I remember dancing with Noreen; she was easy to dance with and knew all of the steps. We were always friends; however, as with many others, time and a common background has brought us closer together. She is one of a small group of Regulars who attended school together all the way from grammar school through high school. This group includes Shari Langlois, Gerrie Rardin, Evelyn Graalfs, and a few others. I remember Noreen as a fun person who participated in almost all of our special Dance Party events, such as our picnic at Marin Town and Country Club during the summer of 1959. What I really like about Noreen is her even keeled personality; she is today, as she was when I first met her, a nice person. She has one mood ... friendly, and courteous ... even  when things are not going so good.

I remember going down to the KPIX television studios, on Van Ness Avenue, and waiting in line to get into Dance Party. Everyday I was in line, and I Guess that I was one of the lucky ones because the security guard "Bob" let me in almost every day. Eventually I was selected to become a Regular and began an experience that was a lot of fun, and made me many new friends. Beyond that, the experience impacted my life in many positive ways
 

What helped me to eventually become a Regular was the fact that many of my school friends were on the show, and our school was only 2 blocks from the television studios.

For a while, my boyfriend Johnny was my dance partner. Afterwards I danced with many different people. I enjoyed that because it enabled me to enjoy the different styles of dancing with the different boys.

One of the benefits of being a Regular was getting to meet many of the different recording stars of the day. I got to meet Clint Eastwood, Johnny Cash, Jerry Fuller, James Darren, Jerry Wallace, Ray Peterson, Neil Sadaka, Jackie Wilson, Connie Stevens, Darla Hood, The Fleetwoods, Ed Townsend, Chuck Berry, Dell Shannon, Connie Francis, Bobby Freeman, Jan & Dean, and many others. I am really lucky in that I managed to get autographs from all of these people. One autograph that I really treasure is that of Richie Valens. He signed his record for me when he was a guest on Dance Party.

I remember, with a pleasant feeling, the time I won the weekly dance contest and received a record player as an award. The song that they played for the dance contest was a very fast one by Jackie Wilson. I also remember wearing my hair in a pony tail, and dancing to the song about a pony tail shaking with a wiggle when she walks. The camera would move in to shoot my pony tail while the song played.

I had a lot of fun going to the Dance Party after show functions such as the big, all day, picnic at Marin Town and Country Club over in Marin County. The record hops and other special appearance were fun too. We got meet many of our fans, and viewers at these events. Sometimes we got to meet people who had written fan letters to us.

I treasure experiences on Dance Party. It rates as one of the high points in my life. It was an exciting time, full of life time memories. I will never forget the friends that I met, and what clean fun we had. They were among the best years of my life.
 
 

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