MARY JARDIN
CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Mary Jardin
One day about 10 years ago, Riff Markowitz called his partner, Mary Jardin, backstage to his dressing room in the inner sanctum of the Palm Springs Follies and handed her an envelope containing a letter and a $100 bill. The writer noted that his wife became ill during a Follies performance and went from the balcony downstairs, where a young lady in a black suit came up to her, sat her down, eased her anxiety. He asked Riff to find the good Samaritan and give her the money.
“You have any idea who this person is?” asked Riff.
Mary quietly chuckled. It was she.
“From that,” remembers Ms. Jardin, “grew a friendship. Bud Yount (the letter writer) and his wife Betty came to the show on New Year’s Eve every year and sat in the first row of the balcony. Bud became an ambassador for the Follies. He was a retired Marine who sent e-mails to all his friends. He passed away last year, and Riff spoke at his funeral. On a table was Follies memorabilia.”
And the $100 bill? Bud Yount wouldn’t take it back, so Mary donated the money to charity.
Before becoming immersed in theater with the creation of the Follies, the comely Ms. Jardin, a native of the Bay area in northern California, worked in the airline industry, where her focus was customer service. (“In the days,” she adds wryly, “when there was an emphasis on customer service in the airlines.”) The emphasis hasn’t changed in her role as Director of Marketing for the show. “It’s intuitive for me,” she says. “It’s just common sense. My gratification is making people happy, going the extra step.”
Making a difference –
that motivates me.
She’ll see out-of-town strangers standing outside the theater, with no clue as to what’s inside. “I can see they’re curious,” she relates, “so I’ll walk up and ask, ‘Can I answer any questions for you?’ Right away, they want to take a peek inside, so I might sneak them in to watch a minute of the show. They have no idea who I am.”
In December 2006, she was honored with the Palm Springs Athena Award, given annually to notable women in the community for professional excellence, public service and active assistance to other women. In May of 2007, she flew to Sacramento to accept a tribute from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, recognizing the Follies as the 37th Senate District Small Business of the Year, selected by State Senator Jim Battin, who stated, “The Follies exudes entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, hard work and dedication – the very elements that make small businesses the backbone of our state.” Currently she sits on the Executive Committee for the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism and is on its Marketing Committee.
She is abetted by her husband, John Greenberger, who creates the Follies set designs and graphics. A former creative director for BBDO, a premier New York advertising agency, John also designs collateral material, from rack cards to posters, anything that that bears the Follies imprint. Her sister, Dolores Dey, manages the Follies’ ambassador staff that makes educational presentations throughout Southern California.
Dark-tressed Mary herself, who personally directs the Follies’ advertising, merchandising, group sales, reservations, media relations, Internet and tourism outreach departments, still isn’t old enough to be in the show she co-founded with Markowitz. – the cast ranges in age from 56 to 86. “And I can’t dance,” she confesses. “There are times when I’ll put on a Follies costume and go out there and be an ambassador for the show, such as at a huge trade show in San Bernardino when the cast is in crucial rehearsals. But I don’t like being in front of the curtain. I like being behind the house, a fly on the wall, observing.”
And plotting improvements and changes including key input with creative aspects of the show. The Follies is now incorporating music for the next generations, the baby boomers of the ‘50s and ‘60s, without losing its core audience. “We’re trying to please a new audience without losing the old,” she nods. The Follies, at her instigation, provides seat cushions for patrons who may not be as tall as they once were, or are sitting behind a view-blocking person. It provides serapes or shawls for the ladies when it gets chilly. “We even keep disposable briefs on hand,” she reveals with a twinkle. “Don’t laugh. We once had a busload of 30 visitors who got sick from a meal preceding the show.”
She received a letter from a Vietnam veteran who had struggled with his war experience for many years. A friend had brought him to the Follies, against his will. “During the patriotic segment,” she recounted, “when everybody who wore a uniform stood up, he said it was the first time since he came back from Vietnam that anybody had recognized what he had done. That got him out of his shell.
"Making a difference – that motivates me."
