Some people have accused ME of changing a thread about the Spectacle City Mariners ( a fine corps) into a discussion of various "short skirt" color guards, etc.

Well, I didn't do that. I had help!

Yes, the Mariners guard had great short skirts (and great legs). But, who noticed!?

The LaCrosse Blue Stars Guard wore very short and tight pants, with great legs, but who noticed?

The Momence White Tornadoes drum major was a striking, well built blonde, but who noticed?

BTW ... the Madison, WI Capitolaire Girls Corps also had a lot of cute young ladies, in great German dirndl dresses .. but who noticed that?

So .. let's get serious here. This is just remembering various drum corps images.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer: later: Quartermaster, assistant drum instructor

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63

Dave,
It seemed you noticed. I have my "B" corp skirt and it is only 16 inches long. I can't believe that we wore something so skimpy. I liked Blue Crosses Shorts. The Mariners has skirts that looked like tutu's.

Donna, as a judge I ALSO liked seeing the Blue Stars!

BTW, have you noticed the short skirts worn by the Imperials girls after 1970? Look at the photo page.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer: later: Quartermaster, assistant drum instructor

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63

Three Midwest corps in the very late 70's and early 80's all wore the riverboat gambler style uniforms. Pioneers, Rivermen, and Colts. I don't remember if the Colts guard wore shorts..but both the Pioneer and Rivermen guard wore the jackets and tails with short shorts. The Rivermen guard may have even worn a leotard in 80...I think. The Pioneer guard changed to a vest and a much longer knee length skirt in 1980.

When I was in Pioneer, we had two guys in the horn line that were unbelievable with the rifle. Their only option at that time was Madison and Cavies. Phantom may have had a co-ed guard...but I don't remember seeing guys

Bob, to this day when I watch my DCI DVD's, I'm not sure what Spirit was trying to do in 1980. The guard uniforms almost looked like they didn't fit.

To me...a lot of the guard skirts from that era made the guard almost look like cheerleaders.

What did you do in the Corps? 2nd Sop

What years were you a Corps member? 1979

I will say that the short skirts in the Mariners picture and some of the 70s Norwood Color Guard pictures are a lot different than the early and mid-60s. But that reflects the fashion of the times. Seems to me the late 60s to early 70s was the era of the mini-micro skirt.

Actually in the early and mid-60s the midwestern guards wore skirts that were shorter than the CYO corps like St Kevins (if you look at the retreat photo from the Dream Contest in 1963 on the photo site you can pick up the difference). But my recollection is that the length of the skirts (except eastern CYO corps) also was close to the length which was in vogue at the time. So Dave is just making a comment on historic fashion trends.

Can't recollect many female drum majors from my era. Aside from the Norwood drum majors (that included my sister) I only recollect Royal Airs, St Alexis and the Magnificant Yankees (at 1965 VFW) having female drum majors. Come to think of it the only reason I remember the Magnificant Yankees was their drum major.

What years were you a Corps member? Cadets 1959 through 1961 Imperials 1962 through 1966

On the bus, a topic that always came up was speculation about what was UNDER the kilts.

What did you do in the Corps? Drumline

What years were you a Corps member? 1960-1965

John,
We wore KILTS not skirts. GEEZ! There is a difference. Women wear skirts. MEN and Scottish men wear kilts. And no, they were the same length from the 50s through when the corps ceased operations in the 80s. Still the same length now with the Senior corps too.

What did you do in the Corps? Brass Instructor, Corps Manager

Larry,

It was tradition to go commando while wearing a Kilt. A true scottish tradition.
That tradition was broken at certain shows like Momence when the crowd was too close, or winter parades for obvious reasons.

Geez, I seem to be answering all the Kiltie questions or misconceptions regarding the uniform or what parts of the uniform were called. It's all in good fun, but we all had our references, bus songs and pet names for ALL of the corps. Maybe it's wise not to dig those old things up and keep the collegiality and respect that we have shown towards all of the opposition corps in which many of our friends marched.

Don't mean to be ultra-defensive and please excuse me if I am. I am very proud of my years with all of the corps that I was affiliated with, as I am sure all of you are also.

What did you do in the Corps? Brass Instructor, Corps Manager

A kilt is "any short, pleated skirt." American College Dictionary.

The Kilties might have though of them differently but to the rest of us they were wearing skirts. Pretty similar to the uniforms worn by the girls at Catholic schools.

I also recollect sharing a dressing room with the Kilties in 1962 (It was a Wisconsin show and not Momence) and recollect that they wore shorts under their Kilts. Maybe things changed later.

Anyway the Kilties were generally one of the least obnious groups of kids I recollect from my years in Norwood. Maybe that's because during my years in Norwood we generally finished ahead of them in most midwestern shows--but they did peak for VFW nationals from 1964 to 1966.

What years were you a Corps member? Cadets 1959 through 1961 Imperials 1962 through 1966

Sorry, Jerry, but Cavies won 4 VFW during the 60s (61, 62, 63, 67) plus three AL (66, 67, 69). And I knew the Kilties were a YMCA affiliated organization, but I had never heard about the 17-year old rule before! That would certainly have held them back competitively.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

I assume you are right with the VFW titles, I think I qualified it by bringing in the Cavaliers. The Kilts never really went to American Legion Nationals during their peak years.

Yes, for a long time the Kilts were forced to go A class in the 50s only going open class when the YMCA allowed them to have 18-21 year old members. Even as a member of that corps, I didn't know that fact until just a few years ago when we had a Kilt alumni get together and Emil Pavlic discussed how they had to fight the YMCA to let in kids older than 17. Other limitations that the YMCA tried to force on the corps led to the corps leaving the YMCA in the mid 60s.

You have to admit, it was a competitive feast for all corps in the midwest in the mid to late 60s. 68 in particular had the top 6 corps within 2 points. I was there as a spectator at 1968 VFW Nationals in Detroit and it was a crap shoot on who was going to win. It all came down to the corps that made less mistakes and was "on", as it should. Too bad DCI doesn't seem to recognize now that if allowed to compete and not be slotted, the corps will put on amazing performances and rise to occasion. 1968 was the most exciting show I have ever seen or been a part of. From top to bottom all finalist corps were very good to great. It would have been a mad house had St Vincents, Blessed Sac and a couple of more corps came in from the East. Even so, the East was strongly represented. That year belonged to the Midwest though and even if they had showed up it wouldn't have made much of a difference because the top 5 Midwest corps were peaked and superior to the East. Des Plaines Vanguard put on a killer show in prelims. We all actually thought they would end up winning but were a little flat at finals. Even though they were a bit flat, they still were strong and maybe should have been a little higher. What a great show.

What did you do in the Corps? Brass Instructor, Corps Manager