Toronto Optimists: 1963

1963 was my rookie year. And it was a big year for the corps! Our first contest of the year arrived a bit too early, in May. It was the Preview of Champions in Jersey City. I was very thankful that I carried a flag that year because my mouth was so dry I could barely speak.

I can't remember exactly when it happened but I know that I heard the 2 minute warning much too soon. Perhaps we were playing "I Believe", our Colour Presentation, when the final gun went off. To be honest, it felt even earlier. After we finished our Colour Pres we still had to play "The Party's Over"! We got a penalty for being overtime. Sigh! Too late we discovered that the stop watch that the corps had been using to time the show was not as reliable as we would have liked. Our concert was "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "It Ain't Necessarily So". It was the only contest that year when we played those songs. "Chattanooga Choo Choo", our new concert was arranged, learned and, at the end of June, performed for the first time.

The photo shows the finale of our Colour Presentation

After the Preview, our next contest came at the end of June, in Mundelein, IL. This was the first time the corps had ever gone to the Midwest. I can't remember whether it was fact or fantasy but I have a vision of our Drum Major, Jim McKonkey, cracking a whip behind Joe, Jack and Jeff, the three guys playing the trio in "El Cid".

This was the first performance of our new concert, "Chattanooga Choo Choo", and this time we weren't overtime! On retreat Cavaliers and Optimists marched out as one big corps. Such a fantastic trip! After this show we had to rush back to Canada for a July 1st show in Port Hope. I can't remember why we were delayed but we changed on the bus as it moved towards Port Hope and we went straight from the bus to the starting line. We made it in time to compete  — barely.

Photo of Optimists and Cavaliers on retreat together, Mundelein, Il, June 1963

September came and so did the Nationals. Boy, had we ever improved during the year! In fact, we scored 89.0, the highest score that Optimists ever got in a contest! Of course, with exaltation there is occasionally an accompanying disappointment. In this case, the disappointment was that Fleetwood, which was supposed to come to Canada and record the Nationals, never arrived! It would have been great to have a recording of that show!

After retreat we played for the crowd, then marched and played our way back to the school where we were changing. I suspect that the local residents weren't overly happy with the late night parade but we were ecstatic!! What a year for a rookie! (by Bob Carell)

Here's a photo of the El Cid trio taken during prelims at the Canadian Nationals (September 7, 1963)

Special Notice

We want to add a page of memories for each year of the Toronto Optimists, the Seneca Optimists and the Optimists Alumni. This page is an example of what we are trying to create. We hope that these pages will help to rekindle pleasant memories of years gone by. As a result, what we're trying to gather are corps-related memories specific to a particular year, rather than "generic" memories that would apply to all years. It's not necessary to write a whole year's worth of memories since the contributions from different people can be merged together to form the web page. Once we have the material, we wil compile these memories into a web page for that particular year and 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)