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Time to twist, travel way, way back in time

By Barbara Fredricksen
Published December 3, 2005

Has it really been nearly a half century since I learned how to do The Twist?

I loved it because it didn't involve any intricate steps, and everyone looked equally silly doing it. You could flail about and even fall on the floor - "Oops, guess this shows how low you can go' '* - and still not get kicked out of whatever establishment you happened to be frequenting.

Best of all, it introduced the era of non-touching dance moves, technically referred to as "dancing apart to the beat," which suited me just fine, as touching anyone but blood relatives of the first degree tends to give me the creeps.

Chubby's dances could be done in a crowd, without a partner, sort of like line dancing, but less organized, and still a boon for wallflowers.

So I was excited to hear that the father of The Twist, one Ernest "Chubby Checker" Evans, and his band, the Wildcats, are coming to town to do a matinee and an evening show on Dec. 13 at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre.

The show will wind up Checker's two-week swing through Florida, his second Florida stint in two months. On Nov. 1-4, he was headliner at the Epcot World Showcase's "Eat to the Beat" concert series, a part of Epcot's annual International Food and Wine Festival. It was at least his fourth year at the festival, which has cooking demonstrations, wine tasting and gourmet dinners that cost up to $185 a person, plus tax.

The local shows will have a much more modest price tag: $41 for dinner and show (call 863-7949 in west Pasco or elsewhere toll free 1-888-655-7469).

A colleague here at the Times saw Checker's show a while back and was amazed at how he can still move. After all, he'll be eligible for Medicare in less than a year, which, come to think of it, is sounding younger every day.

Some people think Checker had only the one hit; not true. He had lots of chart-toppers in the 1960s (Pony Time, The Hucklebuck, Let's Twist Again, The Fly, Slow Twistin', Limbo Rock and Popeye the Hitchhiker ) and has never stopped touring, doing television and movies and making records. His rap version of The Twist hit the Top 40 in 1988. To celebrate his 64th birthday in October, he released a new single, Limbo Rock Remix , currently No. 40 on Disney Radio.

According to Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Checker is the only artist to have a song hit No. 1 twice more than a year apart (The Twist, of course, first in 1960, again in 1962).

Neat piece of Trivia: Chubby Checker was given his stage name by the wife of Dick Clark, who had just heard then-Ernest Evans do an imitation of Fats Domino and dubbed the impersonator with a play on Domino's name.

* Yes, I know that the "low/go" line is from Limbo Rock, not The Twist - but it just sounded so neat here I used it anyway.

* * *

In August, the Salerno Theatre Company of Tampa brought a well-received production of the musical Grease to Richey Suncoast Theatre.

The company will be back at 8 p.m. Dec. 16 and 17 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 18, this time with the charming holiday musical She Loves Me .

If you've seen the 1940 Jimmy Stewart-Margaret Sullavan movie The Shop Around the Corner (it was on Turner Classic Movies a while back), you know the story. (The plot of the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie You've Got Mail is based on the same idea.)

A young woman who works in a perfume shop (it was a leather goods shop in the Stewart movie) constantly squabbles with her manager, the affable Georg. She often daydreams of the man she loves, a pen pal she's never met and whose true identity she doesn't know. Of course, the pen pal is Georg, who is also unaware that his true love is his fractious subordinate.

Eventually, the truth emerges, and ... well, you know.

Even though the plot is familiar and predictable, how it works out is always fun to watch.

The music is by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, the duo also who did the tunes for Fiddler on the Roof .

--Tickets are $12 for season ticket holders, $15 for adults and $8 for students. Go by or call the theater box office (6237 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey) between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Dec. 14-17 or an hour before each show for tickets.

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:22:20]