DANCERS OVER 40 RAISES OVER $6,521.00 FOR
BROADWAY CARES/ EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1st
Broadway Babies Patti Mariano and Virginia Seidel taking a break amidst the garbage of a successful end-of-the-day at the DO40 tables. Sort of the like the Madwomen of Chaillot of West 44th Street!!!!
What a beautiful day for a Flea Market, with Golidlocks weather - not too hot, not too cold! Over 25 DO40 members and volunteers worked our six tables on 44th and 8th Avenue, some all day, from 10am - 6pm hawking wares donated by our gang of hoofers extraordinaire! From Lillian Gish's handkerchief purse with her name monogrammed on a hanky, to tap shoes, jazz shoes, Loubotons, Blahniks and more, to portraits and Streisand Funny girl memorabilia. It was Playbill HEAVEN for collectors and sheet music aficionados as well as fans looking for SUTTON FOSTER (did not wear these) CLOTHES and DONNA McKECHNIE (did not wear these) DANCE SHOES! Alas, they were a bit disappointed there, but amused by the bins - and bought anyway! Broadway show sippy cups donated by the Shuberts, Jujamycn and Nederlander orgs went well as did DVDs (What? Yes, they're still around!) and a real rarity, an Angela Lansbury workout video (BETAMAX!!) with the cover signed by her (a bidding war ensued)! And more Lansbury, Bacall and Elizabeth Taylor memorabilia sold well. Special thanks to 2023 DO40 Legacy Honoree Joe Ahumada and partner Brian for donating so many items! From Blahniks to Bacall to a Bose CD player and frocks galore as well as all the Streisand materials (from his last Broadway show).
One of our many group pictures that evolved over the day. With Eva Genia, Ari Biern, Ken Bloom, Loni Ackerman, David Schmittou, Lawrence Leritz, Sasha Spielvogel, DO40 prez John Sefakis, Sharon Wendrow, Bobby Hedglin-Taylor, Eileen Casey, Patrick McCarthy and Susan Sigrist. Not pictured at the time of the photo: Penny Worth, Charles Kirsch, James Dybas, Carol Banninger, Scott Raneri, Mary McCatty, Ellen Fluhr, Karin Baker and Greg Baker.
The disappointments were not apparent during our successful day. Facebook took down our story and photo album, saying it violated community standards!
A sideways look at a few of the DO40 tables, with Playbill hounds at the far end of the photo! With Sasha Spielvogel, Scott Raneri, Lawrence Leritz, DO40 prez John Sefakis, Carol Banninger, Loni Ackerman, Patrick McCarthy, Bobby Hedglin-Taylor and Karin Baker.
We had lots of people stop by and say hello, but since the original story was taken down, we've forgotten a lot of their names (comes with the "over 40" territory!). We DO remember producer Ed Gaynes stopping by, as well as Jim Brochu, Sweeney Todd cast member Dwayne Cooper, Lawrence Merritt's partner, Richard Tschuddy and more. We had the cutest young gay couple, who bid on one of the portraits of DO40 board member Lawrence Merritt and came over to DO40 central after the flea market and wanted to know more about the young man in the painting, so they could hang it appropriately on the theater wall in their new apartment. We obliged with headshot, composites and treated them to the youtube video of the Ann Bankroft special which featured Lawrence along with DO40 members Lee Roy Reams, Harvey Evans, Richard Korthaze and Frank Pietri. Our History, Our Legacy, Our Lives - at work! And that portrait is probably why our album was taken down on Facebook. It shows la Maranville (as we sometimes affectionately called him) in all his glory - in his glory days (very tastefully done, of course)!
What becomes a Legend most?!?! You "over 40's" know what that's from! With DO40 board member and founding member Eileen Casey. We "lost" the fur in the hubbub and found it at the end of the day hanging on the clothes rack - in a plastic bag! So we're saving it for next year!
We have been participating in the BC/EFA Flea Market for 16 years and raised over $50,000.00 for them so far! Some of us (!!!) now find it hard to be schleppers (Once I was... well, you know...), so we do need some newly "over 40" ... and Friends "under" that, to help us next year!
More pictures are currently up on our DO40 Facebook page and hopefully, the story and more photos on our website soon! Special thanks to those DO40 "lifers" who stayed for the entire day: Sharon Wendrow, Ken Bloom, Patrick McCarthy and Bobby Hedglin-Taylor, and to the BC/EFA staff who helped us schlepp the materials to the event.
With producer Ed Gaynes, DO40 prez John Sefakis, Loni Ackerman and James Dybas