Buddy Morrow Night Train album and it was wrapped in a black lace bra with cups the size of a Volkswagen. Slipped into the cups were 2 tassels and a note of "practice, practice, practice, and you, too, can headline at The Stardust". The bra and the tassels were from Serena! I laughed so hard that I snorted! On the other hand, my parents were appalled. Hey, it was the best present I ever got! I'd play that old vinyl album over and over and over, and ok, so I practiced, but that's not the point. The bra's cups could have held 2 people and I saved that thing for forever and a day. It was only recently, in my last move, where I gently picked it up to wrap it in new tissue that it began to crumble in my hands. Dry rot had found a home in the bra, the cups, and the now disintegrating tassels. I cried. It was a piece of great history to me from well over a half century ago. I picked up the phone and called Billy to give him the news and he just started laughing. Cad. I wouldn't be surprised if he and his wife showed up next Christmas with a new black lace 'giant' bra.
I love memories, don't you?
XOXOXO
JennyD
