By, Jim Wilson
Fifty or so years ago, when prom nights were very special and gyms were decorated to the nines, I was a junior in high school. I wasn’t one of the boys who dated a lot, but I figured I should ask a girl and take her to the prom.
I hemmed and hawed, trying to decide who I would ask. Finally, I asked a girl in my class named Carol. I was kind of surprised when she said yes; I thought she would have already been asked.
I told a friend of mine, Dave, that I was going and asked if he was going too, He said he hadn’t asked anyone yet, so I said, “Why not ask my date’s best friend” He did, and she said yes, so we set up a double date.
The big day came, and we worked all day to set up the decorations for the prom. Afterwards, I went home to change into my tux-and that’s when the trouble started.
I went to get in my car, which I spent hours cleaning and polishing, but when I started it up, the fan belt broke. I ran back into the house, and Dad said I could take his car. I left to pick up my date; she was beautiful in a strapless formal gown. I had a corsage for Carol but had to give it to her mom to pin it on her. I felt a little impaired trying to pin it on a strapless dress!
We headed out to pick up Dave and his date, who lived out in the country. After about a mile…’BAM’, a flat tire. And the night was just beginning! We walked (dressed to the nines) to find a phone and called his parents to borrow their car. Dave’s brother brought us their car. He said he’d stay and fix the flat on my dad’s then drive it to my house and my dad would drive him home.
Being a bit late, Dave was driving a little fast, and we slid off the road into the mud. We got out (in our tuxes) to push, while my date drove us out of the mud. Finally, finally, we picked up Dave’s date and arrived at the prom an hour late.
Who was at the door to greet us” The principal, who wanted to know where the prom band was. It turns out that Dave, the class president was in charge of getting the band. Of course he didn’t have any of the band members’ phone numbers, so we left the girls there and drove back to his house to call them. He called the band leader, and it turned out there was a mix-up with the dates, and the band was already playing at a different gig! To top it off, Dave’s Dad said he needed the car because he was working that night. We drove back to my place and did another car swap.
When Dave and I finally got back to the prom, it was two/thirds over. We hooked up with our dates and talked about leaving It was a sad prom when all you had for music was records.
We finally left the prom and went to a nice restaurant in Vancouver, only to learn that they had lost our reservations, so we had to wait an hour to be seated! It was turning into a nightmare prom.
After dinner we decided to go into Portland (it was 1 am). As we turned onto the freeway there was a car stalled out on the entry ramp! Dave and I went to see if we could help and found the driver passed out drunk, so we just pushed his car off the ramp and onto the side of the freeway.
We finally arrived at a disco where a DJ was playing. The girls got him to play a song for them.
At 3 am we headed for home. Coming out of Vancouver, I fell asleep at the wheel (how could the night possibly get any worse?). So, Dave and I swapped places, and he drove us the rest of the way. As I walked Carol to the door at 4am where her mother was waiting, she pulled her in giving me no chance of even getting a goodnight kiss!
I went home, slept a few hours and returned to the school to take down the decorations before school started the next day. Yep, it was the Prom from Hell, sadly I never got another date or even a kiss form that girl…
Jim Wilson (JW) went to school in Washougal Washington. His Prom experience wasn’t too unlike those of many of us from the Pacific Northwest in the 1960’s. ed.