"Formal dance held at the Kenwood Country Club was only traditional part of Mariemont's prom."

Nowadays, in order for a high school prom to garner national attention, something rather extraordinary — or, better yet, something vaguely scandalous — has to occur before, during or after the event.

For example, maybe some indignant chaperones spray kids with Lysol after they discover the students “grinding” on the dance floor. Or a student uses a social networking site to ask a movie star or country music singer to be his or her date — and the actor, actress or singer says yes. Or a same-sex couple is crowned king and queen by their peers, prompting school officials, parents and other “grown-ups” to freak out.

But back in the day — specifically, back in 1958 — students at an Ohio high school simply had to stay awake in order to get their names and faces in the June 9, 1958, issue of LIFE magazine. Stay awake and dance, that is. And go riverboating. And eat breakfast. And ride roller coasters. And dance some more …

“Traditionally,” LIFE noted in its June 9, 1958, issue, “senior proms are the high school students’ big night to howl. To keep them happy and off the roads and ultimately wear them out, many high schools now sponsor all-night dances. The only trouble is that each generation seems to take longer to wear out.”

Students at Mariemont High School near Cincinnati came close to the ultimate this year when they put on a “prom” that lasted almost 32 hours. It started with a progressive dinner (spaghetti to strawberry cake), followed by a formal but highly energetic dance. Then the students boarded a river boat for a cruise and dancing to a jazz combo. Dawn found them somewhat subdued and back at the school for breakfast. Sent home for a short rest period, they emerged refreshed and descended on an amusement park. By nightfall half the students had discovered they were mortal and had gone home to bed. The rest whipped up another dance. “It keeps getting better and better,” one said, “as I get more and more numb.”

Fifty-two years after the original event, a picture of the Mariemont High School Junior-Senior Prom at Kenwood County Club appeared on page 16 of the May 17th, 2010 issue of Time magazine.  What was so special about this prom is that it was the first really extended hour prom in the United States and lasted almost 32 hours.  At the time Life magazine took pictures and they appear in their June 9th, 1958 issue.  Easily identifiable in the original picture are Don Hughes with Joyce Robinson (now Getz) and Jim Rockaway.  Perhaps some of you can identify others.

Essentially the evening started with a spaghetti to strawberry cake progressive dinner including informal games before the “formal but highly energetic dance”.  Following that, students embarked on a river boat for an all night cruise with dancing to a jazz combo.  Some students weren’t allowed to attend that part since they were required to keep to their normal midnight curfew.  Some of those students were happy with the continued restriction since they felt they were more awake to enjoy the following day.  Breakfast in the morning was back at the school followed by a short rest period.  Then it was on to Coney Island for a day of rides, “snoozing in the sun” and other entertainment.  Nightfall saw probably half the group enjoying yet another dance at Coney’s Moonlight Gardens.   The rest had gone home to bed.

It is interesting that this was the first Prom for Terrace Park students at Mariemont High School.  The Terrace Park High School’s last year was 1957.

Moments In Time

Near the end of the SciFi movie BLADERUNNER there is a line spoken by a character who is dying.    It goes like this:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched sea beams glitter in the dark near the terhausen gate... All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain..."

"All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain."

The "big picture" stuff may sometimes find its way into books and movies but all the day-to-day experiences and minutia of each individual life will, for the most part, be "lost in time like tears in the rain".

Many of us try to save what we can on this will-of-the-wisp internet and most of our stories have zip to do with any "big pictures".

It would be beyond anyone's capacity to share everyone's experiences. Fortunately there are a few of us that spin out our vignettes and save what is possible. 

The payoff is that some of these stories and collections of images - some, our own - some are other's --- may strike a chord of familiarity. These are the ones that elicit comments like, "Yeah I did that too - and until I read so and so's story or saw those pictures I had forgotten those Moments In Time."

I reckon the best we can do is to assemble our own small jigsaw pieces so that perhaps the totality comes just a tad closer to forming that elusive "big picture".