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Why Did All-Girl Corps Die?


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For a while we had quite a few....Bon Bons, St. Ignatius, St. Johns Girls, Mello Dears, Ventures, Fire-ettes, C.D. of A, Joan-ettes, Jean-ettes, Nee-Hi's, Bandettes, CapitolAires, etc. Then somewhere in time they quickly vanished. Why?

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This question requires some parsing. All-Girl Corps, even at their peak, were still a super-minority of total number of organizations.

From the Bon-Bons to the Gardner Guards to the ND-ettes to the Chatelaines they were unique jewels in the crown and always crowd favorites. I suppose their demise was due to most of the same factors that caused the overall decline of regional corps. Anyone reading this will be quite familiar with those.

One thought persists: Those young women provided the spark for gender equity in all sections of corps. Rita Macey, Cherokee Merino, and others proved without a doubt that women were fully capable of any task in any section. Just ask Bonnie Ott, Gail DeAngelis, Barbara Maroney or any of the thousands who came after.

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I also remember Argonne Rebels had many females in the horn line back in the 1970's.

I always enjoyed the All-Girl Corps....their playing too! LOL

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4 hours ago, ironlips said:

One thought persists: Those young women provided the spark for gender equity in all sections of corps. Rita Macey, Cherokee Merino, and others proved without a doubt that women were fully capable of any task in any section.

As a member of a NJ junior corps who got our butts kicked on numerous occasions by the Bon-Bons and St. Ignatius, I second this comment!  LOL

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Many alumni/alumnae will attest to joining drum corps because they "saw them in a parade". So it was with me. I was a Cub Scout, marching (stumbling) with my Pack 333 brothers in a church event to kick off the annual fund raising Parish Bazaar.

Suddenly, I heard "that sound", and saw red and white flags swinging around the corner. I broke ranks and ran closer for a better look. The sight and  intense music just blew my little mind. Drum thunder, silver horns. Loud as h#ll. I was captured forever.*

The pastor had decided to add some spark to the parade by hiring a corps from the neighboring parish, and I was being gassed by the St. Catherine's Mariannettes.

My initial elation was quickly followed by the (albeit temporary) notion that drum corps might be for GIRLS ONLY. Wonder Woman and Super Girl with horns and drums!

My career path was set...by an All-Girls Drum Corps.

*They were playing a Bill Hayes arrangement of "Great Day". How appropriate.

For the full story:

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/2007/05/the-girls-of-summer/

Edited by ironlips
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Mixed Corps:

Back in "My Day" there were several "Mixed Gender" junior corps, with female performers not only in the "Traditional" color gurd, but playing horns and drums as well.  My two junior corps St Ann's and the Conn Royal Lanccers had females in the horn and rum setions.  The Casper Troopers were a "Mixed Gender" horn and drum sections from the start as were the St Mathias Cadets and Argonne Rebels  I'm sure there were many more.

Raise a glass to their memory.         :guinesssmilie:

Elphaba

Edited by elphaba01
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On 2/12/2020 at 12:30 PM, elphaba01 said:

Mixed Corps:

Back in "My Day" there were several "Mixed Gender" junior corps, with female performers not only in the "Traditional" color gurd, but playing horns and drums as well.  My two junior corps St Ann's and the Conn Royal Lanccers had females in the horn and rum setions.  The Casper Troopers were a "Mixed Gender" horn and drum sections from the start as were the St Mathias Cadets and Argonne Rebels  I'm sure there were many more.

Raise a glass to their memory.         :guinesssmilie:

Elphaba

While there were coed corps where females could be in the brass or percussion section, as well as the guard, there many that were not; especially on the east coast. In areas that had several all girl corps, were there other options? It's interesting that both Madison and Racine had all girl corps, but not Chicago. Probably becuase in the larger population area of Chicago there were alot of other options for girls. Although that doesn't really explain the number of all girl corps from NJ. While there were a few all male corps from the state, there were several that were coed. Probably had more to do with church sponsership than anything else. 

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Although I liked St. Johns Girls my favorite all-girl corps was The Capitol Aires! I guess they looked the prettiest to this young teenager.

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On 2/12/2020 at 12:30 PM, elphaba01 said:

Mixed Corps:

Back in "My Day" there were several "Mixed Gender" junior corps, with female performers not only in the "Traditional" color gurd, but playing horns and drums as well.  My two junior corps St Ann's and the Conn Royal Lanccers had females in the horn and rum setions.  The Casper Troopers were a "Mixed Gender" horn and drum sections from the start as were the St Mathias Cadets and Argonne Rebels  I'm sure there were many more.

Raise a glass to their memory.         :guinesssmilie:

Elphaba

My local-circuit junior corps had women in the horn line when I joined, and later the drum line. Color guard was all-female.

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