Molly Mulloy, Dancing With the Stars – 1950’s Wichita Style

Molly Mulloy, 1960

Waltz ? Foxtrot?  Cha Cha?  In 1957, my mother thought it was important for a young woman to develop dancing skills, so she enrolled me in Tuesday night ballroom dancing lessons.  It didn’t work – it was quickly apparent that I had no sense of rhythm(then or now), though I loved doing the Twist later in college.  I wonder if Rick Knorr or Kay Ellen Consolver can still do the Cha Cha we learned.

Disappointed in my lack of skill, but remaining undaunted, my mother joined some other parents in creating the “Junior Assembly” organization.  Junior and senior students from each of the Wichita high schools were invited to become members.  The parents planned formal, invitation-only dances several times a year at the Broadview Hotel  ballroom and served as chaperones at the events.  I remember the setting was really spectacular – a live orchestra (!), printed invitations, a specific theme for each party, professional decorations by an interior designer, name tags, corsages, everyone all dressed up – the whole works!  One party featured a nautical theme, with some attending wearing life preservers and sailors’ hats.  The entire orchestra wore sailors’ hats, too – so 1950s!

Looking back, the JA parties didn’t improve my dancing skills (Sorry, Mom!) but I remember they were really fun.  I suspect the formal Junior Assembly dances were our parents’ futile attempt to instill some old fashioned “culture” before the looming future of Elvis and “rock and roll” took over.  They were too late!

When not listening to Elvis, the girls exercised their dancing muscles on the trampoline.