My beautiful Irish mother left home in Oklahoma at the age of sixteen to join a dance troop and tour the country about the time that World War Two was beginning. She left her mother and older sister to go with the Sally Rand Dancers. Sally was known for doing a “fan dance” while either nude or appearing to be nude, actually pretty tame stuff for today’s venues. Mom wore fabulous costumes and danced in nightclubs and theaters from the East Coast to the West. Surprisingly, these dancers were all treated somewhat like they were in a convent. Most of the girls were under age and the supervision was pretty fierce according to Mom.
The dancers practiced about six hours a day, and usually did two, sometimes three shows a night. That really didn’t leave a lot of time for shenanigans! In 1944, Mom arrived in Los Angeles and she and another eighteen-year-old dancer went to the nightclub where they would be working to report in, and ask where they were supposed to go. A hotel (in a respectable neighborhood) was quickly found for them. While in Los Angeles, Mom was put under contract to MGM for several musicals. My husband and I have seen her various times on late night TV, dancing in movies like Shine on Harvest Moon and other films of that genre. After a couple of years in Los Angeles, Mom and several of the other dancers accepted an offer to come to San Francisco and perform at a club called Bimbo’s 365.
In San Francisco, my mother met a handsome Mexican cop who would later become my father. Dad was born in San Francisco and had lived in the Mission District all of his life. He was the quarterback of the Mission High School football team and adored by his family, particularly his two older sisters, (and his female friends and fans). Dad attended City College for two years after high school to get an Associate Degree. He joined the Merchant Marine because he was ineligible for the military because of a football injury. After the Merchant Marines, he became a San Francisco cop.
