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This is the third in a three-part series previewing the Jan. 1 Fancy Brigade Finale Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
As kids, we could walk a few blocks and enter a new parish. Today, with the declining number of churches, the cohesiveness of our communities is dwindling. Mummery is one of the few remaining things that binds people together to better South Philly neighborhoods and families.
As other neighborhood meeting spots close, Mummer clubs, now more than ever, have become the new center of our worlds — where people come to relax, learn, work together and relate socially.
In 1947, as World War II and its effects drew to a close, the newly formed Fancy Brigade division — one of the five making up the Philadelphia Mummers Parade — started to assimilate itself into the city’s culture not only as a gathering place, but also a place to mold, shape, protect and nurture children.
The brigades’ responsibility is to stick to the values the initial brigade membership put forth, yet its ultimate goal is to put on the most spectacular shows and adapt to the general public’s new entertainment standards and demands. Today, with fond memories of past captains, this uneven ground ahead is not lost on current Fancy Brigade Association leaders. The wall they have to climb over to successfully proceed in the current declining economic state is exhaustive as finding ways to raise show funds certainly will have to be addressed.
Years ago, the parading Mummers were not the only reason to attend the South Broad Street festivities.
For neighborhood inhabitants, as well as those that had moved away to started new careers and families, meeting up with family and friends on New Year’s Day was a cherished objective. Standing along the parade route while taking an occasional nip and then running to a nearby home to get warm and grab hot soup, delicious ham, freshly baked holiday cookies and homemade red wine were traditions that would not be missed.
In 2012, how are the changing interests of the general public to be addressed?
As the Comics don their acid-tongued political and social satire, the Wenches feature their jubilant revelry, the Fancies illustrate beauty and pageantry and the String bands showcase their brilliant musical presentations, the Fancy Brigades must continue to end the parade each year on a high note that not only tops the year before, but leave the crowd gasping in delight and wanting more.
Past leaders diligently laid out the framework of the Fancy Brigades, so its new leaders’ jobs are to change with the times and be innovative, yet, still true to Mummer tradition. Sharing that passion for Mummery with your own children and family is a joy and is a way to move forward and encourage a new generation to understand that the brigades has value. The blue-collar people come together to collaborate in the spirit of competition, but also celebrate it in an admirable way.
Americans, carry the weight of many burdens such as the future hope of a peaceful world. While Mummery doesn’t cure cancer, calm Mother Nature or end wars, it does, even if just for a moment, ease the tensions of the people. Like a cheesy reality show or great sporting event, the Fancy Brigades’ shows are a guilty pleasure that cannot be resisted.
Come December, punch lists are posted in each Fancy Brigade clubhouse. This is a signal that the yearlong planning of the four-and-a-half minute shows are entering the final stages.
Final group lists have been posted to bring full circle drills that have been imagined, planned, rearranged and finalized. While the monumental task of working on Brigade floats will probably go on until the very last moment, the course has been set in motion for the presentation of the most commanding and entertaining performances ever to grace a stage.
One right turn from east Oregon Avenue on to Broad Street Jan. 1 each year is an exciting venture. With that turn, comes the sight of all of the familiar faces in the crowd greeting you with joy along the parade route. The march up Broad leads each Brigade closer to what they’ve been working on since Jan. 2 of the previous year. With the approach to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, comes the walk up the ramp that leads to the performance hall and the excitement of knowing that, in a few moments, all of that heart-pounding energy will be expended trying to perform with all of your might and to the best of your ability. As you line up behind the curtain, you hope the show you are about to put on is all you’d hoped it’d be and that the crowd enjoys it.
For some of us, our lives have become a series of complications and struggles as we rely on one another, find redemption in succeeding, put on the best shows possible and join the community to find ways to sustain the art of Mummery.
Looking back to our past leaders — our great-grandparents and grandparents, neighbors, fans and others close to us who have passed on — we realize things that already have been accomplished will not be our last great memory. Those that are gone will never be forgotten. We will take their memory with us forever. It is with that spirit that we turn to our children and embolden them to spread their wings, look outside the box and decipher what the future requires for Mummery to succeed as an art. As we hold fast to the belief that Mummery will be around forever, we have to ensure the fact and hold that goal in our grasp.
We hope we’ve done all we could to pass on our passion for perfection to the art of Mummery. We have to take a leap of faith that all we’ve taught our kids has been absorbed and retained so that they can pass it onto to their children.
We can eternally taunt ourselves, questioning whether we’ve done enough to sustain Mummery’s future path, but our only consolation is knowing only God knows where we go from here and trust that it will be enough.
Carmen D’Amato, Pete D’Amato, James Bradley, Vincent Buono, James Julia, Danny Tursi and Jessica Tursi also contributed to the series.
Visit fancybrigade.com Purchase tickets for the Fancy Brigade Finale at comcasttix.com.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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