“There
was no air conditioning,” Jane says. “Every night
they gave away 1,200 free seats.
The
dancers put in grueling hours at their job, but
loved every minute of it.
“We
rehearsed from 10 (a.m.) until 5 (p.m.) and then
went home for dinner,” she says. “Then we had to
come back and get our makeup on and get ready to
do the show. After the show we had from 11 (p.m.)
to midnight to get something to eat. Then we had
to come back and get the lights and the set ready
for the next show. We did this seven days and seven
nights a week for $30. We worked out butts off,
but we thrived on it.”
“Stage
Door Johnnies,” the guys who hung around backstage
and tried to date the dancers, were in abundance
at the performances.
“They
sat in the front rows and picked out the girls they
wanted to go out with,” Jane recalls. “One time
a guy asked me out and I told my dad. He said, tell
him you’ll go if he’ll take the whole group. I told
him and he asked me how many of us there were. I
told him 80. He said fine, bring them all. Turns
out he had a yacht on the Mississippi. We all went
and had a wonderful time.
“A
week later he came and asked my dad for my hand.
Dad told him to ask me. I thanked him and turned
him down. He was 49 and I was 17. I didn’t want
to be somebody’s trophy wife.”
Jane’s
Missouri Rocket stint lasted four years during which
time she befriended Virginia Clara Jones, who became
famed actress Virginia Mayo. Virginia didn’t make
the cut the first year the girls tried out and Jane
said she advised her to work harder. She made it
the very next year and the two remained friends
for life.
“I
made it as far as Chicago,” she says. “Then I came
home and was offered a political job doing secretarial
work for more money. I met my first husband, who
was a doctor, and we moved to Minneapolis. I was
an old maid by the time I got married. I was 25.”
Sitting
around the house was not in the cards for Jane.
“I
had worked since I was 16. I couldn’t sit around
all day doing nothing; so one day I took the street
car to St. Paul and went to the Dayton Company and
applied for a modeling job. They started the Target
stores. They must have liked me because I modeled
clothes for them for 20 years. It was a perfect
job for some of us who were mothers. We could do
the show in the afternoon and go home and take care
of our kids.”
Since
moving to Scottsdale in 1977, Jane has kept herself
busy and stays active by volunteering at the Mayo
Clinic, swimming and indulging in one adult beverage
every night before retiring.
She
also has carded two holes‑in‑one at
Pinnacle Peak Country Club, a feat many golfers
never achieve.
“I’ve
made three altogether,” she says. “I made one at
Arizona Country Club, too. I made the last one here
in1989.”
When
she’s not greeting patients and clients at Mayo,
Jane can be found almost daily at PPCC. She drives
her 1983 Cadillac everywhere she goes and has some
advice for elderly drivers in the hectic Phoenix
traffic.
“Stay
to the right.”
Jane
counts among her friends Joe Garagiola, the famous
baseball announcer, who gave Jane a plastic doll
at her 90th birthday celebration.
“He’s
from St. Louis, too,” she says. “We’ve been friends
for a long time.”
Visiting
with Jane is a treat as she will regale you with
stories of a time when glamour and elegance was
the order of the day. She has managed to chronicle
much of her history by saving clippings and programs
about her time in the spotlight.
“I’ve
got no regrets,” she says. “After all, I’m 90. I
held up pretty good.”
Yes,
she has.
