Women in Drum Corps History

[susantaylor40]

The party Saturday night was just incredible. It was at the school. There must have been about 40 just from 77 there. I think there were well over 200 all together. Wanna guess who the last 12 people to leave were? Bonus points for the time it was.

let me guess... was one of them a squirrelly little guy who practically slept with his bass drum, only because he was permanently curved around it???? i'd say about 3:oo am or so... do i win john?

[oldbaritone]

"Females In Drum Corps":

The St Anne's Loyalaires & Connecticut Royal Lancers junior corps of Bridgeport Ct had FEMALES in their hornlines as well as their color guards.  The Casper Troopers have had FEMALES in all sections. 

Lillian Gaudette was an award winning  drum major of the Bridgpeport PAL Cadets (and is now one of the DM's for the Park City Pride) so was Alice Dobson.  The "All Girls" Audubon Bon Bons had a very strong corps in the late 1950s, defeating all of the major all male and "mixed" contenders, and their drum quartet and Rita Macey won the VFW National quartet and indie titles in 1957.

Elinore McCarthy was an award winning drum major for the IC Reveries corps.

Sandra Stone of the old Rockford Purple Knights won the VFW Indie tennor drum contest in 1962.

Sandra Grim was a French Horn player for the Casper Troopers in the late 1960s, and won the Miss Wyoming Title in 1969.

I am sure that there are many many more.

Elphaba

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Quite right, St.Anne's and the Royal Lancers had young women in the horn line way back....1959-1960. Don't forget the Leicester All Girls Corps from Leicester, Mass. And, there are the ND-ettes, all girls corps from Notre Dame High School in Fairfield, CT. They won the World Open All-Girl in 1970 and, I think, folded shortly afterwards. The girls had no place to play after that, no senior to march in. A note of interest is that when the Park City Pride Alumni Corps started last year,at least a dozen horn players from the ND-ettes showed up. And they showed up prepared to play. We have former ND-ettes on soprano, mello, baritone (Ruthe aka Baritone Babs) and contra (special mention to Jan "Contrababe" McMorran. At this point, it would be difficult to imagine not having them in the hornline.

Actually, drum corps in general has always been quite progressive in social matters. As mentioned before, St. Anne's and the Royal Lancers had mixed gender hornlines and I don't think that was a problem back then. Of course, the PAL Cadets only had girls in the guard, but we didn't think about it and if they were put girls in the honrline I don't think it would have caused much of a fuss. I should mention here that St. Raphael's Golden Buccaneers had a girl guard at first, but the Bishop made them go all-male in around 1963 (some of the old St. Raphael's guard is marching with the Park City Pride and they are still unhappy about that decison. And I was talking with former members of the ND_ettes last night at rehearsal and they remember being really unhappy about not being able to march with a senior corps back in the early 70's. As recently as 1985 women weren't allowed to march with the Connecticut Alumni. I remember big arguments about that.

[visualjellyfish]

For guidance, I have come up with a few interview questions. Please note that I would like to use any and all information listed in this topic. If you want to be credited (and help me out) please give your information. If you are uncomfortable with this, you can PM me instead. If there is anyone who has given information and does NOT want it used, I would suggest editing it out of your post.

These questions are put into categories simply for my own organization. If you are a woman and marched guard but would like to respond to a question I posed to the women who marched horn or drums, please do not hesitate. Same goes for the men. If any of my questions raise other related topics feel free to elaborate and pose questions to others. You do not have to answer all questions! Just any that you want to. Thanks for all the help.

1.) Please state your name, the corps you marched and in which section, and when

2.) If you could give a brief definition of drum corps to me, this would also be helpful.

3.) What, do you feel, was your drum corps most known and recognized for?

WOMEN

Horns and Drums

a. Were your caption heads/directors enthusiastic or reluctant to accept you into this section of the corps?

b. How, do you feel, was their sentiment related to the period of time during which you marched? (particularly, the Second Women's Movement of the 1960s)

c. If staff/ male members were reluctant, did you feel you had to work harder than the men? Give examples, if possible.

d. If staff/male members were accepting, did you still feel as though you had to "prove yourself"? Give examples, if possible.

e. Do you feel like your body could have hindered your marching moreso than men? (There are natural differences in the male and female bodies, besides the obvious, that make it more difficult, in general, for women to do many athletic activities.)

f. Was there ever a driving force for you of "women CAN do drum corps just as well as/better than men"? If so, how did you go about acheiving this?

g. How did you perceieve all-male corps and their unwillingness to permit women? Did this raise political/social/legal issues for you?

h. How do you perceive the women who march in the horn and drum sections today in contrast to when you marched?

Colorguard

a. When you marched, how do you believe your colorguard was perceived by the men in the corps?

b. Was there ever a desire, within your group, to make colorguard into a more artistic activity? Why do you believe this happened?

c. How have you perceived the evolvement of the colorguard activity from a strictly militaristic role to a more artistic one? (Please modify/elaborate upon my question if it is incorrectly stated.)

d. When you marched, was there any moral/feministic protest (either spoken or unspoken) against such masculine/militaristic characteristics of colorguard?

e. How did you perceive all-male colorguards (as far as their process and product) in contrast to your own? Did these perceptions raise any political/social/legal issues for you and/or your group?

f. How do you perceive the women in colorguard today in contrast to the way it was when you marched?

g. How do you perceive the men in colorguard today?

MEN

a. How did you perceive the women in colorguard when you marched? Reflecting back now, how has that changed, if at all?

b. How do you percieve the women who march colorguard today, in contrast?

c. How did you perceive the women in the horn/drum sections when you marched? Reflecting back now, how has that changed, if at all?

d. How do you perceive the women who march in the horn/drum sections today, in contrast?

e. Did you feel as though women had to "prove themselves" either for male approval or simply for themselves?

f. Do you feel that women still need to prove themselves in any section today?

Thanks again for all help!

MY

[LancerFi]

1979 - Darlene Bonfiglio directed almost the whole show, however George B. would never, ever have considered a female drum major. You cannot be the "bossman" if you're a woman...I guess.

I slept with a metronome and was doing it in 80 pre-season until 2 rifles left in April/May.....I went back in the line (thank you so much) and we brought up a 13 year old rifle from the Cadets....Elaine, who would eventually be the last 2-7 captain and would also be the only non age out person to win the female version of the Lancer of the Year, the Mary-Helen Thomas Award.

However I don't remember Jean L. ever directing in 77 or 78....both years she was captain.

[LancerFi]

"Females In Drum Corps":

Elinore McCarthy was an award winning drum major for the IC Reveries corps.

Elphaba

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Then I know you remember when she took her hat off and swung her hair around (the original "hair dance") to Bill Bailey?

Elphaba, you've got the history ha?

She was/is a legend!

[lp1955]

The Bridgemen marched a female in the Sop line in 72 I remember it being a big deal the first Girl in the line. Sally was her name I think and she was just as good al all the boys in the solo line. we gave her the nick name of Sally solo. Deb was our first female DM in 71 she is still envolved with the Bridgemen Alumni

[Lancerlady]

1979 -  Darlene Bonfiglio directed almost the whole show, however George B. would never, ever have considered a female drum major.  You cannot be the "bossman" if you're a woman...I guess.

I slept with a metronome and was doing it in 80 pre-season until 2 rifles left in April/May.....I went back in the line (thank you so much) and we brought up a 13 year old rifle from the Cadets....Elaine, who would eventually be the last 2-7 captain and would also be the only non age out person to win the female version of the Lancer of the Year, the Mary-Helen Thomas Award.

However I don't remember Jean L. ever directing in 77 or 78....both years she was captain.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know that Debbie Wedge, Elaine's sister (whom you are talking about) (right?) directed some in the 1985 show, counting off and different parts. I didn't know that about Darlene though.

Say Nancy do you recall when the first female was allowed in the horn line in 27 or has it always been? I'm curious myself...

[visualjellyfish]

bump

Please help me out. I asked those questions in order to gain more solitified information from alumni who marched. I wanted information from people outside of my own corps. You don't have to answer all the questions...even answering one or two would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

MY

[ironlips]

bump

Please help me out. I asked those questions in order to gain more solitified information from alumni who marched. I wanted information from people outside of my own corps. You don't have to answer all the questions...even answering one or two would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

MY

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I marched in St. Catherine's Queensmen (NYC) in 1961 and '62. We were an all-male corps, but the parish also sponsored the Marionettes, a very fine "all-girls" unit which did quite well competitively, even besting the great Audubon corps on occasion.

It was quite common for NY, NJ and CT corps to have boys and girls in horn and drum lines in the '60s. If the corps was co-ed, guards were normally female.

Laura Schactner (sp?) and Ada DeMarco were the Thelma and Louise of soprano I&E and did more than their share of besting the best of the boys.

Lillian Lindy was one of the Sunrisers' brass instructors in the late '50s and into the '6os and also taught hundreds of kids in local parade and "Class A" corps.

The Sunrisers also have the distinction of fielding the first female DCA colorguard, in 1969. Imagine the amount of scrutiny they endured. All 9 of them were collectively inducted into the corps Hall of Fame last year.

With respect to women's rights in drum corps, the Northeast traditionally had the "blue states".

[audiodb]

I marched in St. Catherine's Queensmen (NYC) in 1961 and '62. We were an all-male corps, but the parish also sponsored the Marionettes, a very fine "all-girls" unit which did quite well competitively, even besting the great Audubon corps on occasion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In field competition? I doubt it. I have pretty substantial documentation of contest results from the era, and I have no record of the Marianettes and Bon Bons ever competing in the same contest.