I can't really say that Cherie and I were buddies; however, sharing those common bonds of Dance Party, that we have in common, makes us good friends. I used to look (well ... perhaps ogle is a more appropriate word) at her occasionally, and could appreciate that she was a very nice looking girl who could really move to the music. She was, however, as we used to say, "totally wrapped up" with Tiger, and he with her. They danced exclusively with each other most of the time. They were not the only couple like that; many romances blossomed between Regulars and developed into very strong relationships. Me, what can I say, I fell in love with a different girl every other day. Maybe that was my problem???

Anyway, here in her own words, is the KPIX Dance Party remembrance of my good friend Cherie. - Manny Interiano
 

Tiger and I met on October 2nd, 1959; It was Saturday night, and Esther and I were celebrating our 13th birthdays. Esther's mom threw us a party, but even though all of our girlfriends were there, there were no guys to dance with. We couldn't let that be, and we decided to do something about it.

Esther and I walked down to Eureka Valley Playground to find some guys for our party. What we found was a car with 3 guys, in it, from the Marina District of the City. They were Johnny Estes, Norman Estes, and their cousin Conrad Estes. We invited them, and they took us up on our invitation.

We had a great party dancing to our 45 records. Norman and I talked a lot, but he didn't dance.

This turned out to be the beginning of our relationship. I soon started calling Norman, and nicknamed him "Tiger." He was a real pussycat; I know that because, from then on, we were together every day after school. I was a junior at James Lick Junior High School, in the City, and Tiger was a sophomore at Galileo High School, also in the City.

The following year, KPIX Dance Party announced that they needed "teens" to audition to become Regulars on the show. I wanted to audition but Tiger still didn't dance. I told him that I was going to try-out with or without him. He decided to go with me and asked me to teach him how to dance. We worked feverishly on the Twist, the Pony, the Calypso, the Mashed Potatoes, and fast Swing Dancing.

Finally, the day came to show off our stuff. We tried our best in front of a panel of judges. Among the judges were Dick Stewart, and Pete Marino. After dancing, we were privately interviewed, and we were eventually notified that we had been chosen as New Regulars. Yea!

We danced 6 days per week, for one hour and 30 minutes. On weekends, Tiger and I would go to Bay Area Record Hops, with Dick Stewart in his Cadillac DeVille, to show other "teens" the latest steps and to sign autographs.

Tiger and I won many dance contests, and he went on to become the Twist Champion. We made many friends and answered all of our fan mail; oops, that took care of our allowances because we had to buy stamps and stationary.
We truly miss all of the friends that we made and hope that this reunion on July 31st will brings us all back together once again.

Links to different web pages

by M. Interiano
  Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved.
  Revised: March 4,200409/10/06 09:26:33 -0700.