They Could Have Danced All Night--With 60,000 People at 12 Balls

More than 60,000 people flocked to 12 gala balls Friday night to celebrate the inauguration of George Bush, and some of them even got a glimpse of the new President dancing.

Packed shoulder to shoulder at the refurbished Union Station, party-goers squealed with delight when Bush picked that site for his first dance as President.

“You can say you saw it first here: A lousy dancer trying to dance his first dance with the First Lady of the United States of America,” Bush told the crowd, most of which could not actually see him.

They didn’t miss much. To strains of “I Could Have Danced All Night,” with lyrics being translated for the crowd in sign language, Bush took his wife, Barbara--swathed in sapphire velvet and satin--and danced the briefest of waltzes before lapsing into more waving and finger-pointing. One woman was so overcome by the excitement of the President’s showing that she accidentally laid her mink coat down on top of a candle.

‘Only Step I Know’

At another ball site, where the crowd had been dancing to rock music, Bush said: “I hope you don’t judge my being a President by the way I dance.” A while later, at the cavernous Pension Building, the President still had not gotten the hang of it. “The Bush family is going to give dancing a bad name,” he said, taking just a few turns before stopping quickly. “That’s it,” he said. “That’s the only step I know.”

The Bushes put in 15-minute appearances at the balls, a feat that had them scurrying around the city in a motorcade with sirens blazing until after midnight.

Vice President Dan Quayle has been saying that as vice president he wants to be just like George Bush, and he was, on the dance floor.

“I guess protocol allows you to witness my inability to dance,” Quayle told the crowd at one packed gathering. He then took a few labored steps on the dance floor with his wife, Marilyn, as the band played a tune from “My Fair Lady.”

$30 Million for 30 Events

The $175 per-person balls were the centerpiece of the most expensive inaugural celebration in history, totaling some $30 million for close to 30 events. For their $175, ball-goers found a cash bar and food consisting of nuts in little foil bags, served on silver trays by waiters in tuxedos.

But the Bushes were there, so few were complaining, notwithstanding icy winds, limousine gridlock and other unforeseen mini-disasters.

“You’re wearing the same dress! And you bumped into each other!” one woman gasped to a friend in Union Station, which was so crowded the woman hadn’t noticed the duplicate dress on another guest.

Outside one hotel, a group protesting the killing of animals for their fur picketed arriving guests, many of whom wore fur coats. While many ball-goers were sporting long furs and headlight-sized jewels, the scene was not strictly high society. Just as many others eagerly whipped out pocket cameras to take pictures of what was clearly a once-in-a-lifetime event for them.

Waited More Than an Hour

Richard McKnight from New Castle, Ind., went to snap a picture of Sue Winkle of Marshall, Ind., as they waited in a spot next to the Union Station stage for more than an hour to make sure they could see the Bushes when they arrived to dance.

“You have the camera upside down,” Winkle advised.

Actor George Hamilton was a frequent pocket camera victim. He posed several times with strangers but was not always adhering to Bush’s mandate of a kinder and gentler nation.

“I just saw Jimmy Dean. He said to me, ‘When you’re old, you’ll be very ugly.’ I told him, ‘I think your link sausages are carcinogenic,’ ” laughed Hamilton, accompanied by his 14-year-old son, Ashley, who wore a tuxedo and two earrings in one ear.

Celebrity watchers at the various sites saw Charlton Heston, former Dodger Steve Garvey and avid Republican Chuck Norris, who called Bush’s inaugural address “phenomenal.”

Elizabeth Haas, a working single mother from Portland, Me., was delighted that she had been invited.

Sitting Was Her Big Problem

“I didn’t contribute tons of money (to the campaign),” she said. “I just gave my time and I was still invited. I think it’s beautiful. But I wish I had somewhere to sit down.”

Little Miss Buffalo, 7-year-old Jessica Catonia, attended a hotel ball with her mother, Sharon, who said her daughter had been conceived in the nation’s capital during Reagan’s first inauguration in 1981.

Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, went ball-hopping with black tennis shoes under her formal gown.

At the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum ball, Chip and Jan DeMoss from Houston watched part of an episode of the television show “Dallas” on their two-inch pocket television while they waited in line for a professional photographer to snap their portrait. They were eagerly anticipating Bush’s arrival because, so far, they had only seen him on their little TV during the parade.

Peter Nicholson, a 21-year-old art history student at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, had cut a day of classes to make it to the festivities.

“Denison teachers are very liberal and they didn’t think this was a good excuse,” he said at one of two youth balls. “But I said, ‘Hey--I’m a Republican. So, tough.’ ”

Pays Tribute to Youth

At one of the youth balls, Bush thanked the many guests who had marched in the parade with high school and college bands, saying: “It was the young people who brought that thing alive. Thank you for what you’ve done to make this so special, not only for us, but for the American people.”

But at the youth balls, the new President was not always the top attraction. Jill Rupp, a 28-year-old Washington resident, said: “I think Dan Quayle is so cute. And I think Barbara Bush is so cool. What a great role model. You just want to hug her.”

Tina Mills, an 18-year-old member of Huntington, Ind., North High School’s marching band, was attending the youth ball to top off her performance in the parade.

“To have the President look at you as you’re marching by--I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but it really was,” said Mills. “And I shook hands with Bob Hope !”