WHERE WERE YOU IN ‘62?
Palmerston North twists and shouts to a new craze
It was right there on the front page of the Manawatu¯ Standard.
Filled with black and white columns of classified advertisements, the page was awash in coming dance attractions.
‘‘Twist! Swivel! Writhe! Wriggle!’’ ran one exhortation. ‘‘Tonight, come along to the big twist ball, held above in the Opera House’s rainbow room. Listen, jive, twist dance!
‘‘Prizes galore for the best on the floor. Two guest bands. Who are they? Guess!
‘‘Everyone’s guaranteed a good time, so put on your twisters and come along in clusters, all you pretty little things... Twistaganza Gigantica Tonight!’’
The twist was the latest, greatest dance craze, inspired by the records of American idol Chubby Checker. It was also ushering in an era when dancing couples no longer held each other, but freestyled on the dance floor, together but apart.
George St’s Ballroom Astoria, advertising its regular Saturday night dance, was a mecca for all age groups. ‘‘Whatever your taste, you will enjoy our non-stop dancing, featuring The Demons,’’ it proclaimed. ‘‘Manawatu¯ ’s top rock band group, led by dynamic Rusty Robertson plus the Melody Masters – Palmerston North’s biggest dance orchestra, presenting the very best in modern and oldtime. If you like dancing, you’ll like the Astoria Ballroom and all that goes with it.’’
This venue was also slated for the National Party ball on May 25, with prime minister Keith Holyoake and his wife as guests of honour.
At the Methodist Hall, Broadway, 300 dancers were competing in the Caledonian Societies’ national dancing benefit competitions,
Not to be outdone, the Rongotea Basketball Club was holding its grand dance, featuring competitions, novelties and twisting, with the Mighty Metros orchestra. ‘‘Everyone will be there, having a ball, in the Coronation Hall’’ on Main St, Terrace End.
On Sunday night, enthusiasts could head over to the Kiwi Gym and gyrate to Star Ranata and his Starlight Serenaders, billed along with Jim Bulloch’s Jet Group. ‘‘Teenagers, we ask for your full support. Proceeds to Ma¯ ori Education Foundation.’’
The next Newbury Hall dance was set for Saturday, May 4, with music by Peter Wood and his Aces. Supper was included, with the standard door charge – four shillings single, seven shillings double.
Autumn and winter marked the ball season in the city and the 1962 ball of the year was the RSA’S, coming up on Friday, May 11 – cabaret style. ‘‘Invitations’’ could be bought at the big three department stores: Collinson and Cunninghame, the PDC, and Milne and Choyce, or from the RSA manager.
For lessons in fancy footwork, there was the Irene Oliver Dance Studio for adults and teenagers, at 25 Rangitı¯kei St. ‘‘Learn correctly and easily, keep fit and reduce the waistline. Be the life of the party.’’ And she taught the twist.
Another upcoming event that week was the May 5, all-day Manawatu¯ Ballroom championships, with a twist contest, at the YMCA stadium.
On Friday, April 27, the Standard reported, a civic reception in Palmerston North had given a warm Ma¯ ori welcome to the O¯ taki-born, international singer and actor Inia Te Wiata. It was led by Mrs Para Iwikau, of Tokorangi, president of the Raukawa District Council, with Wiremu Te Awe Awe (Larkin) giving the greetings.
‘‘Te Wiata rose to acknowledge the greetings and opened with an old patere, Puha, one well remembered by older Ma¯ ori present. It was 18 years since he had chanted it, and it was good to hear the elders speaking in their native tongue, he said.’’
On Saturday night, while the ‘‘wriggling and writhing’’ was going on in the Opera House’s smaller concert space upstairs, Inia Te Wiata slipped quietly into the sold-out main downstairs theatre to present the first of two concerts, accompanied by pianist Maurice Till.
At Te Wiata’s Wellington concert, theatregoers had insisted on three encores, and were ‘‘still wildly clapping when the stage was bare and the house lights had been turned on’’. Overseas news of the day in the
Standard included this cable item from Los Angeles: ‘‘A helicopter will spray perfume all over the populous San Fernando valley next Monday. In an hour, five gallons of the Paris scent My Sin, worth nearly $20,000, will assail inhabitants whether they like it or not...’’ The stunt was to publicise a new department store in Sherman Oaks.
From Auckland: ‘‘Northland faces the prospect of flooding if the present heavy rainfalls there continue...’’
Picture ads extolled the latest thing in insulation: fibreglass batts, while Beazley Homes were offering brandnew family houses – with a State Advances Corporation loan – ‘‘for as little as 52 shillings a week’’.
The local police force had bought a new ‘‘Black Maria’’ patrol van, fitted out with radio and emergency equipment, to use around the city.
Anonymous reporter The Square, who wrote for the Standard’s Around the Town column, commented: ‘‘A new angle on Anzac Day, heard from the barber’s chair: ‘I’ve never known a wet Anzac Day since I came here five years ago...’’’
And: ‘‘Two Linton boys searching for bait to go fishing visited a Linton farm... Using spears, they caught 150 eels in an 18-foot dam, which had been let go by the owner. One of the lads said: ‘We just stood on the bank and threw our spears. There were so many we didn’t even need to aim.’’’
The working day ended in Palmerston North, that Saturday of April 28, 1962.
And at night, the twist was king, as the fancy-free future movers and shakers of the city took to movin’ and shakin’ on the dance floor.
Prizes galore for the best on the floor. Two guest bands. Who are they? Guess!