East Coast Girls who Strummed with Style!
(
The Moppets in '66)
Back in 1965, four girls came together at Mount Holyoake College, MA to form a band; organised by lead member, Beverly Rodgers. These girls became
The Moppets, a name coined originally as a joke by Beverly's father and went on to some limited success, touring colleges extensively on the east coast, releasing a single and featuring in a number of publications before separating at some point in the late 60's. The original line up consisted of band members
Phyllis Hess (organ),
Beverley Rodgers (lead guitar),
Alisa Damon (bass guitar) and
Kathie Ross (drums); most of the girls provided the essential vocals!The girls were in constant demand, especially at men's college's!, and toured in a 1957 Cadillac hearse!, which went under the pet name of 'Giraffe,' because, according to Ailsa "it has such a long neck." As you can see from the pictures they really loved the guy! Sometimes the girls would drive hundreds of miles from one gig to the next, and were also renowned for their choice of attire! Here's a quote from the
New York Times, which wrote a feature on them:
"At first the girls performed in black turtleneck shirts and stocking and brief, hip-riding gold skirts. "Somehow, I feel they look like Providence townies than Holyoke honeys," a Brown man is alleged to have said while a chaperone on the premise gaped and gasped, "I don't believe it...I don't believe it." But for whatever the reason they have since switched to "more feminine attire," soft, black crepe dressed with sheer blacks stockings and high heels. At Cornell, the boys thought they were great. "They're groovy; everybody's having a groovy time," said John S. McLaughlin, social chairman for Psi Upsilon, who had dropped by with his date."
They earnt around $150 for each performance, playing in colleges such as Cornell, Brown, Wesleyan and Amherst, and performed numbers such as the Boston Monkey and the Philly to great appreciation from audiences! Often stunned that a band of girls could play so good!
(The Moppets with the beloved 'Giraffe')
At some point the band went through a change of lineup, with Phyllis leaving the group and two new members joining the band! These two were
Pamela Brandt and another girl called
Gretchen Pfeifer.Sometime in 1967 the band went their separate ways, however the desire to perform had not left some of the members. They, including Pamela and Gretchen, formed the outfit
Ariel alongside two women (
Anne Bowen and
Helen Hooke) and again received press attention and were a popular touring group on the east coast. By 1970, though, the band came to a conclusion and again separated. However Anne reformed and reunited with her former bandmates, Pamela and Helen, to play at a women's festival, this time under the name of
The Deadly Nightshade. Due to changing attitude to females in rock, the band managed to secure one of the first deals as an all girl band to a major label, RCA, and went on to release two albums to mixed reviews,... and also managed to fit in an appearance on Sesame Street! The band finally broke up in 1977 after 5 years. Pamela has subsequently become an acclaimed feminist writer.
(Deadly Nightshade in 1974)
In 1997,
The Moppets reunited, together with another New England band called
The Wombats, for a one off gig at their former university, Mt Holyoke.
(Moppets at Columbia University)And after all that! Here is the sole Moppets release I know of and own, on Spirit Records...! The A side is a cover of
The Supremes "
Come See About Me", while the reverse is a cover of
The Beau Brummels, "
Cry Just a Little". Both are groovy with a great garage edge! Also included are all the pictures below and the article from the
New York Times! Hope you enjoy both this and the whack of pictures of the lovely and pinoneering ladies!
The Moppets!
