Adolescent Girls, Then and Now

HAIKU Headline: "Bieber jailed."

And you tell me there's a God?

I won't sleep. Will you?

This was inspired by a conversation overheard in line at the grocery store. My, my...their dramatization of the situation was incredible....suitable for Hallmark. One might have thought Justin Bieber to be a close friend in genuine danger; but I doubt a close friend would have received more concern, perhaps not as much.

At first, I was disappointed in the generation. Then, I harkened to another time long ago when a lad of 9 witnessed from the 3rd row the absolute emotional insanity of female adolescence.

It was the Alabama State Fair in Montgomery, 1955. Of course, there were rides to ride, games to play, strange sights to see and good things to eat; BUT appearing on stage in the afternoon and into the early evening were entertainers, singers and dancers.....mostly country and blue grass oriented with some gospel thrown in for the gentile ladies of the communities. It was about 3:00 pm when I took a seat on one of the benches in the 3rd row. I was completely surrounded by teenage girls. There were no adults and very few guys near the stage. A few adults were standing at the rear of the open area. One was my mother. The emcee...a chubby guy in a plaid jacket...introduced the next act. Before he could utter a word, the place began to seethe....to heat up. They knew. Suddenly, girls were coming from everywhere and I was being squeezed and pushed closer and closer to the stage. Really, as I reflect on it now, it could have been fairly dangerous, since several of the benches were all tipped over, legs up. If a person had fallen on a bench leg, bad things could have happened. Finally, over the screaming of the dozens of girls, I heard these words: "I'm sure you're going to hear much more from this young man.....Mr. Elvis Presley." They erupted into a shrieking mass of adoration, many actually crying....and this was before he had opened his mouth. The adults watching from the rear must have thought all of this very strange indeed. Elvis quieted the girls with subtle hand gestures as the other two of the trio warmed up a moment. He began with a love song. That quieted the crowd. You could only hear Elvis....and some muffled sobbing from those girls so affected. During the song, he knelt and kissed a girl leaning on the stage, crying. She passed out.....smooth out…. and they barely made room for her to fall. So it is with adolescent girls. When she wilted away, I saw a glimmer of a smile crossed "The King's" face. He was eating up that attention and adoration. Guess he and Tom Parker knew how to exploit that, huh?

So, adolescent girls have not really changed much over the last 80 years; and, believe me, they are NOT more mature than guys at that age. I never screamed or cried when I met Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. I did not scream and cry some years earlier when I met Gene Autry, Lash Larue, Red Ryder or Roy Rogers...separate occasions in early 50s. I certainly did not scream and cry when I met Fess Parker (Davy Crockett). I did cry when Ol' Yeller had to be put down.

By the way, the next day my mother told me that Elvis was a "phenomenon" and explained what that meant. She said the public reaction was greater than that for Frank Sinatra. After some phone calls, she told me we were joining the Elvis Presley Fan Club. She said that would give us early notices of record releases and that we should buy 2 of each new release - one to play and one to collect. My father thought her crazy; but later realized what a good decision it was. I still have the membership card, although I do not remember its number. I never owned one of his early Sun Records releases; but, for a time, did own every Elvis Presley RCA release, whether 45, 45EP, or LP. The collection later brought pretty good money too. She was right. He was a phenomenon.

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