A Twisting Tale

Talk about g-r-e-a-t m oments in history: There--on the same nightclub dance floor--were twistmasters Chubby Checker, Joey Dee, Gary U.S. Bonds, Dee Dee Sharp and Gladys Horton.

(Their cultural contributions, respectively, “The Twist,” “Peppermint Twist,” “Dear Lady Twist,” “Slow Twistin’ ” and “Twistin’ Postman.”)

They were in the town of Kitchener, Ontario, twisting the night away for documentary film maker Ron Mann--who was making “Twist.” Mann (he did the recent, critically admired documentary, “Comic Book Confidential”) calls his latest project, “a celebration of . . . the original rock ‘n’ roll dance, the dance in which nobody touched, and the first step to the self-expressive free-style dances of today.”

But the scene backstage wasn’t all celebration.

Proclaiming himself to be “the guy that got the dance together,” Checker refused to twist away in a photo with Joey Dee and Hank Ballard--even though Ballard, a star of ‘50s R&B;, actually wrote and recorded “The Twist” before Chubby ever got his hips and feet going.

But that wasn’t the only unexpected twist for Ballard. On his way to Ontario, the writer of such other R&B; hits as “Work With Me Annie” and “Sexy Ways,” was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and subsequently jailed for carrying a concealed weapon (a loaded .25 Beretta automatic) in his suitcase.

Ballard said he forgot he had the gun, which he purchased after being mugged twice in California. He’s not bitter about the few hours he spent in jail. “The police were nice. Some of them were singing my song, ‘Finger Poppin’ Time.’ ” He faces trial Sept. 21.