Saturday, June 30, 2012

Stars Over Meadowbrook Junior High School - Ft. Worth


 I think the Stars Over Meadowbrook spring variety show got its start about 1954 and recall it being a big deal the years I attended the school.  As a new transfer in 1958, I was pretty much overwhelmed by everything at the new school.

Then, a short time after the Christmas vacation, the buzz about the "Stars" show started ramping up in the hallways.  Kids were excited about rounding up their friends to join them in some acts, engaging in after-school practices, and stage preparations.

It was a great time for unbridled socializing and seemed to involve a large component of the student population in one activity or another.  Both the 8th and 9th grades were participants, but I don't think the 7th graders were a part of it...they had to wait until next year.

"You might be interested in knowing, too, that my mother (Lois Terry) and the music teacher (Pat Barr) were instrumental in getting Stars Over Meadowbrook underway. Mama came up w/the title and words to SOM and Pat Barr composed the melody in 1954. When I was in the chorus, in 1962, I couldn't sing that song w/o getting a lump in my throat, knowing that my mother wrote those words." -- Kim Kathleen Terry ('65)


Images included with this article are from the 1958-59-60 shows.  For the most part it was a girls' production ... lots of dancing and stabs at singing and acting, some orchestrals ... and always one boys' act, that as I recall it, was usually a spoof that included some of the football players dressed in drag or some other outrageous garb.  It was great fun for those participating and no doubt provided the model for the EHHS Highland Fling that was quickly established after EH opened in 1959.








Those pictured below were mostly to become future EHHS 1961 & 1962 graduates; while the programs shown above and along the left side is made up of 1963 & 1964 EHHS grads.  However, a number of them went to Poly and became graduates of that fine school in the same years noted.

The following pictures were found in a long closed, dusty ISD file by a '65 EH who did not recognize any of them.  Blessedly, the '65 is a Facebook friend of mine and I did recognize a number of them...pretty girls, doncha know--we never forget you, ladies.  And thanks to some still cognizant '61s, we were able to even find the names of those who split away from us and went to Poly.  Enjoy.









Don't recognize anyone here


Don't recognize anyone here
Melany Burton & Dana Gant (both EHHS '61) in this picture; also Julie Moberg.
Event thought to be the closing chorus of the 1958 Stars show.


1955
Younger sisters, Jackie Nantz ('61) and Barbara Isham ('64) were better known to us '63s, since we were in school with them at EHHS where they were quite popular.  The girls pictured most likely went on to Poly and graduated just before EHHS opened.

EHHS Highland Fling



The Highland Fling was a Spring variety show similar to the Meadowbrook "Stars" program and consisted of a series of skits. The main event was the beauty pageant. It was a lot of fun for a lot of kids. The names listed in the program were a number of our more prominent classmates and a number of them went on to live useful lives.

1962

1963


Adios

2 comments:

Patty Bradley said...

"Stars Over Meadowbrook" started in the first year of the new junior high building. The year was 1955. I was in that first graduating class as a "senior". I also was one of the performers. I wish I could see some pics of the program that year. My maiden name was Patty Casey.

cj said...

The all-girl picture with Gant and Burton in it is, probably, the Spring 1958 Stars chorus -- just a guess, but I saw a picture like that once of the 1960 chorus.