THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412020222
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Random Rambles
SOURCE: Tony Stein
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
One of my nuttiest Christmas season memories came wrapped in brown trash bags, and it's going to happen again Wednesday night.
Be of good cheer, culture fans, because the Raisins and Raisinettes return. They will be part of the musical extravaganza to be presented by the Chesapeake school system for the benefit of the United Way. The name of the show will be `` 'Tis the Season.'' The theme will be Christmas and Hanukkah. The place will be the new Oscar F. Smith High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The tab will be $5 per ticket and, as I said, all proceeds go to the United Way.
Let me explain about the Raisins and Raisinettes. Several years ago, California raisin growers had a TV commercial featuring animated raisins dancing to a memorable melody called ``I Heard It Through the Grapevine.'' That Christmas season, there was a city-sponsored show to help out needy folks. A cheerfully zany collection of school system employees used brown trash bags to disguise themselves as raisins and brightened the show with their own version of ``Grapevine.'' That's what's going to happen again.
However, if watching artificial overage grapes dance isn't how you get your true jollies, the Wednesday program promises a first-class evening of singing, dancing and instrumental music, all with a holiday theme.
Carolyn Bernard, an assistant principal at Great Bridge Middle School South, vows you'll have a terrific time, and she wouldn't lie, would she? Even if she is director of the performance. A 24-year veteran of the Chesapeake system, Bernard spent most of those years as director of the Miss Great Bridge High School pageant.
And guess who was a contestant in one of the pageants: none other than Alveta Ewell, the WAVY-TV anchor lady. Ewell will lend her classy presence as mistress of ceremonies Wednesday night. Master of ceremonies will be Richie Babb, a Chesapeake teacher and a familiar voice to listeners of WFOS-FM.
You know the old line about ``From the sublime to the ridiculous?'' The raisin routine qualifies as ridiculous, and there will be plenty of sublime. Among Wednesday's performers will be the Deep Creek Elementary Sign Choir. The children, including three with hearing impairments, will perform ``Silent Night'' in sign language.
Jane Bee, teacher of the hearing impaired at Deep Creek, told me how neat it was to see how other kids at the school accepted, helped and made friends with the youngsters that had hearing problems.
``They love them,'' Bee said. ``They even try to learn sign language themselves so they can communicate.''
If you want to sign Merry Christmas, Bee said you use your two hands brushing up and away from your chest. That's ``happy'' or ``merry.'' To say ``Christmas,'' you make a C with your hand and move it in an arcing motion to the right.
As far as instrumentalists go, there will be some highly talented tooters. Like Chesapeake's music teachers playing in the style of the recording and concert group, the Canadian Brass. And the Strolling Strings from Deep Creek High. And - my personal favorite - a jazz ensemble from the Chesapeake Jubilee Brass. The Brass is an all-star student group that plays big band music like they had in the days before ear-splitting rockers turned popular melodies into popular maladies.
You say you want singers? Have they got singers for you. Like the Smith Singers from Oscar Smith High and second-graders from Greenbrier Primary and an eighth-grade girls chorus from Western Branch Middle School. Not to forget Carolyn Myers, choral director at Great Bridge High, and Eddie Lupton, choral director at Deep Creek High. They plan to demolish that long-hallowed, often-hollered seasonal ballad ``The 12 Days of Christmas.''
Sample lines from the Myers-Lupton version: ``The first day after Christmas my true love and I had a fight, so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite.'' The three French hens of tradition are turned into chicken soup and the five golden rings are fakes that turn her fingers green. Sounds like a couple that should have hung poison ivy instead of mistletoe.
There will be a tap dance number as well, an art form which I have admired since the 1930s, when I watched movie stars like Eleanor Powell and Ruby Keeler (Don't keep saying ``Who?'' Ask Grandma and Grandpa.) click and clack across the screen. The stories were wonderfully corny, the endings were happy and I was still so young that I squirmed when the boy kissed (Yech!) the girl. Actually, though, what I miss most about those movies was the fact that you could get a humongous Tootsie Roll from the candy machine in the lobby for just a nickel.
My only regret about the wonderful Wednesday program is that you will not hear me play my trumpet. You won't regret it, though. Believe me when I say that not hearing me play is maybe the nicest Christmas gift you will ever get. by CNB