Thursday morning I was at the nightclub at ten and spoke to Adrian, about using the club, on an afternoon it was not being used. It would be an ideal place for holding training sessions if the choreographer agreed to my plans, and it was close to my apartment if I could entice Rita there. Wednesday's the club was free all day, Adrian said when I showed him my government badge and told him the remit of the task I had been given. He became very patriotic, stating that helping the West Australian Government would be a great honour for him and the club. I had the feeling there would be some sort of favours, asked for in the future.
Clarence the choreographer listened to my proposal and liked the whole idea, of showing the leaders of groups the girls exercise routine, in the club on Wednesday's. Especially when I suggested I might be able to get them on television, that is if the girls wanted to do the exercises in a plumbic place like on the beach. There were a total of twelve girls, that meant there could be two sets of six, doing their exercises for the woman to follow, while they watched telly at home. Or in groups at their meeting places, following their group leaders who had learnt the movements. The girls were a bit hesitant until they realised the publicity they would get.
If I could sell the idea to Mark Harris the sports reporter, he might see the potential of a fitness program on TV with lovely ladies. If he could talk the TV producers into trying out the idea, even if it was just a one-off they would be seen. I left them at their rehearsals, while I rang Mr Harris with my plan. He was prepared to let me announce my keep fit invitation, for Sunday in his interview on Friday. He sounded interested when I told him about my vision for the keep fit program.
"Bring three of the girls with you on Friday; I might be able to give them a few minutes on my show," he said, after thinking about it for a while. I conveyed the request to Clarence, who in turn asked for three volunteers. All twelve hands went excitedly up, with the prospect of being on the telly. It was decided by drawing three names out of a hat, then we spent the rest of the afternoon, rehearsing for that and my show on Saturday. I was going to dance out on stage, in the middle of the girls to a long sway intro, until I reached the microphone. Then the girls would dance, around the stage as I sing the song. As the band played the instrumental in the middle, I would take turns dancing with two of the girls.
On Friday, the girls and Clarence turned up in a taxi, just as I was nearing the channel nine-building. We turned a few heads as we went to the reception, to introduce ourselves and ask where to go. Clarence was dressed in a flamboyant suit, while I was in my tracksuit; the girls had matching turbans and long matching robes over their showgirl outfits. As they moved through reception, the lightweight garments flowed behind them showing their long shapely legs, as they walked with swaying hips. We had mixed looks from the women and looks of lust from the men. Justin came and took us to the studio, and had a smile on his face when he saw the girls. He started the interview by showing the last round of my fight in the WACA, then he introduced me. Then came the many questions like why did I stop boxing, and why didn't I turn professional when I came out of the Navy. I gave him the same answer I gave everyone else.
"I don't want to lose control of my temper again as I had in my last fight, if I can't guarantee it won't happen again, I don't want to fight at all. I did boxing because I liked it as a sport, and for the camaraderie of those in the team. I enjoy being fit and agile, and I hope to inspire others to be fit also. That is why I've accepted an appointment, with the government's youth department, and I would like to invite anybody who wants' to get fit, to join me at Langley park Sunday morning at six am. I'm there every morning to train, come and join me, please."
"Please, sports coaches think about asking, the parents, brothers and sisters, of your teams to come out and train with them. No matter what sport you play it pays to be fit to play it, you can't get fit without exercise, I'm organising spaces in local government buildings. To be used for setting up keep fit classes, for groups to do aerobics to music. There will be one in each suburb if we hopefully get the numbers to do so. We will instruct one person, from each of the groups, who will then go back to their suburb, to show their group the routine."
YOU ARE READING
Parallel Me
FantasyA fictitious tale based on my life, although there are real events in amongst the fake, as there are real people in a different guise. The timeline of the story is in line with what happened at that time, 'IE' the Suez Canal incident was in 1956.
