Doing the Twist craze in Mayo in the 1960s
By Tom Gillespie
THIS archive photograph of couples doing the dance, the Twist, in the 1960s brings back fond memories of ‘hops’ in the town hall and the tennis pavilion (long since demolished) in Castlebar, in what were dubbed the Swinging '60s.
‘Hops’ were where teenagers met at supervised dances, overseen by members of the clergy.
The Twist's characteristic hip, arm and leg movements have been described as ‘drying the buttocks with an imaginary towel while grinding out an imaginary cigarette with one foot’. Partners synchronised body positions and gyrations but never touched.
This was vital from a priestly point of view as the clergymen were in attendance to ensure the dancing couples did not become anyway in contact with each other.
However, when the upbeat twist dancing songs were replaced with slower airs the attending priest patrolled the dance floor like a sergeant major, keeping couples at a ‘respectable’ distance from each other.
The Twist craze became extremely popular after Chubby Checker danced the Twist while singing the song of the same name on the Dick Clark TV show, American Bandstand, on Saturday, August 6, 1960.
Dick Clark thought a new singer could make the song and the dance even more popular. Thus, Clark contacted local Philadelphia recording label Cameo/Parkway in the hopes that they would record a new version of the song.
The recording label bosses found Chubby Checker and the youthful Chubby Checker created his own version of ‘The Twist’, which was released in the summer of 1960. The song quickly hit No. One on the charts and the dance swept around the world.
In 1962, Chubby Checker's version of ‘The Twist’ again hit No. One on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, becoming the second song ever to be No. One on two separate occasions - Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas’ was the first. In total, Checker's ‘The Twist’ spent 25 weeks in the top 10.
Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans on October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularising many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighter’s R&B song ‘The Twist’.
So the ‘Twist’ craze descended on Mayo and youngsters soon got into the grove.
The dance was energetic and those on the dance floor did not require any additional exercises as after a ‘three-set’ dance they were left sweating and out of breath.
While we youngsters were weary of the clerical supervision, we took our chances of the ‘lie-in’ while the roaming priest was out of sight.
Likewise, if you ‘clicked’ with a young lady, and were promised the last dance, we had to be on the look-out for the priest who kept an eye in us, from his patrolling car, as we headed home.
We soon got to know his routine and thereby we were able to avoid his prying eyes. How times have changed.
At the hops we depended on a record player and LPs and single records for the music. These were played in an anti-room and were relayed by way of a speaker to the dance floor in the pavilion.
Eventually, we progressed to hops in Castlebar Town Hall where a live band provided the music - usually Kevin Bourke’s Royal Chords showband.
Prior to going to the town hall we lads supped a pint of Smitwicks in McNamara’s pub on Linenhall Street - later Country Fresh.
We would have all been under age - 17 or 17½ years - and the proprietor, Frank, did serve us but we had to cough up and pay for the pint in advance of being served.
It was forbidden to bring any alcohol into the town hall and the ever suspicious doormen ensured this rule was maintained at all times, so the pre-hop pint in McNamara’s gave us the courage to chat up the girls.
One of our friends, Tom Bourke, played trumpet with the family-run Royal Chords and we looked up to him on stage as a real celebrity. But I bet he would have preferred to be on the dance floor with us.
However, that early musical training propelled Tom to great success and one of the highlights of his career was as musical director and trumpet player with Brendan Bowyer and The Big 8 in Las Vegas.
He was also, for a period, musical director with the Castlebar Concert Band and led them on a trip to London at Easter 1987. Two coach loads of musicians, Irish dancers and supporters - 73 in all - spent three days in the English capital.
Tom spent a period of teaching in Canada where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music and Education, which greatly benefited the young musicians of Castlebar.
The Twist, like other dance fads, faded out at the end of the ‘60s and was replaced by other popular forms of dance.
But for me the Twist will always hold pleasant memories of when we were teenagers in a Castlebar that had changed dramatically in the ensuing years. I suppose changed for the better.
But those dancing days of the 1960s were our baptism to a new and exciting world which now holds but pleasant and distant memories of when we were young and innocent and in our prime.