The sewing photo

Mary Jo Thomas Grogan tells the story behind this Moonmaids photo from the UNT archives:

This was planned as advertising for Singer Sewing Machine Co. They asked us to take a sewing course and let them use our name and picture for an ad. It was funny, in a way, since I had absolutely no talent for sewing. The others managed to do fairly well. We made dark green taffeta dresses to use on stage. My dress finally had to be completed by our teacher. In another picture, we stood together showing off our dresses, and the girl next to me was holding mine together in the back, as it was not a fit.

In the photo, Tinker Cunningham is at the sewing machine. In the background on the left, June Hiett ('46) is adjusting a jacket for Maree Lee (she had sung with the Norton Sisters, the group with Vaughn before we joined him, and he added her to our group to help us learn the ropes and get some of the "Texas" out of our dialect). The girl using the ironing board was, of course, me — the one not sewing!

We had the time to do this when we were playing at Vaughn's nightclub, The Meadows, in Boston. We spent six weeks a year there. Most of the rest of the time, we were on one-nighters, traveling. What an education we had! We came back to North Texas after four years with the orchestra. Vaughn was a really nice boss, and it was a great experience for all of us.