Tuesday, October 01, 2024

I Love a Parade, 1984

Today I have the pleasure of sharing more slides from Lou Perry, scanned for us by his daughter, Sue B. These are from 1984, a mere 40 years ago (gulp). I assume that the "5" on the date stamp means May, while the "G" stands for Golf. 

I have the  feeling that Disneyland sometimes let high school bands march on Main Street? I do know that they let schools come to visit and perform, my niece and nephew did it for several years. Though they did not march! They just walked up to people and made a noise on their respective instruments as loudly as possible. It seemed like a good idea at the time. 

Anyway, here's the Mountain View (El Monte) marching band. El Monte is east of downtown LA, if you must know. 


Thank you for your service, ladies! I'm imagining a marching band version of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and the Revolution. I'm sure Prince was a big fan of marching bands! You can just tell. 


I guess the school colors were (are?) blue, white, and gold; Mary Blair would approve. 


My friend told me that people in marching bands wear those tall hats because they can keep an ice-cold 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew stored for especially hot days. Why did I never think of that? 


Not being an expert on marching bands, I'm not sure what you would call the group of young ladies following the band. Majorettes (not to be confused with Raisinettes)? The Color Guard? 


Why, my school spirit is soaring! I hope the team murdalizes the opposition! But in a scholarly fashion, I'm not a barbarian.


 THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!

3 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-
In the 2nd image I spot a 'hair malfunction' - bangs run-amok. (Someone grab the Aqua Net-!)
When marching bands move into [their respective] stadiums, they are usually followed by its drill team. I assume that's the group 'bringing up the rear', as it were, as seen in the 5th image.

Thanks as always to Lou and Sue. And The Major... (are you the 'Band Major' for this post-?)

JB said...

Nice, crisp & clear photos; Lou Perry's trademark!

1) The banner bearers are saluting us. Or maybe the sun is in their eyes. Man, those are REALLY big marshmallows the band members have on their heads! Oh, and there are 5 (visible) trashcans.

2) Nanook has this one covered, so I'll skip to number...

3) They put too much starch in the flag, it's standing straight up!

4) Major, I still think those "tall hats" are super-sized marshmallows.

5) I don't know what those young ladies in the back of the parade are called either, but they're carrying large ice cream cones. (I know it's their gloved hands, but why are they holding them in the air?) That one gal in white just noticed, "Dang! My shoe is untied!" The gal next to her seems to be having a wardrobe malfunction.

6) Black Bart must've showed up; all the girls have their arms in the air, "Stick 'em up!"

Happy birthday Donald! And thanks to Lou, Sue, and Major for today's photos.

TokyoMagic! said...

I agree with Nanook, the young ladies are most likely the school's "drill team."

My high school's band was invited to march at Disneyland every year, I believe. I've mentioned this before, but during my senior year, I was one of my high school's mascots. We were invited to join the band at Disneyland, but they would not allow us to drive ourselves onto the property. We would have had to arrive on the bus with the band. Since it was a long tradition for the mascots' identities to be kept a secret until the very end of the school year, we just weren't willing to reveal ourselves to the entire band, and it wouldn't have been practical to stay in costume for the entire trip. Oh, well! But that was the same year that I was in Disneyland's Christmas parade, so I still got to "parade down Main Street."

Thank you Major, Lou, Sue and Mountain View High School!