Puppet Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Georgia Graves.She was DM of a local-circuit junior corps from Virginia, early 1970's.... the Young Americans, perhaps? I'm not totally sure. Anyhow.... for the past several years she's been the DM of the American Originals fife and drum corps in the Washington, DC area. Excellent conductor. Fran OK. So not only am I required to think of Contra Bass bugles as "tubas" the DM is now extinct, too?! To quote the Wizard Of Oz, "Oh, what a world!" Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADetteAllTheWay Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 .... I aged out after the '72 season, but in '73 we brought in a young woman as a snare. ...Puppet That young women who joined St. Rita's Brassmen snare line in 1973 was the legendary Cherokee Merino. She started out with the co-ed Norwalk Hot Shots in the early '60s, spent several years with the all-girl ND-ettes of Bridgeport, Ct. and then became the first girl in Milford Shoreliners' drumline in '70 and '71 prior to joining the Brassmen. Over the years she amassed a truckload of trophies and medals from individual snare competitions, regularly beating all the boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allie Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 I can't believe how many people are responding to this thread. I honestly wasn't expecting much. Just goes to show you how great of a community drum corps really is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I can't believe how many people are responding to this thread. I honestly wasn't expecting much. Just goes to show you how great of a community drum corps really is! Good that you started this thread. All girl corps and women in music align with historical events. I started in a mixed corps late 60's, girls in guard only, then girls in horn line not drums, later girls in drum lines in other corps, taught 2 all girls corps and 5 mixed corps 70's. The corps that focused on music and marching didn't care about gender. Women are generally quiet about their successes but yes, you're right, drum corps is a great community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I'm glad to see Lil Lindy and Judy Foster getting props here. I recall another duo of superior sopranos from the late '60 and early '70s: Ada Di Marco of the St. Fidelis Majestic Knights, and Laura Schractner of the Miraculous Medal Orbits. Ada was a world class player, and Laura made a habit out of beating all the boys at I&E, including a young gunslinger named Wayne Downey. She's now a professional trumpet player in PA, and whenever the BDs come to town she stops by to keep him honest. Another notable is Diane Nicholeris, principal second violinist of the San Francisco Symphony and alumna of St. Thomas Moore Drum Corps. Cognescenti will recognize her surname from her brother Ted's DCA percussion adjudication. Diane is featured in a recent PBS special on Aaron Copland, judging brass at Pacific Procession and explaining the relevance of Copland to drum corps, and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Various Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 OK my young Baritone player... interesting subject... from a DCA standpoint, I can shed some lightThe first misconception - and I hesitate to critique anything Mr. Ellis (great drum corps guy) says... but there were definitely numerous instances of females in senior corps in the 50's... however, you were probably labeled a "lightweight" until such time as you went all male - remember I'm only talking about the senior/all aged portion of the activity... Your own corps had plenty of female color guard members, a female drum major (Anne Jennejohn) and even an occasional baton twirler - that be the Hilton Crusaders. One of the first controversial moves Vince Bruni made was (in an effort to play with the big boys) to throw out the girls... but this did not happen until 1959/60... in drum corps history this was NOT all that long ago... However, by 1961, competitive senior corps had gone all male... DCA wise - the corps that generally gets the most credit for creating an equal footing for Females was LI Sunrisors - 1967/68... However, although important, the real move that solidified this was rather the Quebec corps - Les Diplomats.... it was their success with female musicians that really opened doors... especially in drumming... they had this one female snare drummer that was ... well??? beautiful and unbelievable... by 1971, Crusaders introduced a mixed female/male guard and the rest is history... it was only a year or 2 later that we had girls in the horn line and eventually on percussion... Paul Collin's sister Lauren (well known in Madison area) was one of the first and best... we were very fortunate to be able to assimilate the women into the corps fairly easily and helped prove that the previous discrimination against the sexes was not only wrong - but stupid... So for your information... senior corps wise... I would give recognition to Les Dips, Sunrisers, Rochester Crusaders in that order... everyone else followed suit later in the 70's with only a few holdouts into the 80's... Someone mentioned Lois as DM of Irondequoit Statesmen - did she not become Mrs. (Dr.) Ed Mizma? I think so... and I'll second Mrs. Sandra Opie as the best overall female arranger instructor - flat out amazing... I was a member of the Crusaders back in those days. We often went to contests where we were the only females in the competition. Vince pleaded with me for years to play a solo, doff my shakeo, and reveal to the audience that I was a girl. He thought it would be great GE. Female brass players were a novelty in those days. Thankfully, I moved to Philadelphia before Vince did away with the female color guard. He wanted to compete in, what was then, the national championships, the VFW and American Legion. Both organizations operated on 80/20 veterans rules. Competing corps had to be 80% veterans and 20% non veterans. Most corps had imposters who competed using a veterans name. When you had females competing, the requirement was doubly hard to meet. When I became an All American Judge it was laughable by today's standards. My male conterparts were worried about car pooling with me to contests for fear their wives would object or it just "wouldn't look right"! I usually ended up driving to judge contests by myself. We've come a a long way! Happily playing my horn tonight at the Dixie Stinger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 (edited) Georgia Graves.She was DM of a local-circuit junior corps from Virginia, early 1970's.... the Young Americans, perhaps? I'm not totally sure. Anyhow.... for the past several years she's been the DM of the American Originals fife and drum corps in the Washington, DC area. Excellent conductor. Fran Was she known as Georgia Bridgemen in the mid 70s? Westshoremen had Georgia as a DM around 77-78 and someone on RAMD said she was from Young Americans or at least a Tidewater area corps. She had long blond hair and definitly the right accent. And just a super nice lady who fit in with us maniacs. Edit: Looking at a ca mid 60s-72 pic of Westshoremen in an old program and there is a woman carrying a saber with the corps. Looks like a color presentation so can't tell what section of the corps she is with. Thought corps was all male then so will ask on that thread. Edited April 4, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcf06 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 The Appleton Americanos had a young woman who could have been no more than 5-foot-one who screamed high notes on a soprano bugle in the late 1970s.I just saw her once, and never heard who she was, but the image of that little girl -- could she have even been fifteen? -- playing those high notes, with her curly blonde hair sticking out from under a toreador hat is still clear in my mind. Anyone know who that was? I would recommend taking a look at the Alumni website at Americanosalumni.org. There are over 200 pictures from 1974, there are more fo other years too. You might beable to pick her our from one of the photos on there. To the OP: I can brief you alittle bit on the Americanos History to help you understand another prospective. The Americanos were originally founded in 1936, by a man named Matthew Anderson of the Johnson-Blessmen American Legion post #38. The corps, then, was an all male corps called Son Of the American Legion (sotal). From Day one the corps chose to play a latin themed show. It was not until 1957 did the corps actually change thier name to the now known Americanos. In 1967, the corps had diminished to a mere 15 marchers the organization knew that for its survival it would have to allow girls in to the corps. The Announcer at the Americanos last show had informed the crowd that it would be the Americanos last show, With a brief pause the Announcer explained that it would be the Americanos last show as an all male corps. In 1968, another local all Female corps The Grand Chute Dutch Girls had folded many of them went to the Americanos. In the Early 1970s the organization was at its prime, having huge local membership base, and one of the most supportive booster programs in the activity. In 1973 the corps did something out of the normal. As the Corps played the Mexican Hat dance, the rifle line threw down their hats and did just that. I have noticed that most drum corps (military based) at one time started as an all male corps, and many of them have had a similar story. They either changed or folded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkyeag Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I can't believe how many people are responding to this thread. I honestly wasn't expecting much. Just goes to show you how great of a community drum corps really is! Abigail, Are you going to post your capstone project so we can read it? Allie,.....Allie,....Allie..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I'm glad to see Lil Lindy and Judy Foster getting props here. I recall another duo of superior sopranos from the late '60 and early '70s: Ada Di Marco of the St. Fidelis Majestic Knights, and Laura Schractner of the Miraculous Medal Orbits.Ada was a world class player, and Laura made a habit out of beating all the boys at I&E, including a young gunslinger named Wayne Downey. She's now a professional trumpet player in PA, and whenever the BDs come to town she stops by to keep him honest. Another notable is Diane Nicholeris, principal second violinist of the San Francisco Symphony and alumna of St. Thomas Moore Drum Corps. Cognescenti will recognize her surname from her brother Ted's DCA percussion adjudication. Diane is featured in a recent PBS special on Aaron Copland, judging brass at Pacific Procession and explaining the relevance of Copland to drum corps, and vice versa. Wow - I remember Laura! There was also a hot young baritone from St. Ignatius who used to come to I&E shows and make a statement. Where do you store all this stuff? I'm lucky when I remember my kids' names! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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