ffernbus3
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Posts posted by ffernbus3
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1971 Lynwood, CA Diplomats Jr. Drum & Bugle Corps . Pictured is the end of JC Superstar Concert number.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHxEjoesxgs Velvet Knights on "Maude" TV show. Clip includes Wayne Bergeron, and ex-Diplomat soprano section mate Russell Rawls among others. (Originally found and posted by Ms. Nancy Holgate: mahalo!)
RON HOUSLEY
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Fran: 74 Kingsmen's Toledo performance is on xkingsmen.com in the media section.
RON HOUSLEY
A 1974 Key to the Sea story, if I may....apologies if this is a bit long, but this was a very wacky situation.....I marched that year with the Sacred Heart Crusaders from Manville, NJ.....a local Eastern States circuit corps. We entered both the Class A and Open Class categories at that Toldeo show. We had a small horn line (about 25-26) that played with a lot of volume and, on occasion, didn't suck....LOL.... and a really strong drum line.
Anyhow... as you can see from the scores posted above, we made the Class A finals, performing at prelims in the morning. Then that same afternoon, we competed in Open Class prelims.... here's where it got more interesting.
First of all.... we had to come back that same night and compete in the Class A finals..... yes, three performances in one day. Our corps director/brass/drill guy was a really old-school drum corps guy who almost literally did not know when to ease up on us... he would routinely either rehearse us into the ground on the day of a show or double-book "same day" performances..... then he'd wonder why we were exhausted at the end of a given day. LOL
Soooooo.... that day in Toledo, we had now done three performances...including Class A finals, which was our goal for the trip.
Our work there was done, right? Wrong.
It turns out that only a handful of corps got to compete at Open Class prelims that afternoon.... with the rest scheduled for the next day. But, from what I remember, there was a problem with the judging panel makeup that first day.... I think the panel was short one judge.
So..... the corps that did get on (us included) were given the option of coming back the next day and repeating our Open Class prelims show, with the full judging slate. Again, from what I remember, several of the corps turned down the invitation and opted to keep their original score........ but, of course, our director... the old-school workaholic... did not. He opted for the "repeat performance."
Sooooooo...... on Day One, our corps had performed three full shows, and then, since we had achieved our goal and made Class A finals, went back to our housing site and partied like crazy, till the wee hours of the morning, running on pure adrenaline (OK, and various beverages....LOL) at that point. Only problem was.... we were now due back on the starting line sometime later that morning to repeat our Open Class prelims performance on Day Two.
We we got to the stadium, for our fourth performance in two days........ with a bunch of us....uhhhhh... a bit worse for the wear, shall we say, after the long day before, followed by the night of celebrating....we marched into the "ready" area, looked out at the field.... and the corps that was on directly before us was..... the 1974 Anaheim Kingsmen. And they were absolutely tearing the stadium apart with their prelims job.
The Kingsmen got done.... the fans were on their feet with a roaring standing "O".... then here we came, out to the starting position. We looked up, and saw most of the folks in the audience getting up and leaving the seating area. It was as if WE WERE THE FREAKIN' INTERMISSION CORPS!!!!! Honest to God, several of us started laughing at the entire ridiculous situation. Better to laugh than to get really PO'd, I suppose.
Needless to say, we didn't exactly do a rip-roaring job that day.... and it showed in our Open Class score, as you can also see from the post above.
To this day, I can't figure out why our director wouldn't let well enough alone and A) either not enter Open Class at that show at all, or B) not bring the corps back for a sucky "morning after" performance. Go figure.
That was one seriously crazy weekend.
Fran
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That IS Pete Emmonds and Fred Sanford...but thats Rocco Olivario( Kingsmen horn instructor) on the far right. Not sure who that is with the shades on his forehead. .... anyone know?
The guy in the shades is 67 lead sop Peter Aguayo (spelling is probably way off).
RON HOUSLEY
67 Kingsmen
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Anaheim Kingsmen and Kingsmen Alumni Corps rifle Dale Nissenson Gough taught Alberta when Fred Sanford, Mike Dufy and Ralph Hardiman did. There's a great old photo of all of them outside an elevator with Ralph wearing a purple disco suit....I wish I had it handy but it's most likely been published around here somehwere.
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I checked with Tom Day at Bugles Across America and he, also, had presented her with appropriate medals and certificates.
RON HOUSLEY
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I posted this in the DCA Historical forum but didn't want the rest to miss it:
Donna Mae Smith was the first woman bugler in the history of the US Army. Later she was an instructor and, apparently, drum major of The Hormel Girls Drum & Bugle Corps, the first all woman corps to compete in The American Legion Nationals in 1947. I wrote to her some years ago while doing research on The Hormel Girls and she was very kind to reply. A very sweet woman and very modest about her place in the history of field brass.
Here's the story from her local paper:
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090722/NE...entprofile=1057
Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of the page.
RON HOUSLEY
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This is Donna Mae Smith. She was the first woman bugler in the US Army and later a member of The Hormel Girls Drum and Bugle Corps. I had written her years ago while researching The Hormel Girls Drum and Bugle Corps, the first all-woman corps to compete at American Legion Nationals in 1947, and received a very nice and personable letter back from her....a very sweet woman and certainly modest about her place in the history of field brass.
She recently was inducted into the Bugler's Hall of Fame and here's the story from her local paper:
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090722/NE...entprofile=1057
Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of the page.
RON HOUSLEY
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RE: Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, MN. Sigh, I miss that old park.
RON HOUSLEY
(Mpls: 73-77)
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Re: Just curious, were you with the Lynwood Diplomats in New Orleans in 68 for the AL Nat's?
No, in August of 1968 I was in the US Army at Ft. Lewis, WA.
I started teaching the Diplomats brass line in the fall of 1970 and was with them until just before AL Nationals in Houston in 71.
There are a fair number of Lakewood-Lynwood-Hollywood Diplomats around who marched with the corps in 1968, a fair bunch who later marched with The Anaheim Kingsmen and even later The Kingsmen Alumni Corps in 2007 at The Rose Bowl.
Here's The Diplomats page from Munson Chan's Scrapbook of Early California Drum and Bugle Corps:
http://mellom007.tripod.com/Scrapbook2001/dippics.html
Thanks, Munson........rock 'em and and sock 'em at DCA, Renegades!
RON HOUSLEY
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Re: The Diplomats at The National Orang Show and the disputed ten yards. From former Diplomat, author and chronicler of SoCal Drum Corps, Mr. Lloyd Kaneko:
"...I remember the night perfectly well. The organizers or the judges never measured a standard football size field that went from goal line to goal line (100 yards). They measured the field including the enzones. When we set up off the cone, it was set at the outer edges of the field. When we came off the corner, we were already 10 yards out too far. As we made our approach to center from the corner, we came in on the 40 instead of the 50. If the tw'ts would have measure the field to a regulation size field, I think we could have taken that show. The left turn, right turn BS litterally sank us. We never got fair credit for doing the drill -- we got penalized for being off center. Not our fault -- certainly theirs although they refused to accept blame for their error. If I remember right, we left the trophy on the field after retreat -- in protest. It wasn't necessarily missing 10 yards -- they gave us 10 yards too many...."
Thanks, Lloyd. Was it also that we did our opening drill all the way to concert whereas the other corps marched out to a song in their repertoire or did they also do a 1/2 drill to concert? I was sketchy on details so didn't include that part.
RON HOUSLEY
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Those old half-time shows featuring The Caballeros and other icons were, back in the b&w tv daze, almost the only chance us West Coasters ever got to see our idols live. That and the various Thanksgiving parades where we'd be glued to the set waiting to hear a drum corps cadence way off in the audio background and waiting for the first view of the guard's flags coming up the route.....the anticipation was palpable.
RON HOUSLEY
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Some great shots of Jan there, Garry, Give my respects to our favorite Skywench. I couldn't be happier that it all worked out for you two and continues to work out for you three. (Props to the Rene-Baby...and you, too, Dad!)
Good luck to Renegades at DCA.
RON HOUSLEY
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At the 1971 Orange Show the field was marked 10 yards or so short on the left hand side of the 50. As it was a standstill most corps just marched out to the 50 and set up in concert formation. The Lynwood Diplomats ended up 10 yards short as we had practiced our entrance on a "regulation sized" field and took a penalty when the drum major, Jim Good-- 1972 DCI Champion Kingsmen DM and the first "Best DM" in DCI history-- had the corps execute a left face, march 10 yards and then right-face back into center field. it was Stanley Knaub, the Diplomats M&M instructor, who protested and had them re-measure the field, thereby discovering the missing 10 yards.
I'll check with The Diplomats to get the exact story but it has been reported in Drum Corps World. I think it was in Northern Thunder's column. I was there and saw it but it's one of those memories from almost forty years ago that's getting a big fuzzy as to specifics.
RON HOUSLEY
A few more details were added to the above.
RON HOUSLEY
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At the 1971 Orange Show the field was marked 10 yards or so short on the left hand side of the 50. As it was a standstill most corps just marched out to the 50 and set up in concert formation. The Lynwood Diplomats ended up 10 yards short as we had practiced our entrance on a "regulation sized" field and took a penalty when the drum major had the corps execute a left face, march 10 yards and then right-face back into center field. it was Stanley Knaub, the Diplomats M&M instructor, who protested and had them re-measure the field, thereby discovering the missing 10 yards.
I'll check with The Diplomats to get the exact story but it has been reported in Drum Corps World. I was there and saw it but it's one of those memories from almost forty years ago that's getting a big fuzzy.
RON HOUSLEY
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The 1970 Lynwood, CA, Diplomats appeared as a walk-on on the old Red Skelton Show. I haven't seen it yet but I do believe I heard that the music heard was a dubbed marching band. The corps itself had rehearsed "The Thunderer," I think.
This was just before I started teaching the corps so I have to rely on the memories of the kids involved for the details.
RON HOUSLEY
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1967 Nationals in New Orleans with The Anaheim Kingsmen. I got drafted into The Army about a week before the corps left for their first Eastern Tour and I never got to finish out my last year in junior corps.
RON HOUSLEY
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Quote: "...That's a great way to perfect the movement, and a nice short story. It reminds me of the 1965 Troopers at Kennedy Stadium W.O. and that 50 yard company front in the opener. They didn't march, they would glide and stride..."
It should come a no surprise, then, to know that the '67 Anaheim Kingsmen's drill instructor was Pete Emmons, nor that we did the same company front to the 50 that The Troopers were celebrated for, and did it quite well, thank you. Mr. Emmons set the foundation for movement that The Kingsmen would become known for. The late Mr. Fred Sanford was the percussion instructor that same year and The Kingsmen were all the richer for and got a huge boost from what we learned from them.
RON HOUSLEY
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The Anaheim Kingsmen "Five Minute Drill" was in place when I joined in the winter of 1966. Same rules: wandering eyes, poor posture, incorrect height in the leg lift? Stop and start again from zero. I can remember that drill going 45 minutes. Usually because after awhile we were so good at it that it became increasingly hard to find individual errors.
I also remember water breaks that 66-67 season at one of the local high school fields where we baritones would fill our cups almost to the brim from the water fountain, form a company front, initiate elbow contact and "float" back to starting positions, start a full knee-lift mark time and then coming to a halt without spilling a drop before taking a drink.
No wonder Army Basic Training was such a breeze for me.
RON HOUSLEY
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I had the pleasure of finally meeting the legendary Mike Duffy when I marched with Kingsmen Alumni Corps in 06 and he spoke well of his time instructing Alberta. For that matter so did Dale and others that went along for that ride circa 1974 (?). Wish I would have had the pleasure but was elsewhere doing other things.
RON HOUSLEY
1971 AL Nationals media request
in Historical Junior Corps Discussions
Posted
Im my search for media materials concerning the 1971 Lynwood (Hollywood) CA DIPLOMATS Jr. Drum and Bugle Corps, I'm asking if perchance anybody who either marched in or was connected with the 1971 AMERICAN LEGION NATIONAL DRUM & BUGLE CORPS CHAMPIONSHIPS might have photos, programs, video, etc. of THE DIPLOMATS, who placed 6th that year. Please respond to Facebook page group LAKEWOOD/LYNWOOD DIPLOMATS DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS.
Thanks, R. Housley.