March of Dimes Celebrity Parade 1954

Last week I wrote about the origin of the March of Dimes. It was a grassroots fundraising effort to find the vaccine for the disease of polio. Polio was a scourge in the early and middle part of the last century.

It was a disease that paralyzed the muscles of the body and, most heartbreakingly, it
struck mostly kids and young people. The fundraising efforts for research were taken on by Hollywood, making for some star-studded charity events.

One such event was a March of Dimes Parade right here in the Crescenta Valley in January 1954. The parade was huge, with 85 entries and a cavalcade of Hollywood talent. The parade was originally a Sunland-Tujunga event but it was moved to Montrose in 1954. It ran on the very wide Montrose Avenue, starting at Ramsdell Avenue and ending at Florencita Drive. There was a record turnout, and $10,000 was collected from the crowd.

The parade was led by California Lt. Governor Powers and LA County Sheriff Biscailuz. Here are just a few of the celebrities who rode in cars or on horseback in the parade: Lawrence Welk, who drove his own car, carrying “Champagne Lady” Alice Lon; film star Dennis Morgan, a local resident who also served as honorary mayor of CV; kids’ show host Sheriff John; cowboy music star Spade Cooley; comedy music man Spike Jones; musician/bandleader Hoagy Carmichael; roller derby announcer Dick Lane; actor Dale Robertson; jazz musician Red Nichols; character actor Keenan Wynn; “tough guy” actor Aldo Ray; and then-teen actress Natalie Wood. And let’s not forget children’s TV star Captain Jet. Parade attendees were able to gather autographs from the stars. A local polio victim had her iron lung, with her inside, hoisted onto a float and was carted down the parade route to remind viewers of the seriousness of the event.

Along with the movie, TV and music stars, there were some truly goofy local entries in the parade, and here are a select few of the funniest: the Y-know Twirlers; the Starlighters Skating unit; The Jolly Bluebirds of Sunland-Tujunga; Victor McLaglen Motor Corps; The Highsteppers; the Liberty Belles drill team; Bob Roberts, baton twirler; Red Meyers riding his horse “Bunny”; Betty Haring’s Indians; Mory
Simpson on his 1887 high-wheel bike; the Samoyed Sled Dog Team; The Ridge Riders; Sunland-Tujunga Woodcraft Rangers; “Singing Jimmie” Smith; Sunland-Tujunga American Legion Post 250 and their two-headed Ford; Rod White’s Hi-Ba-Teers; Highland Park Twirling Corps; Western Rockettes; the United
Accordion School Band; and finally the Smiling Bluebirds bicycle group. It must have been a truly fun and dynamic parade.

As humorous as this sounds, it was actually quite a serious effort. Polio was a terrible disease, and the entire country was pulling together to fund the development of a vaccine. Fundraising events like this parade were taking place in nearly every community, and the work paid off. Millions of dollars poured into research. By 1955 a vaccine for polio was announced. Today, America is free of this disease.

Update on the missing Montrose time capsule: A few weeks ago I wrote about this Montrose mystery. A time capsule was buried in front of the Montrose Library in 1993, to be opened in 2023. But when they went to dig it up, it wasn’t there. In my column, I related that I was contacted by Bob Torres, the guy who actually buried the time capsule. I wrote that he showed us right where he buried it, and in the column I wrote that I was sure we would find it. Well, it wasn’t where he buried it either. Bob said he had buried it with a metal plate over the top, so next we brought in a metal detector and scanned the entire area. We found several screws and a couple aluminum cans, but no time capsule.

The only thing we can think is that at some point a landscaping crew had dug it up, and tossed it thinking it was construction debris. It appears this Montrose mystery will remain a mystery!