The Dress
At 87 years old, Terry Page watched as the character performed on stage. And she noticed something special – and familiar
Seated in the darkened Temple Theatre during the first act of a performance of Bright Star, Terry Page focused intently on the characters on stage. As a former English teacher in the South, the story had already piqued her interest.
But then…
At a Friday matinee and next to her husband and daughter, Page immediately felt an intense rush of nostalgia wash over her.
In a moment, she wasn’t 87 years old anymore.
She, instead, was 16 again. She found herself back in a small dress shop in Grenada, Mississippi, with her mother.
Page remembers seeing the dress on display. The store was called The Quality Shop. But Page, then Terry Denley, wasn’t so much drawn to the pattern or necessarily even to the style. Though, it should be said, the style suited her, a high school-aged girl in the American South in the mid-1950s.
More than anything, Terry noticed the size of the dress.
At 5-feet-2 and just 85 pounds, finding a dress that wasn’t overly childlike or matronly was difficult for Terry Denley. Manufacturers just didn’t make junior-sized dresses at the time. Oh, maybe they did in New York City or on the fashionable West Coast.
But in Grenada, near her small hometown of Coffeeville in Yalobusha County?
This was highly unusual.
She paid $10 or so for it and took it home, placing it among the many homespun dresses she and her mother skillfully made.
“I don’t remember the specific special occasion it was for,” Page says now, some 70 years later. “But I know it was my favorite dress.”
And now, directly in front of her and on stage, a pretty 23-year-old young woman was wearing it and singing her heart out.
***
Tamara Lewis, Terry and Fred Page’s daughter, settled with her husband in Sanford, North Carolina, by way of Chapel Hill about 30 years ago. A music teacher throughout her career in Lee County Schools, Lewis felt a connection to Temple Theatre and its shows in the time before Peggy Taphorn had ever even heard of Sanford.
Lewis performed in shows and even music directed others, conducting from the orchestra pit when that was still a possibility. Her deep affection for Temple has only grown in the time since.
“We came from Chapel Hill, and here we thought, ‘Oh, we’ll grace this small theatre with our knowledge,’” Lewis quips. “Instead, we were immediately blown away. We’ve been blown away ever since.”
Lewis and her family have missed few shows 30 years later. She volunteers, ushers and will work concessions to help the Temple out in any way.
She also makes donations.
“My mom and my sisters have always loved vintage clothing,” Lewis says. “And we’ve all been pretty petite, pretty small, so we would put on Mom’s clothes or keep what we liked over the years.”
Over time and a few moves, the family had boxes of clothes to donate.
“One dress, though, I remember, was just too small for me,” Lewis says. “But it was such a pretty period dress that I figured it could make a great costume for Temple. I remember that Mom really loved it, but she was excited it might find a new home.”
***
Allison Podlogar* - yes, my lovely daughter – plays Margo in Bright Star. Margo’s timeframe within the show is the mid-1940s, just after World War II, and her much-desired love interest is home from the war.
Margo wants to impress Billy Cane.
(*Hi, Kid!)
Allison is 5-foot-0. She, as her doctor’s physical while home this month from Brooklyn clearly states, is the definition of petite.
Allison is a professional actor with her BFA in musical theatre. Temple Theatre is the theatre she grew up in. When she was cast as Margo in Bright Star – a show that means a lot to her – she jumped at saying yes. It’s been a tremendous experience.
In the first act, Margo performs a soaring number for her one and only, Billy Cane, who is offstage and mindlessly unknowing of her whims. Margo sings longingly for him in a number titled “Asheville.” In it, propped on a ladder that - let’s just say it - helps alleviate the distance in height between her and her co-star, Allison wears a black and blue checkered-pattern dress with pink and yellow stitch highlights. The sleeves rest at her elbows and the buttons rise to the neck. On the tag, the style is Jollie, and above the brand name Halamar, it reads, “Juniors.”
It fits well.
It is Terry Page’s dress.
“When she was singing – she was perched up and in the spotlight - I just kept looking at it and looking at it,” Page says. “Then I started to notice the details. The buttons at the top. And then I knew.
“I touched Tamara’s arm, leaned over to her and said, ‘I think that’s my dress!’”
“I thought the same thing, too,” Tamara says. “Mom recognized it right away.”
There was, indeed, one moment of trepidation in Terry’s mind. It had been so long ago. She figures she bought the dress in 1955 or 1956 – more than 70 years ago. And the donation of that dress was at least 15 years ago, maybe more.
But then, it struck her.
“The size,” Terry says. “Allison is so petite, like me. So, that was another clue. If it fit her, it had to be my dress.”
***
Taphorn, the Artistic Director of the Temple Theatre, costumed Bright Star. When Allison went for her fitting, they tried on dozens of dresses in the theatre’s costume shop.
One stood out.
“I don’t think we’ve used this dress in any production before Bright Star,” Taphorn says. “It’s just perfect for the character and the time period. And, of course, it fits Allison perfectly.”
There is a moment in Bright Star when Alice Murphy, the lead of the show, comes to a realization that is at the heart of the story. In the song, actress Carrie Lyn Brandon masterfully delivers the lines with a delicate and deft tone.
So familiar, I could feel ya
When you came through the door
So peculiar, like I knew ya
Somewhere before
It comes far after “Asheville” in the first act, but near the climax of the second act.
Terry Page, though, had already felt something so similar an hour before.
“It’s just such a pretty young lady’s dress,” she says. “It’s very appropriate for the time, and for Allison’s age.
“She looks lovely in it.
“I was so happy to see it again.”
