Bridgemen uniform design
RDeschene
While we're on the subject of uniforms ....
There have been many posts of late concerning uniform designs, new and
old, alike. I've been going through my old DCI yearbooks a lot lately,
and came across this interesting tidbit from the 1979 yearbook,
explaining why the late, great Bobby Hoffman chose the style of
uniform he did for Bridgemen. I, myself, had read this "way back
when," but had forgotten about it, and so I thought I'd share with
RAMD readers, young and chronologically challenged, alike. *grin!*
According to the yearbook:
Bobby Hoffman, program director for the Bridgemen of Bayonne, New
Jersey, has been accused of dreaming up deliberately outlandish ideas.
He insists he just falls into ideas. Like the way the Bridgemen got
their long yellow coats, which shocked the corps world and were
immediately dubbed "bananas" when they were unveiled a few years ago.
Something had to be done about the old corps uniforms, so Hoffman took
to the drawing board. "I wasn't trying to be radical," he insists. "We
just needed new uniforms."
He began by toying with a cossack idea, based on Russian uniforms. But
there were minor problems. First, there was that small hat that
cossacks wear -- and Hoffman believes a corps needs big hats on the
field. Then, the coat was black, and he didn't want black. Finally,
with the bicentennial only a year away, maybe the Russian look was a
little too -- well -- Russian. But there was still that nice shape to
the jacket.
By February, Hoffman presented his design. The cossack coat now came
in an array of colors -- light green for baritones, yellow for
sopranos, and so on. The hat, a huge busby, paid honor to the
bicentennial. Did the corps like it?
"Well," Hoffman said, "when I brought the busby out, the cat calls
started. After the busby went, I asked how they liked the colors. A
Hell's Angels motorcycle gang member who plays drums summed it up. He
was standing there with all his chains and leather garb, and this
huge, grizzly beard. He explained, in his own way, that there's no way
he is going to wear light pink to play the bass drum."
Hoffman was left with two things -- the modified cossack coat design
and the corps' desire to use its traditional colors of gold, black,
and white. Back to the drawing board.
Hoffman eased his frustration by attending a special opening at
Harlem's Apollo Theatre, starring Stevie Wonder. "I was watching the
crowd arrive, and a big car pulled up outside the theatre," Hoffman
remembers. "This buy stepped out in a bright yellow coat, with big
pockets that had his initials on them. And on his head was this floppy
black hat. I only had to replace the initials with the Bridegman 'B'."
"You see," says Hoffman, "I just fell into that." And that's how you
build a banana.
*****
Necessity is the mother of invention? :-)
Sue
P.S. To make sure I give credit where credit is due (and hope & pray
I'm not breaking any copyright laws by posting this here), the credits
for the 1979 DCI yearbook, which happens to be my personal favorite
among all the yearbooks in my collection, include:
Editor/Linda Hamilton
Cover Design/Christos Theo
DCI Staff Writer/Saucy Cutlip
Principal Photographers/Dick Deihl
Art Luebke
Color Photographers/Brian Domenoski
William Stiles
Auxiliary Photographer/David Page
Printing by American Printing and Publishing, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin
RDeschene
God, this is *too* funny! ;-)
I'm glad I first read on our Netscape browser, though. If I'd tried to
read it via Forte Free Agent, the coding would've driven me crazy.
Sue
MJHH
Sue,
Your account of how the Bayonne Bridgemen developed is just how Bobby told me
happened back in 1980 when I sat down an interviewed him. I still have the
tapes...and if, IF, I can ever get the time to transcribe them, I hope to put
all the information and stories I have about Bobby into an article for DCW.
BTW, the floppy hats were "found" while Bobby and Dennis DeLucia were walking
through a hat factory. At the time, 1976, DeLucia worked for a uniform
company. Before the hats were "blocked" the brim was flexible and just what
Bobby was looking for....
Bridgemen were always tinkering with the show....right up until finals. From
what I was told, the classic faint was done as a gag buy the corps after a run
through and it was decided the wqhole corps would do it to end their show in
1976. In 1979, a soprano placed a bag over his head on our last runthrough
before leaving for finals. The staff loved it and he was told to go ahead and
do it that night...he was the same person that "chased" the dancing girl/guard
captain Diane Brady during Big Noise from Winnetka in 1980.
Harry
RDeschene
Harry,
>Bridgemen were always tinkering with the show....right up until finals. From
>what I was told, the classic faint was done as a gag buy the corps after a run
>through and it was decided the wqhole corps would do it to end their show in
>1976. In 1979, a soprano placed a bag over his head on our last runthrough
>before leaving for finals. The staff loved it and he was told to go ahead and
>do it that night...he was the same person that "chased" the dancing girl/guard
>captain Diane Brady during Big Noise from Winnetka in 1980.
>
You're exactly right! And I didn't know that until a corps member
e-mailed me the following, in response to a post of mine, re:
Bridgemen:
I remember Alice well. Last saw her at Bridgemen's 30th Anniversary
Reunion three years ago. If I remember correctly she was from
Rochester, NY, area. The gag as a judge was very funny and one of
those things that just developed that last week of the season. The
"unknown comic" was put in the day before finals. The soprano who did
it tried in practice as a gag and the staff just about fell of of the
press box they were on top of while we did run-throughs. He was the
same person who chased the color guard captain during Big Noise from
Winetka in 1980. Can't remember his name.....
*****
Sue