MAYBE WE SHOULD DANCE AGAIN
- Montress Greene
- Aug 26
- 6 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
From Country Clubs to Country Stores, Tobacco Warehouses, Farm Barns or Pack Houses, Juke Joints, Supper Clubs, Living Rooms.
There was always enough energy after a hard week at work, whether on the farm or downtown in an office for dancing on Saturday night, whether it was at a Supper Club, Juke Joint or the Country Club.
Dancing must be good for the soul or at the very least for the attitude. As far back as I can remember, I watched my mother dance and listened to her sing. We had no electricity in the late 1930’s and into the 40’s. She tuned the battery- powered radio to a station that played big band music and she danced as she did her housework and cared for us children. I watched her dance with her broom and fill the house with happiness. She encouraged us to join her. My father had his farming, hunting and his game chickens as hobbies and was not so interested in dancing. I remember him saying that my mother told him the reason he couldn’t dance was that he had “slow feet and fast hands”.
My mother had two sisters, Blanche Bridgers and Ruby Bridgers. When they got together there would usually be a show. Their favorite dance was The Charleston. It was obvious that they didn’t do it for attention. They danced because they just loved it.
Even as far back as the early 1940’s there was a “dance hall” near Pender’s Crossroads. My Uncle Britt Forbes lived right at the intersection of Hwy. 42 and Town Creek Road. The small community was Wilbanks. He operated a general merchandise store and that store had a large back room that served as a dance hall on Saturday nights. I don’t know how long it had been there, but it appeared to be pretty old in the early 1940’s. My daddy’s brother, Russell Greene, loved to dance and he knew all the dance places close by. They had a live band on Saturday nights at Uncle Britt’s and on a few occasions my Uncle Russell Greene would take me and his daughter, Janice Greene Proctor, to Uncle Britt’s store while the country band was tuning up and long before the crowds came. It was a big deal for us to watch the band and dance to the “tune up” session. He always took us home before the real dance began.
In addition to the dance hall or Juke Joint at Uncle Britt’s Country Store and a roadside Juke Joint that was called Birdland there was a popular spot called Craig’s located at the Intersection of Shallington Mill Road and Hwy. 42. People found their way to Craig’s from throughout Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties. Stories about what happened at Craig’s was talked about on Monday mornings at more than a few country stores. All of these places and so many others scattered around the county fit the definition of a “juke joint”. (the word ‘juke’ or ‘jook’ is said to come from the Gullah word “joog” meaning rowdy or disorderly. Some were just a little larger than others. It was mostly about the dancing.
There were some more upscale supper clubs like The Cinderella Inn just outside Wilson at what is now the intersection of US 301 and Hwy 42. Cinderella Inn was really fancy. Aunt Blanche Bridgers took several of her nieces and nephews there to have an early dinner and we played the jukebox and danced on that beautiful lighted dance floor. There was a piano, and my older cousin, Keith Greene, played the piano. I just remember she took us early before there was a crowd. In Rocky Mount there was the Club Rio. These are a few of the places to dance I remember either seeing or hearing about in the early 1940’s. There were places all over the county but this is just a few I remember.
Since I grew up in rural Wilson County, a tobacco county, I am familiar with the dual uses of the tobacco pack house. After the tobacco crops were graded and hauled off to the tobacco warehouses in Wilson and other tobacco markets to be sold the tobacco pack houses served another purpose. Some farmers cleaned their pack houses, washed the windows, cleared the tobacco sticks and debris and made it ready to have a dance. The big open space was perfect for a dance. The word was out and anyone who played a musical instrument was welcome to join in. The bands were usually made up of neighbors who came together and “made music”. Sometimes the music was from a radio and the fortunate ones may have a “record player and records”. Whatever the source of the music, people danced and had fun.
Time passed and when I was in high school in the early 1950’s the Elm City Woman’s Club in Elm City hosted a dance for teenagers at the Woman’s Club in Elm City. They provided non alcoholic punch, cookies and sandwiches for us. The music was records of our favorite tunes by Pat Boone, Chuck Berry and The Coasters. This dance at the Woman’s Club was entertainment we could count on every Saturday night. Not only are the memories precious but those dances kept us entertained in a safe and nourishing environment.
There were dance halls or “Juke Joints” throughout the countryside. These were usually small, sometimes abandoned, buildings that provided a place for neighborhood folks to gather and enjoy music, dancing and relaxing. Some business minded ladies would prepare sandwiches, fried chicken or other food options to sell at these places. There was usually some bootleg liquor available. Dancing made folks hungry and thirsty.
If you happened to be driving down a country road on Saturday night and came upon a section of roadway that was lined on both sides with a variety of new cars, old cars and pickup trucks, there was most likely a Juke Joint close by.
In the late 1950’s, 1960’s and into the 70’s there were places to listen to music and dance. In Wilson in addition to the Country Club there was the Ship and Shore, The Moose Club and then there was Midtown. I cannot name them all but there were places on both sides of the Wilson Railroad Tracks.
After the tobacco was all sold and the huge tobacco warehouses were cleared there was an occasional big dance held at the warehouse with a band that played late into the evening. People dressed in their finest and danced.
One of the big events was The June German. The last one I remember going to was held in Rocky Mount in the 1960’s, The event was formal. Men wore their tuxedos and ladies wore formal or semi-formal dresses or gowns. I believe this event was sponsored by the Cotillion Club. There were several nationally recognized big named bands providing the music. There was a schedule of which bands were playing and what time they played. There were parties throughout the town. The bands started playing and the people came early in the evening and the last of the bands wrapped up the event about sunrise after dancing the night away. As the sun was rising you would see the crowd, many who had been partying for ten or more hours, walking from the warehouse to their cars still dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns. They walked across the huge RR tracks in downtown Rocky Mount looking for some place open for breakfast or a cup of coffee. Most had lost some of the spring in their step and were a bit wrinkled but they still could be heard making plans for next Saturday night.
It didn’t matter how fancy the place or decorations were or how elegant the building was or if it was a shack beside the road these places provided the same entertainment. Once the music started and the dancing began people had fun. We danced.
There are still dances and places to dance but not so much as ‘back in the day’. Beach music brought on the Shag. There were Shag Clubs or groups that met at different places to dance and to learn new moves. There were all those line dances and the jitterbug but either many of those places are gone or maybe I am just not out there seeing them. Just because I am now a few months away from ninety years old and not out so much I do hope that whether folks are in a fancy ballroom or a roadside Juke Joint or whether they are dancing to the tune of “Alice Blue Gown” or Chuck Berry’s “Johnny Be Goode” just keep dancing.
Montress Greene
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