"High Society" - The 1959 Spring Break Dance!

Well Readers, here we are at the start of another "Casablanca Social Season" with one of my favorite events of the year!

 * Saturday*

Mr. Mickey Jordan and Miss Patricia Biera

of Lake Diversion entertained sixty members of 

The Casablanca Hotel & Resort

with a Formal Dance and reception heralding

in the 1959 Social Season.

("It's the 1959 Spring Break Dance Here At Mick's!")

The night when the "Who's-Who" of Casablanca's members gather in their formal attire, gloves, furs, jewels to cut a rug while dazzling the docks of Lake Diversion! It reminds me of what Photographer Slim Aarons once said "Attractive people doing attractive things in attractive settings."

(Kelcie, Wes, Nicole, Utah, Zack, Jaqueline, Ashley, Joy, James, JT &Dillon.)

(Dame Dorothy Winchell, Dame Nona Bailey, along with Russ and Deanna!)

(Kelcie & Nicole)

(Russ and Deanna)

(Emily, Kelcie, Nicole, & Brianna- Miss Casablanca 1958)

(Mr. & Mrs. Craig Nobel)

(Austin, Seigen, and Matthew)

(Audrey & Emily)

What a time we had, with 60 friends in attendance we dined, sang, and cha-cha-cha'd the night away!

Our dance theme this year was "It's Only A Paper Moon"  the hall was festooned with twinkle lights, white paper lanterns, and hand cut paper stars that were suspended from the ceiling. The soft light and glittering stars made everything enchanting.
To officially begin the dance we had Miss Casablanca herself serenade us and kick off an evening of 45's, LP's records, and live performances from our friends!

(Miss Casablanca 1958, Brianna B.)

 (Wasn't she lovely?!)

With the dance floor open, the cast members of "Grease" that were attendance took to the floor to shake a leg.

(Jennifer, Brandon, Mary, Sheldon and Austin!)

(Jennifer, Brandon, and Austin)

(Craig, Stephanie, Myself and Amanda!)

(Stephanie's Solo!)

(Hannah and Austin)

(Born to Hand Jive Baby!)

As the days heat started to cool off people were enjoying themselves both in and outside the dance hall.

(Friends Terrace and Melissa, Melissa took most of the photos in this post!)

(Melissa and Robert!)

(Rachel and Mary looking as if they are RIGHT out of the 1950's!)

After Twisting and Jitterbugging, friend Jarrod took the microphone and strummed us a lovers ballad, "Tell Laura I Love Her".

(Can this kid sing or what?!)

After Jarrod had crooned to all our spring lovers (of which there were many I'm sure!), the teens started hoping and the 45's went to dropping as things got underway for the Bunny Hop!

 Dear friend Melissa came all the way from New Mexico to lead the "Bunny Train"!

Then it came time to Hokey pokey!

(You put your Right foot in!)

(Melissa, Robert, Logan, Emily, Utah, Zack)

(You put your Right foot out!)

(And You shake it all about!)

 (Patricia, Sheldon, Mary, Jordan, Joseph, Melissa & Robert!)

Next up as the Limbo Contest, one that ended up lasting nearly a half hour!

 

(Our New Limbo Queen Jacquelin!)

Continuing the live acts, we had friends Audrey, Melissa, Seigen and Austin  join in the fun.

(Such a nice bouncy show-tune!)

We then formed two lines, Ladies on the right and Gents on the left and Strolled our way through!

 Melissa and Jennifer sang us into the third hour of the dance!

Not to be outdone, the cast of "Grease" started to "Shake it at the High School Hop"!

As a special treat to our dance goers, Patricia and I along with the help of friend Chloe cut out and painted a giant moon photo stand. So people could sit and swing with the stars!

(David & Terrace)

(Cora & Patricia)

(Stephanie)

(Emily & Ben)

About this time ballots were passed around to vote for the Spring Dance's "King & Queen", everyone voted on the best dressed and best dancing couple...

(Lynn & Stephanie)

Our "King & Queen" led the court in a dance, to a song that has become a personal favorite of ours.

Once our prize winning punch had been liquidated, and the buffet buffed clean the guests made their way up to the Casablanca for the first Drive-In Movie of the year. You may have noticed that there was no closing song to the dance, that has become a somewhat of a tradition here at the Casablanca. As we plan to dance our way through the year.

 Because all of us were dressed to the formal nines this year, the movie we picked for our feature presentation was fitting!

Frank, Grace, and Bing crooned us away into the wee hours of the morning, it was nearly 3:00 A.M. before we cleared the Drive-In and shut the lights off.

We plan all winter for the Spring Dance, as I said it is one of my most favorite occasions at the Casablanca and it has become something that all our friends look forward too each year!  We always have a dance committee that helps plan and decorate and I owe them a Huge THANKS!  Friend Melissa for all the wonderful pictures she supplied me with! Friends Jennifer, Dorothy, Russ, Deanna, Brandon, Jarrod, Patricia and many others helped pull of this wonderful night! Thank you all so much!

"Say It's Only A Paper Moon-"

-Mick-

Happy 91st Birthday Miss Daisy!

Born March the 20th, in the year of our Lord- Nineteen Hundred and Twenty Two. (Mary) Ladell (Trimm) Jordan is 91 today!  She received her diploma from Iowa Park High School, along with the rest of the Class of 1940 just months before a second World War would begin.  She married Lindon Ross Jordan in 1955 and had three children from 1955-1958. An avid reader of Womens Day, Better Homes & Gardens, Readers Digest. In her day she was a McCall pattern seamstress like no other, no Betty Crocker confection went untested, and not a single handicraft went untried. She is a wonderful Mother, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother to all!

My Dearest Miss Daisy, I Love You.

-Mick-
 

A Tradition Of Excellence!

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break 2011

Spring Break 2012

Today marks the opening of the 8th Social Season here at the Casablanca, what began as a humble gathering of friends has started to grow and blossom into a wonderful club of wonderful and talented people.

I am Blessed, so very, very Blessed.

-Mick-

Come And Knock On Our Door(s)!

Just a few posts ago Readers I was whining about how slow progress was, and then all at once we progressed!

I owe a HUGE Thank You to Friend Kyle, he and his father took my two french doors, framed them, hung them, installed the dead bolt, and installed the doors into the front wall of Pontipee Hall! I have dreamed of the day this part of the project was complete, and its wonderful to finally have a door next to the doorbell!

It makes a WORLD of difference in the new part of the house. The doors are basically five feet of window that face Southwest and gives us a view of the lake, the living room is starting to look like a room vs a giant wooden crate!  Before with no windows or doors the addition was just dark, save for the glow from the sputnik chandelier, now sunlight floods the room. I love sunlight!  I cant wait to save the funds install the nine foot window on the West wall over those two blue chairs. It will be like a solarium!

The proper steps to the door need to be built, two screen doors need to be added, along with an overhang awning over the doors but this will work for now, and just in time for our big Spring Dance too!

(I love standing out in the yard looking in!)

-Mick-

My Past Life Estate Sale, Part II

Well Readers, on Saturday we had swept the sale, and after a few hours we decided that there were one or two things we'd left behind that we just couldn't live without. Unfortunately  the sale closed at 3:00P.M. on Saturday and we returned at 3:05! So we would just have to wait until the sale reopened at 1:00P.M. on Sunday afternoon.

(Pat, Jenn and Mick! Remember this picture, its important.)

Once again we scavenged through the records, them being eight for a dollar how could we not?

The more we dug through all this stuff, the more similarities we kept finding between the man who owned the house and myself. I write on my record sleeves all the time...

"Given to me by Simon Gonzales

March 1, 1963

His favorite song

Rhythm of the Rain"

A million things race through my mind reading that, this song was top of the charts, President Kennedy was still alive, and this was Simon's favorite song.

Then I found this gem! its a 78 record, that was specially recorded by Thomas Calkins January, 7th 1947.

 (I used one of the pictures from his production 

of "Blithe Spirit" as the back ground of the video)

I wanted this record because now I could finally hear what the man sounded like, (My mother swear we sound alike, I think shes trying to hard.) When I played the record on my record player, we discovered it is a staged reading of an excerpt of  "Across the Plains" by Robert Louis Stephenson.

 A few more records, along with "Damn Yankees" and "Kismet" on VHS by 2:00P.M. the end of the sale was becoming a free for all and I started picking up sound tracks just for the heck of it! I'm telling you people start to pillage like animals turning over drawers, ripping down drapes, stealing cabinet hardware... and that's just the stuff I could get away with! I kid, I kid, but people do get intense about these things! I will say it doesnt hurt to dig through the grungy spaces, I found this green table cloth on the floor in a pile of ratty sheets.

 (Actual retail price? $0.25)

(An old Boden's Orchard fridge juice jar, I plan to keep lemonade in it!)

Our little quartet decided to try the second story floor once more to see what we could find, to the left of the landing on the stairs was a closet and I do not exaggerate when I say it was waist deep with clothing and things people had just throw in there, I was about to walk away when I saw the shimmer of silver painted wood...

I then became and animal springing to the back of the closet and digging through the pile of clothes on the floor, dug and dug but this is all I found. That Readers, its the base of a SIX FOOT ALUMINUM CHRISTMAS TREE!  Anyone still care to convince me that we are NOT in the Twilight zone?! He had wonderful taste. I'm telling you I must have been Thomas Calkins in my past life! When we were checking out the sale lady informed me that they had sold the rest of the tree the day before and had just assumed that all the parts had been in the box. I started beating myself up because if I had dug in that closet the day before I would now have five aluminum christmass trees! But I cant be mad, I am blessed enough to have four and I'm sure there are vintage lovers out there with none. I only wish I knew who bought the tree so I could give them the base.

However immersing myself waist deep in God only knows what for half an aluminum Christmas tree did not come without reward. over turned and hidden under a pile or molting, and I do mean molting cloths was this box-o-treasure.

(These are the stand outs!)

I have not seen blown glass trumpets before, there was many a shiny bright in that box. Perhaps most interesting was this little glass bird with a brush tail.

In one of the upstairs bed rooms I found these things, they are theatrical trophies from a theatre in Riverside California and if I didn't buy them they were going to the trash, so I did it for Thomas Calkins! I have no idea where S.M.U. is but I guess he was class of 48. The picture is signed as follows-

"To Tom,

Best regards

to a very good friend.

Balays Fredric"

The Back of the photograph says- 

Kindly give credit to

J A M E S  A B R E S C H

200 West 57th St., N.Y.C.

7/ 16/ 1951

I have no idea who the people in the picture are, but since they were photographed by a well known photographer in New York I bet they were special. I was told by a lady at the sale that "Tom" helped start the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra and that he brought in famous people actors, singers, musicians from all over to help get things going. (Can you imagine the parties?!)

(Looks like Thomas learned from the best!)

Found this book sitting in a forgotten bookcase in the formal living room, dated 1937 with its original dust cover I had to have it, as I too enjoy winning friends and influencing people.

Okay, remember this picture?  Well as we hunted out treasures 3:00P.M. rolled around and things started being sold for wonderfully low prices just to clear the house out. While enjoying the shade on the front porch of this beautiful and doomed house, the guy running the sale came up to our group and said "Ya'll thinking of taking the rest of those records?" Jennifer said "We might be tempted" and the man said "Lets Talk" and headed back to the garage. Not knowing if he was serious or not we followed him around back, he surveyed the lot and said "How about $10.00 for all of them?" I was speechless, and friend Jennifer said FOR TEN DOLLARS HOW CAN WE NOT?! So she and Brandon paid $5.00 and Patricia and I paid $5.00 and just like that we bought

1500 RECORD ALBUMS...

I have NO idea what we four are going to do with 1500 albums, but with such a great deal! It took both of our cars to load all the boxes of records and move them to Patricia's house. 

When our merry band of thrifters checked out all of my items above cost me a whopping $11.00. But the item of the sale that took the cake, I found while in line to check out. I guess must have missed it when I'd looked through the bookcase before, I swear it hadn't been there.

-Mick-

I Went To My Own Estate Sale...

Ever been to an Estate sale and as you walk around you think "Oh my God, this person was me?!" dear Readers?
Bright and early Saturday morning Patricia, Jennifer and myself set out in search of some treasures. The first house we went to was very Mod but it was run down, and there wasn't much to be had.  It was the second house we went to that is the subject of interest dear readers, a sale that I nearly wrote off and said "The add says vintage furniture, but I know that estate sale company and that means its all just junk." 

(This was the wall paper in the dining room!)

 The house was in an older part of Wichita Falls,  and had been built in 1925. As we went in and started walking around, Patricia commented that she felt like shed been here before, or it at leas seemed familiar.  Thinking nothing of it we head through the kitchen to the back yard, and that's where things started to get eerie...

(That's MY  stove Readers!)

My 1954 Frigidaire stove was in the kitchen of this house! We laughed about it and made our way to the garage apartment where they were selling literally THOUSANDS of records, the guy keeping watch said "its mostly opera and theatre stuff" and we started to dig, EVERY Musical sound track you could possibly imagine was in this archive, There had to be nearly 2,000 albums out on the tables. We all started scrambling trying to get the best piles and selections from one another. 

I must say the girls cleaned my clock and got most of the Musical albums, But I did come away with a few treasures! 1948 Cast album of Kiss Me Kate (thank you Patricia!) and More of Tom Leher- it has "The Element Song " on it (Thank You Jenn!)

We discovered as we rummaged through records, that the man who owned them if there was a musical he went and saw he would put the the show program in the album cover. There were so many paper clippings and programs from the 1950's! Jennifer and Patricia noted that it was a neat coincidence that I do the same thing with my programs too.

(A bunch of Doris Day 78's)

As we walked around the house I couldn't help but notice that the former owner and I shared like tastes... furniture, wall paper, music and theatre.

 Here are a few other treasures I picked up, $2.00 for a 1950's TV antenna that I had to unscrew from the right from the 1950's cabinet television set. The TV set had wooden doors just the same as the one I refinished for my room! A holiday promotional ruler and the mail box.

The Mail box was an interesting surprise, when we entered the sale it caught my eye,

Like I said, the house was built in 1925 and I can only assume that's when this letter box was fixed to the front porch.  When we were checking out I asked about it and the man running the sale said "If you can get it off the wall, you can have it." a quick trip to Jennifer's car yielded me a screw driver and a vintage mail box!

Sunday morning while trying to clean the mail box up, I discovered that it was SOLID BRASS! Which doesn't surprise me for 1925, so Dad and I gave the mail box an acid scrub, patina lovers cover your ears.

Here is the after scrubbed letter box. Shiny and new just the way it would have been in 1925. Even though I don't receive mail at the lake, this will be headed for the Casablanca!

(Fantastic wallpaper in the bedroom!)

 The last bit of info that sealed the deal on my "past life" being sold at this estate sale? The man who owned the house was named Thomas Calkins, an actor that moved from Riverside California to Wichita Falls. With him he brought culture and fabulous parties, HOW TWILIGHT ZONE! Not only  could I easily picture myself living in this house, collecting these things along with having the same passion for theatre!

(Here is a picture of Thomas Calkins in an early 1950's production of "Blithe Spirit")

Just before We checked out of the sale I noticed a stack of black and white pictures that looked like they were from a play. As I flipped through them I realized almost instantly that they were still shots from a production of Noel Cowards Blithe Spirit (one of my all time favorite comedies!) so the pictures had to come home with me!This sale left us with so many after thoughts that we had to go back on Sunday! But you will have to tune in Wednesday to see those finds, they were ASTOUNDING!

-Mick-

We went to one other sale, and I came home with this-

A felt, sequined, embroidered, bedazzled Seasons Greetings banner that I picked up for $1.00 I think I'll have "The Casablanca" embroidered under "Seasons Greetings from the".

Check back Wednesday, you wont want to miss it!

Sneak Peek... Tell Me What You Think!

I want you to be honest with me Readers, do you like this combo of Coral Orange and slightly darker than Powder Blue?  I have to say I am just green with envy over Dana's speedy home improvement projects over at Mid2Mod, how jealous I am that she will be painting and decorating soon while my addition is still at the post-wired, bare stud stage! However I cannot wail about Dana's renovation as the simple fact is she was better prepared for her renovation than I. "Face it, I'm older and have more insurance"  Haha If you will remember, Hurricane Sandy whisked friend Larry away on insurance jobs (He is my contractor), that along with building funds being exhausted just after Thanksgiving (In a mad dash to get the project in the dry) has left things at a stand still. But I am now just six studs, and an air conditioner hole framed and cut, away from having all the framing done.

I am also faced with the question of how authentic I want to do everything. Above is a picture of the 9'x 5' bay window that friend Kim gave me out of her late 1950's home. This beveled window has been a major hold up because of framing issues, and I'm leaning towards scrapping it. However I would fill the same 9' stretch of wall with windows, they would just be newer ones that are flat, it would provably take three windows to fill the wall.  Is that cheating? Do you readers think I will regret it if I don't stick to all authentic building materials? (At this point, I would just like windows and doors put in!)

Back to the paint colors that I'm not supposed to be picking out, since we are no where close to that stage in the project... I really like the coral orange, it takes some adjusting to. I remember when we painted it on set I thought "crap, its more pink than what I wanted" but it has toned out and really grown on me.  A few friends have expressed that its to dark a color and will make the room feel small, but with a five foot section of french doors on the south wall, and a nine foot window on the west wall I think there will be plenty of sunlight to brighten things up.  The painting of a tree on a rock by the Ocean, was a gift from Missouri Michael and I have always planned for this to be in the living room of the new addition.
I think as long as I paint the ceiling an off white, cream, or light gray the coral wont be to over powering... however there is also a long running joke around the theatre of having a friend paint this on the ceiling...

(Is it sad I am almost on board with that?)

Hmmm, "Adam and God" & Sputnik, don't tempt me... Photo courtesy of Patricia!

 

The most work I've done on Pontipee Hall this year was prep and tape the french doors last Sunday. During the party friend Austin helped me put a few base coats on the exterior parts of the doors.

(Already looking better!)

I still need to give them a few more coats of paint, but I am hoping to have these doors hung and working before the big dance in March. (two and a half weeks, YIKES!)  There is a lot to do, but hopefully its all on the down hill slide, depending on what funds it takes to get the doors hung I might get to put wall and ceiling insulation on before the end of April! After that is done (assuming all doors and windows are hung) we will be ready to put up a ceiling and sheet rock the walls!

I am so  thankful I've got a few good handy friends who are willing to help, and an extremely patient father. If we can get past all this practical junk, I know I can fix this room up so great that it will be in a magazine or a book or something and chomping at the bit to accomplish just that!


Patience, Patience, Patience....

So really, what do you all think about the color of the walls and couch? Along with my thoughts on getting newer ready to install windows?

-Mick-