I am talking about the Junior and Senior Prom.
During the school year there were two homecoming dances, a Christmas dance and a Sadie Hawkins dance with a couple record hops mixed in, but they all paled in comparison to the prom.
The prom was our big chance to present ourselves as only the high-class folks did. The entire thing was to be formal. That meant that the girls planned and shopped for a prom dress — a dress so special that, as far as I know, was only worn once by the girl it was bought for and purchased for more than her entire wardrobe.
(I have yet, to this day, had that explained to me to where I can understand it.)
As for the guys we rented tuxedos at Macs Cleaners (the local dry cleaner). I guess since boys are doubted to have taste in clothes, we were given the choice of a white or black tux.
I as most chose the white one. I went the extra 50 cents and rented the dress shirt with the white frilly design in the front and cuff links to boot.
By the way, the tux was $12.95 to rent if you had it back to the cleaners by 5 p.m. Monday.
We dressed the high society look as we were going to spend the night having the highest time of our lives.
The evening began at 6 p.m. and this was after many pictures were taken by parents that just could barely stand seeing their child looking so grown up.
At 6 p.m. we all gathered in the school cafeteria to enjoy a very formal meal. Roast beef or ham with the side dishes and a tasty desert — all severed on china!
After the meal, we moved over to the gym where the junior class had been transforming the gym into a scene from Paris or Tahiti.
Again places we had only seen in pictures, but for this evening we accepted as a little more like the real place. It did set a high school kid back to be all formally dressed and wearing corsages or boutonnières and sitting along a Paris street. That is a far piece from Felicity to say the least. The topper was we danced to a live band.
That first dance always seemed to me to be the hardest one as the first step always is. I, like most guys, waited for a slow dance. After not crushing my date’s feet to pieces, the confidence rushed in. Before you knew it, I was out there doing the twist, fast dancing to dances I had no idea I knew how to do, but I was. As the nerves calmed we all just settled in and had a blast.
The dance ended at 11p.m. and we all changed into regular street clothes, not to go home, but to go to Holly Lane Bowling Alley where we all went and bowled and hung out until 3 a.m.
After proving to each other and ourselves we weren’t ready to go pro, our chaperons (Mike and Fran Delfine and Ron and Esther Ramey) rounded us up and headed us to Bethel.
Once in Bethel we went to the Midway Theatre where we had rented it for a showing of a movie just for us. By the time the movie was getting started most of us were slowing down.
Maybe we weren’t quite ready for the real night life just yet. But when the movie ended and the sun was beginning its ascent, we were headed back to Felicity. Not yet to go home, but to return to the cafeteria where many of our parents had assembled to cook us a bacon and egg breakfast.
Now that, my friends, was what I called a night out.
The feeling of being allowed to expand our horizons so much was a feeling that I really can’t explain, but I can tell you I have always been so glad I got to experience it. I just hope my date enjoyed it as much as I did.
As I took my date home and headed to my house, my energy — if I had any left — was leaving me at a rapid pace. When I pulled into the driveway, I was so ready for sleep.
That was when my dad said, ‘change into your work clothes and plow the back field.’
That was when I thought to myself, ‘yes, back to reality again!’
But now, looking back almost a half of a century ago, just how much has changed and just how much emphasis on how big the prom was and how in our way we could make it so we tried to create a permanent memory.
I know that by today’s standards, our prom would probably not hit their standards.
However, when the topic “prom” comes up in my mind, I can see all the couples on the dimly lighted dance floor slow dancing to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” or, more fittingly, “Yesterday.”
No matter, I guess, because it will always be today in my memory.
Rick Houser was raised on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com.