This is the last part of Doris’ memoir of dancing with Times Squares. Click here to read the first part or the second part.
At Christmastime, some of the men dressed in drag. One of the newer dancers, Mickey Pearl, was dressed up like Minnie Pearl. He looked just like her, except for the mustache. He had on the little hat with the price tag hanging down in front. His dress was the typical country ladies dress. The skirt was black, and the blouse was white cotton, with a round neck bordered with lace over ample bosoms. Over that was a red and white checkered apron with a bib front. The shoes were flats with ankle socks. Mickey Pearl was a typical picture of rural life at its best.
Bob, on the other hand, was dressed very exotically. He had to. He was the queen. He had on a blond wig, his trade mark, and a gold lame square dance dress, trimmed with tons of lace. The dress had lots of lace around the low-cut neckline with puffed sleeves and a tight-fitting bodice under a tasteful bust line. His square dance crinoline was huge and stuck out in every direction. You couldnât get anywhere near him. He had on gold lace hose and lacy sissy pants He just oozed glamour.
The Gays donât choose their partner as the straights do. At a straight dance, the girls sit around and wait for the men to come and ask them to dance. There are never enough men, so the extra girls do a lot of sitting. The Gays go one better. When everyone gets up to dance, they just partner up with whoever is standing.
Adrian and Ron, a couple getting married, were perfect together. If you could say it, theirs was a marriage made in Heaven. They were totally devoted to each other. It was a jot to see. They only just me at the beginnerâs class the year prior but to look at them youâd think they had been together for years.
When I first met them, Adrian had been crocheting a wedding dress for himself. They had decided by then that they would get married. In light of that I told Adrian it would take him years to finish the dress. He had been crocheting it with small needles and using very find thread. I could recognize that such fine work would take a long time, and near the time of the wedding, I teased him âWhy arenât you crocheting anymore? I thought you were getting on with it.â
âI decided to buy a dress,â he responded. âI could see I was never going to finish it in time.â
As soon as Adrian had decided to play the womanâs part, he bought himself a pair of red square dance shoes. Right after he would get to the dance, he would change his shoes and dance in high heels. To me, heels were a pain in the neck, or a pain in the feet!
Ron told me that they had decided to get married in their church in the spring. He wanted to make sure that I would come. Finally, spring arrived, and I went to Adrian and Ronâs gay wedding. They had prepared for it properly at the church my mailing out invitations.
The church is The Metropolitan Community Church of new York, a church of the Lesbian and Gay Community. They were in the process of cleaning it up and refurbishing it. You could see where they had finished and where they had not. Everyone sat o folding chairs.
During the ceremony, the couple exchanged rings and kissed and were declared married. After that they cleared away all the chairs, square danced, drank punch and ate cake. It was a very ice wedding. Adrian wore a dress, but all the other participants wore trousers. It was all very tasteful. All went off very smoothly.
After the wedding, a group of us dancers went over to SAGE and rehearsed our convention exhibition dance before a live audience. SAGE is a senior group of lesbians and gays who get together once in a while. The SAGE members thought the performance was very good. It is to be performed at the New York Square Dance Convention. I was in love with new York and square dancing and would have done anything to help them.
