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Tribute to Ed Sullivan
Mercer County group gets in full swing for annual senior follies
By Jeanne Starmack
HERMITAGE, PA.
Photo
The Ikettes rehearse “Proud Mary” for the Mercer County Senior Follies at the Shenango Valley Community Senior Community Center in Hermitage, Pa. From left are Michaleen Sasala, Patricia Tupper, Betty Koscinski, Karen Donato, Kim Glatfelter and Lucy Yanak. This year’s seventh annual show pays tribute to the Ed Sullivan Show. Performances are at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 and 2 p.m. Aug. 8 at Hickory High School.
It’s a “really big shew.” This year’s Mercer County Senior Follies remembers the Ed Sullivan Show and the host who introduced so many new acts to America with that signature phrase.
Ticket sales will benefit the Mercer County Area Agency on Aging. The agency uses proceeds to help pay the mortgage on the Shenango Valley Senior Community Center on North Buhl Farm Drive.
The center is important, said its director, Kim Glatfelter, for one big reason: People 50 and older have a place to meet so they’re not isolated in their homes.
The center offers exercise, including a walking club.
There are classes in Spanish, computers, clip art, oil painting and quilting.
There are meals, casino trips and bingo.
Last year, the follies raised $10,000 for the agency on aging, said Donna Murray, publicity chairwoman for the show. This year the follies, at Hickory High School on Aug. 7 and 8, will pay tribute to the acts that Sullivan introduced on his variety show, which ran Sunday nights on CBS from 1948 until 1971.
Maureen Murray-Jaklic, the follies’ musical director, and her husband, Carl, came up with the idea at the follies’ annual planning meeting in September, she remembered as she, Murray, Glatfelter and Karen Donato, the show’s costume designer, met at the center a week ago to talk about the show.
Jaklic didn’t expect it would be much of a research project, she said.
But the research took her until May.
Acts she found that have made their way into the follies, which is itself a variety song-and-dance show, include The Beatles, Ike and Tina Turner, Sonny and Cher, The Beach Boys and Elvis.
A Bobby Darin medley at the end of Act I incorporates all the dancers in the follies, said Murray.
A “mystery guest” will appear as Ed Sullivan, she said, and Wheatland, Pa., resident Tony Mack, a former dancer who actually appeared on the show, will share his memories.
Rehearsals are in full swing now, and “it’s crunch time,” Murray said.
There will be many show highlights. “California Girls” will appear, complete with bikinis.
Steve Smith of Sharon, a volunteer at the center, will appear opposite Murray in a scene from the musical “South Pacific.” If you’ve never seen a man in a grass skirt, coconut bra and blond wig, and you’ve always wanted to, now’s your chance.
Smith has been the cast’s entertainment at rehearsals — “We all like to ask him to shake his coconuts,” said Glatfelter. “Did you ever ask a guy to shimmy? They can’t do it.” Now, see Smith and the rest of the follies talent in “The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show — It’s a Really Big Shew.”
Curtain times are 7 p.m. Aug. 7 and 2 p.m. Aug. 8. Tickets are $10 at the door, at any county senior center or from any cast member.