Last week there was a designated “National Prom Day.” This means prom season is in full bloom. A couple of my students are making plans for attending the proms at their home schools and I’m hearing plenty of talk about those events
I went to two proms, in my mid-twenties. No, I was not a designated chaperone or a creepy stalker. I was part of the hired entertainment for the dances. This was back when me, my college radio pal Jim Turano and our young assistant Magic Alan Hawes had a profitable D.J. business going.
Both proms were for Fenton High School in Bensenville. We’d done other dances for them and they paid handsomely for our services. Proms are a big money deal and when they asked me how much we charged for that special night, I answered “How much you got?”
Spinning records at proms, I never did run into Andie and Duckie.
My own high school proms for junior and senior years at York High School happened in the Springs of 1978 and 1979. This was when going to these shindigs was more formal in social structure. By that I mean everyone was coupled up, nobody went to the prom stag or in groups of guys and groups of girls like kids have been doing for the past twenty years or so. I often wish our era was as casual as it is today which is more inclusive and fun. I also wish I would’ve had the stones to ask a girl to either one of those proms back in the day.
The night of the dance in 1978 found me at the home of a female classmate who had some friends over for beers and hanging out. It was a low-key night but it seemed like everywhere I turned there was a girl or two who would be quietly crying; hurt that nobody asked them to prom. I felt so bad for them and hoped they’d get asked by somebody the next year.
My senior year prom was a real downer for me. Earlier that spring, there was a girl a year younger than me who I liked as more than a friend. She knew this and was liking on me too. However, I waited too long to ask her out on a date and she linked up with a real dweeb. By the time York’s prom came, this girl and the dweeb had been dating a couple months. That ship had sailed.
In the early evening of my senior prom, I drove to that girl’s house to see the dweeb’s car parked in the driveway. Just as I rolled by the happy couple came out, all dressed up and set to pose for photos taken by her parents. Ugh! Talk about a major belly drop!
Jeez, even Napoleon Dynamite made it to a prom!
From there I went to my pal Gordy Carlson’s house. Gordy always hosted the best beer bashes and I stopped by to join others who weren’t going to the York prom. I could only have a couple of beers because I was slated to work the 11pm til 7 am shift that night at White Castle. I figured why not make a few bucks instead of getting piss drunk at a party and feeling miserable the next day?
My graveyard shift at White Castle was a busy one. The time flew by as we fed the late night drunks and stoners. Things slowed down at four a.m. Then, as I was mopping the Castle’s dining room floor, in came several couples from the York prom; still dressed to the nines and partying it up!
I forget who the kids were but I knew some of them and they knew me too. Those classmates were out having the times of their lives and here I was slinging a smelly wet mop on a dirty floor. Standing there among my peers in their tuxedos and gowns, I suddenly realized that not making an effort to go to prom left me missing out on one of the special rites of teen life. The regret hit me like a punch to the gut. In my high school days, I rarely felt low or depressed but at that moment in the White Castle dining room, I never felt more like a loser.
Prom night & the morning after and I was working at White Castle.
If there was any bright spot to this whole lousy experience, it was to happen a year later when I did date that girl who I liked and she liked me. It didn’t last too long but at least I scored some redemption for my being too shy or chickenshit to pull the trigger earlier. Lesson learned. As hockey great Wayne Gretzky always said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Duly noted!
Happy Prom Season!
NEXT BLOG- Remembering a favorite concert I went to.