Cutting a rug, senior style

Karen S. Kim

MAGNOLIA PARK -- Doug Halter, 75, was voted king of the prom on

Saturday night -- king of the Joslyn Adult Center’s Senior Prom, that is.

“I was thrilled to win,” said Halter, whose 71-year-old wife, Carol,

was voted prom queen. “We marched around and got a lot of applause. Our

ego was really built up there.”

About 150 senior citizens shimmied and shook to the 15-piece big band

that performed at the prom on Saturday. The crowd was dressed to the

nines and ready for fun.

“Women who were in their 70s and 80s were wearing these beautiful

beaded gowns, and some of the women, if I didn’t know any better, I would

have thought were teenagers,” said Patty Jenkins, an 18-year-old staff

member at the Joslyn Adult Center. “They’ve got some pretty amazing

bodies.”

The three-hour event Saturday night brought seniors out for a night of

dancing and music. Any senior citizen who wasn’t cutting a rug on the

dance floor was sitting on the sidelines and enjoying the big band music.

“We had the big band and those old 1940s sounds, so that brings back a

lot of memories,” Halter said.

Burbank Mayor Bob Kramer stopped by the prom to get down while taping

an episode of Charter Communications Channel 6’s “Mayor on the Street.”

“I danced several times with some of the young ladies there,” Kramer

said. “I had a busy night. My dance card was full, but I’m sure some of

them have sore toes from my stepping on them.”