Grease Live

2/25/2016

I recorded and watched (more than once) Grease Live.  The show is live, hence the title, and the actors do a wonderful job of singing and dancing.  It's a fun and enjoyable show, but I only watch it when Jeff's not home.  He, unlike myself, does not have a deep sense of affection for the music.

I had a friend over on Saturday and we watched a bit of the show.  At one point, an actress comes out and sings to her friend who is away in the service.  While I watched her performance, I was reminded about being a teenager in the 60's, when the Vietnam War was ongoing.

We had an Air Force base close to the town I lived in.  On Friday and Saturday nights, we girls would dress up (yes, in those days we really did) and go to the USO dance.  Even if you weren't the prettiest girl in the room and/or couldn't dance, these things didn't matter to the men.  The men weren't much older than we girls were, late teens or early 20's and a long way from home.  And lonely.

We girls were in 7th heaven with a room full of young and mostly attractive men.  Who wouldn't be?  At age 66, it's hard for me to exactly remember how young and full of spirit and adventure myself and my friends were.  

Most of the servicemen didn't have cars, so there wasn't much actual dating going on.  If someone had a car, then it would definitely be a double date.  These guys were transient, here today and moved tomorrow.  

The USO was by today's standards, a wholesome place.  Supervised by adults that volunteered to watch over us at dances, my parents had no objection to me going.  It was a unique time and one that I had all but forgotten about, until I watched Grease Live.

P