A Little Cheesecake, Please, but Begorra, Make Sure It’s Green

The elderly woman in sneakers had a confession to make about the St. Patrick’s Day parade in which she was riding: When it came to parades, she was really green.

But Lenore Woodward seemed at ease as she rode high in the back seat of a green roadster, smiling and flashing her green garter for the 10,000 spectators along Green Street, the route of Pasadena’s fourth annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Woodward was representing Little Old Lady From Pasadena Enterprises Inc. and--as the runner-up in competition last year--was pinch-sitting for the official Little Old Lady, Ethel Sway, who is recovering from eye surgery.

Woodward, 70, said preparing for her first parade role was “really nothing. I already am a little old lady, and I live in Pasadena.”

Onlookers did not seem to mind that Woodward was merely a fill-in old lady. Said one bystander when he learned of her substitute status, “Maybe people won’t notice.”

Most spectators, in fact, seemed to enjoy Woodward’s appearance. “A little cheesecake!” someone in the crowd shouted as Woodward passed by. “You’re beautiful. We love you,” the spectator yelled.

Woodward was not the only attraction in Saturday’s parade. There were 65 entries, including a walking banana, a float devoted to drunkenness and a dog that was ridiculed by spectators for its ugliness.

Eighteen-year-old Kevin Grasso came dressed as the banana. Grasso said his suit was a promotion for a local dessert shop.

And there was Ted Rexius, leader of Pasadena’s Old Man’s Christian Drinking Assn., whose float full of beer drinkers was appearing in its second St. Patrick’s Day parade.

“We were just sitting around drinking one day,” Rexius said, “and we decided we needed some kind of club to make it worthwhile.”

The float, he said, really had no higher purpose. “We’re just riding along and drinking. We have about 45 members, but not all of them are here. They were drunk; they couldn’t make it.”

And then there was Roy Begley, who everyone thought came as Gen. George S. Patton Jr., but who really came as George C. Scott.

“I look just like Scott when he played Patton,” Begley said. “Scott’s birthday and mine are only 10 days apart.”

His outfit came complete with a bull-terrier borrowed for the occasion, a homely animal which was shown no mercy by spectators.

“What’s wrong with the dog?” shouted one spectator. “It looks like it’s crossed with a pig.”

“Is your dog dead?” asked another parade-goer.

Begley just smiled and saluted.