1963: Fairytale Town

Whistled While They Walked:  Grumpy, Bashful, Doc, Happy, Dopey, Sneezy and Sleepy (Pat Michaels, Pat Peterson, Pearl Ewing, Charlene Viau, Dot Cortopassi, Katherine Patterson and Lurline Peretti) walked in full Snow-White-and-the-Seven-Dwarfs regalia to publicize the PTA membership drive.

The first class to win full membership got a party and a visit from the Seven Dwarfs.  This was back when women stopped at nothing to make their projects succeed.  

The women donned caps, baggy tights, whiskers and fake noses and marched through the Big Lemon while horns honked and people waved.  This town has always loved a parade.  Apropos...

Mythic Moppets:  The 1963 15th Annual Kids Day Parade was another massive success with thousands of youngsters dressed as their favorite storybook characters and Western movie heroes parading around town.

But the winner was Bobby Osborne, 10, garbed as WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?  That was the headline on Bobbie's photo in the Review, showing him mustachioed, capped, belted with rope, clad in a sack and toting two popcorn tubs.  Nobody got it (neither did we), but the crowd laughed and applauded.

Road Story:  In the no-excuse-too-flimsy (or commercial) for-a-parade, the local Chamber of Commerce worked with dealerships to send a procession of 1964 Fords along Broadway, with Miss Lemon Grove Marcia Manu enthroned on the lead car.

The parade reached St. John of the Cross, circled back and halted for display at the Big Lemon, where tickets to Grove Theater were distributed.  The catch was that you had to show up at the theater in a Ford while eagle-eyed ushers checked you out.  Non Forders had to fork over 75 cents to get in and see The Sword in the Stone, a Disney animated musical fantasy.

Princess Trio:  Garbed in "princess style" gowns and clouds of tulle, three Lemon Grove women observed rites of passage.  Dianne Cavallin was installed in Lemon Grove Assembly 172 of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls at the local Masonic Temple.  

Judy Ann Beauloye, Central Avenue, married Michael Leone, Corona Street, in St. John of the Cross Church.  In Lemon Grove Methodist Church Denise Johnson, Skyline Drive, married Peter Von Konynenburg, then cut a four-tiered wedding cake.

Never Too Old:  When the new library opened at Palm Junior High, students pored over 3,103 new books.  Their favorites?   Pinocchio, Grimm's Fairy Tales and Treasure Island.

Cinderella Story:  The Lemon Peelers (a chapter of TOPS, Take Off Pounds Sensibly) held their low-cal luncheon and fashion show, and brought in Hollywood designer Larry Evans to create two outfits for the club's winning Cinderella -- the woman who had peeled off the most poundage.

Rose Jurchenko got the nod for shedding 54 pounds.  She also got a "continuous whirl of appointments, fittings and experiments with hair color."  Local optometrist Dr. Russell Love persuaded her to replace her heavy eyeglasses with contact lenses, while Joseph's Continental Coiffure transformed her "boring" hair into a mini-tower of honey-toned curls.

Here is how the Review reported Rose's total makeover:

     When Cinderella walked out on the ramp, there was a stunned silence followed by thunderous applause.  It was difficult to connect the Rose on the runway, dressed in her beautifully designed wool afternoon costume, with the Rose we had seen every week at TOPS meetings.

     It was not just weight loss alone that made the tremendous difference.  It was the combined efforts of designers, stylists, optometrist and Rose's own personality that made this fairytale a reality.

Evans had designed for "several Hollywood personalities" and was hoping to establish an atelier in Lemon Grove.  No word on whether this actually happened.

Queen for a Day:  in a sure-fire fundraising effort, the Lemon Grove Chamber of Commerce set up "Lemon Grove Day" at the national TV program, "Queen for a Day" in Hollywood.  Some 22 busloads of 800 women, who paid $4.50 apiece for the ride and a box lunch, traveled to the show.  Or, for another $2.00 the women could dine at Moulin Rouge on Sunset Boulevard, where the show was taped.

No word on which Lemon Grove woman was chosen Queen for a Day.  Somebody, please, call home with that detail.  

The Dinner Fable:  As the heat topped 102 degrees in the 'Grove, several clubs changed their dinner menus from hot to cold.  The Rock'n Riders horse troupe rejected barbecue for chilled chicken salad.  The Rainbow Square Dancers turned down beef stew for ham sandwiches and lemonade.  The Square Eighters eschewed spaghetti and meatballs for fruit salad.

And so it went as October dawned 50 years ago in Lemon Grove when magic was in the air.

About this column:  Compiled by Helen Ofield, president of the Lemon Grove Historical Society, from newspapers archived at the H. Lee House Cultural Center.  Each week, we take a peek at the past with some news and advertising highlights from a randomly chosen edition of the Lemon Grove Review.  Ofield was awarded first place in 2013 and second place in 2012 in non-daily column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists.