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Vilma and The El Monte Stomp

7/28/2015

Having a gay old time at The Stomp

Tuesday Feb. 19, 1952
Went to a lecture with Buella tonight. It was really very interesting, it was about demonstrative affection, ego’s, neurotics and homosexuals etc., I thought it was pretty good.
I picked up Bryan somebody on the way home and he is pretty average. Says he is going to drop by one of these nights. Darn it all, I wonder if I will ever see that Don Williams ever again. (see Feb 2 & Feb 8)

Friday Feb. 22, 1952
No work today. Me and mom really got something accomplished today though. We took in all of my skirts so that they fit now. I look double fine now that I’ve lost 15 pounds, well at least everybody says so. Mom says to believe everything good said about you, and so I am. Anyway that is my old line “I believe everything I hear, don’t you know.” Some line huh?

Saturday Feb. 23, 1952
Mary Alice, Buella & me went to The Stomp tonight and we had a ball. I had some brew and I felt good. Buella was making out just fine with the guys & Mary Alice even better. Me and Mary Alice went home together. The only thing is, I went home with a jerk and he kisses miserably. Mary Alice went home with a positive doll, and so I hear it he kisses fine as wine. Jim Bakker (the girl hunter) was there and he says sarcastically “Stay a good girl now Vilma”. Some smarty.

Buella smuggled some hooch in and she passed out completely. That’s one way of getting attention I guess. We got in at 2:30am, I stayed overnight with Mary Alice.

Sunday February 24, 1952
Me and my sister Junie went to Alhambra today and went shopping, I got a size 14 black fine looking skirt, a real fine wool jersey blouse for $3.00, a new girdle and some new stockings.

"The Stomp"
Some personal photo's from Vilma's memorabilia

Banjo Player Herman the Hermit

The McQuaig Twins- Singers

Band Leader Lars Larson

Hank Thompson

The Home Town Jamboree Players

Throughout these last few months, Vilma has been going out to dances almost every Saturday night. Where has she been going? Well to THE STOMP of course! What exactly was The Stomp? Officially known as Cliffie Stone’s Hometown Jamboree, referred to by the locals as the 'Okie Stomp', it was a musical variety show/television broadcast production run right out of El Monte’s once famous Legion Stadium. It was THEE place to be on a Saturday night back in 1952!

Cliffe Stone was a big country and western singer who came riding into town eyeing the Legion Stadium for a show he was doing on the radio. Cliffie Stone and The Hometown Jamboree radio show began a long run at the stadium. Cliffie’s show was so popular it began a simulcast on both radio and television. The shows were held at the El Monte Legion Stadium for 5 years and broadcasted in Los Angeles on KXLA & KCOP. So every Saturday night at 7:30 pm you would hear “Live From El Monte California, The Hometown Jamboree! Acts like Tennessee Ernie Ford, Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Liberace and Elvis performed on Hometown Jamboree. This brought more attention to the venue and legitimized its future potential for the city of El Monte.

Why of all places in El Monte, a little known town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, were famous musicians gathering for major productions? We’ll explore later why the Legion Stadium was once at the heart of the music industry and at the epicenter of the Rock & Roll phenomena in the 1950’s. With Vilma in the midst of it all!

In the meantime, enjoy a couple of fun tunes that were played at the dances. Just close your eyes and imagine being back in 1952!

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Vilma, The Red Lantern and The Weeds

7/12/2015

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Wednesday Feb 13, 1952
J.D. and Floyd came down tonight. Brother, I take them for full-fledged morons, they don’t have a brain in their head. I have to get up at 6:00 in the morning, and the dumb boobs didn’t leave until quarter to 12. I will probably be positively dead tomorrow at work. J.D. wants to take me to The Stomp Saturday night. I think he’s cute. But I’d rather go with Lorna and Bonnie. But I think I am sort of stuck unless I think of some bright idea in the meantime to get out of it.

Thursday Feb 14, 1952
Floyd and J.D. came down tonight. Floyd gave me the best pictures of Eddie Kirk, The McQuaig Twins, and some of the others who play up at The Stomp. They didn’t stay as long as last night. I saw to that. Man, I sure was tired today at work.

Friday Feb 15, 1952
Stayed in LA tonight and shopped. Saw Caroline and Darlene down there. They only gets $175 a month for working in LA, but they are only file clerks. I get $191.00 now. I have $306.00 in the bank now for my car.

Saturday Feb 16, 1952
Went with J.D. to The Stomp tonight but didn’t go home with him though. Went home with this doll Don, but when I told him I wasn’t a “goer” he gave me the royal shaft. Came home with him and three other guys. Man, did I ever feel good tonight. Had ¾ quart of beer and was I ever feeling good. Brother, Pinky was trying to make out with me tonight and he said this girl’s drunk because I was acting so screwy, but I really wasn’t, I was just high and was having a gay old time.

Jim Bakker also dropped me tonight because he couldn’t get nowhere with me. He said he liked me, but tonight he was looking for a girl that’s been touched and he guesses that he will just have to go hunting for one. So he just left me flat, but I didn’t give a damn. Good riddance. It really isn’t the first time I’ve been shafted because of that.

You know what? When I got in at 2:30 tonight, there was a big old Red Lantern sitting on our porch, just as plain as day! And oh man, I’d like to get my hands on the dirty, filthy guy that put it there. Mom said it wasn’t there when she went to bed, she was real mad too. Man, some joke.

Monday Feb 18, 1952
Man, do I ever feel low for doing J.D. dirty. He took me out, but I just paid no attention to him at all. I saw him about 8 minutes Saturday night of the whole dance and I didn’t even go home with him. I don’t know, Saturday night I just didn’t give a damn about anybody because I was feeling so good.

Mom says I am an old softie, but if I am to give a guy dirt I wish I would give it to a dirty, filthy, rotten egotistical bum. Not J.D., he is too nice. I will never see him again either, because he has probably left by now since he is stationed in Oklahoma. I just wish I could see him again, that is all I want. Man, I am really soft. I know I’ve been treated rough too, but I hate to do it back to a guy. It just hurts me, that’s all.

"Vilma, The Red Lantern and The Weeds”
Why was a red lantern was left on Vilma’s porch? Originating in the 1800’s, a red lantern was often placed in front of a brothel, meaning it was open for business. This practice has since given way to the “Red Light Districts” in places of prostitution. This “joke” was meant to humiliate Vilma, all from guys who set out to mock her virginity. Today, virginity is seen even more as a joke, it is mocked, laughed at, ridiculed, and heck even whole movies are made as a laughing stock to “The Virgin”. The whole goal is to rid oneself if it, right? It is SO OUTDATED . Haven’t we moved on from all of these antiquated notions? Let’s see:

Well, Vilma was not open for business (the red lantern), she was not a “goer” nor a girl that had been touched. Though not a Puritan, Vilma liked to have her fun, smoking and drinking socially--yes she drank at 17--mainly because she lied about her age (gasp! those typical teenagers). For the most part she could hold her liquor as well as any man. It’s not that these things were right for a young girl trying to be a good Catholic, but Vilma was far from perfect. What person is? Let he who is perfect throw the first stone here.

But there was always that firm foundation, that strong moral knowledge that her body was something special, something to be cherished and not misused or abused. Giving her body to someone was not just a casual thing. Giving her body away meant that she shared her soul with that man, and that man needed to be worthy of her gift of self. For a woman, that is truly what sex is. The entire gift of herself. Body and soul. Why did Vilma refuse to give it away to the guy who was a “goer”? Or the guy who was on the hunt? She knew those guys wanted a hook up, not a wife.

Vilma, like any woman, was looking for the love of her life. But she knew she would have to weed out the losers. How did she do it? The way she was “weeding” them out was by treasuring what made her special. When her dates would find out she wouldn’t compromise, they outright dumped her. Some were pretty harsh about it too, the one man told her he was just going to go out “hunting” for another girl until he got what he wanted. Ugh! No girl wants that type of man. Luckily Vilma got rid of that weed! So she bore the momentary hurt and humiliation, dusted herself off from these battles (Vilma the Unconquerable!) and moved on to find someone better. You see, her purity was the antidote for ridding herself of the losers.

By holding strong and steadfast in her beliefs, she was able to quickly identify those men who wanted to use her body….and boy did they get wiped out quick! While dating, she was able to avoid the path that is littered with emotional heartache, feeling unloved, worthless and let’s not forget STD’s and pregnancies.

Being chaste or a virgin seems so funny nowadays, but it is those with the higher virtues that have the last laugh, for Chastity is a virtue that allows you to see if you are being loved or being used. We know one day Vilma does find someone better, and it would be all worth it in the end.

Without question, purity is beautiful. We're not talking about repression or prudishness, but about having a confident and serene sense of your dignity and worth. - Jason Evert

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Vilma and The El Monte Stomp

Vilma, The Red Lantern and The Weeds

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