Toronto Optimists: 1962

Background

The Optimists as the Port Credit Pear Pickers
(that's Barry Bell with the fake beard)

1961 ended with the usual Christmas parades; however, this year there was one performance with a difference — Optimists performed as the Port Credit Pear Pickers. There is a link to the article in the section "Other Material from 1962".

In 1961, for the very first time, Optimists had lost to De La Salle. In fact, we had lost more than one contest! We were determined to make sure that did not happen again. Del, on the other hand, planned on winning even more contests in 1962. Their vision had them winning Nationals for the very first time. The Optimists were intent on taking their fifth consecutive National title. A rally night was held and that set the tone for the coming year. 1962 would be a year of change for both The Optimists and for Canadian Drum Corps. Read on and you will see why.

"Rally Night" after the 1961 season

Management had decided to create a new dynamic by fielding a "new" corps in 1962. The "new" corps would have new uniforms, new music and, as fate would have it, a new drum major. A decision was made to learn a completely new repertoire, with arrangements by Truman Crawford. Learning all new music made for a challenging winter; however, it was well worth the effort because the new show was fantastic!

One evening in winter a stranger showed up a rehearsal. He was Jim McConkey, former Drum Major of both Blessed Sacrament and Archer-Epler. Jim liked what he saw and came on board as our new Drum Major.

The 1962 performance year began with the usual indoor shows, things like the Ice Follies and some indoor concerts; however, the highlight was a special Easter trip to Quebec City.

Some Memories

John Wayne and Jim McConkey (1962)

The first contest of the year came early, on June 2nd. It was the Junior International, in Toronto. The Optimists came in second, only 0.36 points behind the winners, Garfield Cadets and almost 6 points ahead of St Catherine's Queensmen, the third place corps. An excellent beginning to the year!

Later in June we were in a parade in Toronto to promote John Wayne's new movie, "Hatari". John Wayne would be part of the parade. Mr. Baggs and Don Daber saw this as a great opportunity to promote the Corps. As always, they managed to find a way to do so. At the end of the parade John Wayne was presented with a membership card making him an honorary member of the Toronto Optimists. The image on the right shows Jim McConkey presenting Mr. Wayne with his membership card.

On retreat in Rome, NY (1962)
The first contest in which we wore our new uniforms

Unfortunately for The Optimists the corps only had about six competitions during the 1962 season. As a result, they never really reached their full potential. There was, however, a major highlight.

On July 14 the Optimists introduced new uniforms which were a brighter green with the white strip, now on both the front and back, edged in black. They looked stunning. July 14th was also the date of a contest that stood out in everyone's memory, the day that Optimists beat SAC.

One of the corps that members of the Optimists most idolized was the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights. Jim McConkey, Optimists' Drum Major, had once been Drum Major for SAC. On that day in July, christening their new uniforms, the Optimists beat SAC in Rome, NY. This was the very first time that the Optimists, or any Canadian corps, had managed to beat Blessed Sacrament.

Later That Summer

Toronto Optimists in the Grey Cup Parade (1962)

On August 25, the Optimists met their local rivals, De La Salle, at a contest that was part of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). In 1961, at this contest, De La Salle had, for the very first time, beaten The Optimists. Many people were wondering whether Del would do so this year. Those who hoped this would happen were sadly disappointed as Opti beat Del by 8.5 points!

All the corps members were looking forward to a rematch against SAC and Garfield that was scheduled for Labour Day weekend in Pittsburg, PA, at the Allegany County Fair. In mid-August, at the VFW Nationals, Garfield had come in 3rd with SAC in 4th place. For the second time that summer, the Optimists would compete against both SAC and Garfield. It could have been a great opportunity to show that their victory in Rome was not a fluke. Unfortunately the skies opened wide, the rain poured down and the show was cancelled!

On September 8th the Optimists won the Canadian Nationals for their 5th consecutive year. The year ended with The Optimists marching in the Grey Cup Parade.

Other Material from 1962

• Slideshow of the 1962 Toronto Optimists
• Optimists Conquer Rome!. An Acrobat article about the contest in Rome (re-created from GCC). A writer from Drum Corps News stated that "SAC presented a mediocre show, much likely due to the long ride from Newark to Rome". I guess the writer didn't realize that Optimists' trip from Toronto was longer than SAC's trip from Newark or that Rome was much closer than many of our other contests. For example, The Preview was more than twice the distance Optimists had to travel to get to Rome.
• Recording from the 1962 Nationals (September 8, 1962, Seagram Stadium, Waterloo, ON
• an Acrobat file of Sadie Mau Mau's article about the Port Credit Pear Pickers which was published in the January 1962 GCC
• Acrobat file with a photo of the 1962 Toronto Optimists (includes the names of members)
• Program for the 1962 Junior International (Optimists first contest of 1962)
• Bill Thorne interviews Joe Gianna & Doug MacKenzie (from Green Capsule Comments)

Special Notice

We want to add a page of memories for each year of the Toronto Optimists, the Seneca Optimists and the Optimists Alumni. What you see above is an example of what we are trying to create. We hope that these pages will help to rekindle happy memories of years gone by.

Our goal is to gather corps-related memories specific to a particular year, rather than "generic" memories that would apply to all years. These memories could be about such things as performing in the corps, traveling with the corps, watching the corps from the stands, excerpts from articles in old corps mags, etc. It's not necessary to submit a whole year's worth of memories since contributions from different people can be edited and merged together to form the web page. We'll save the memories that people submit and, once we have enough material, we will compile them into a web page for that particular year. We'll probably add photos, recordings, etc then we'll post that page on the website.

If you have other memories of this year, or any other year, that you would like to submit, please send an email to Bob Carell (toronto_optimist at rogers.com)