Our Legendary Line of Long-Legged Lovelies
At age 18 Joni Naber
Joni Naber, 74 years young, joined the Follies five years ago after owning and operating a dance studio in her native Washington, D.C., for 47 years. But that was after an illustrious performing career that began with appearances on television in the nation's capital when she was in her teens.
She also shared the live stage as a dancer and singer with such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Gordon MacRae, Eddie Fisher and Bobby Darin.
Joni toured the U.S. with the Roxyettes, a rival troupe to the Rockettes, and traveled the world with the USO as a precision line dancer. After veering to work as a singer and model, she founded an overnight camp where girls could train with master dance teachers before launching her long-running studio.
She and her husband Michael, a former Naval officer, also raised a family that produced four children and five grandchildren.
What is your favorite Follies memory? "I greeted a couple in the lobby recently and the husband told me, ‘Today's my 80th birthday and my wife said that I could do whatever I wanted. I took her by the hand and said, "Come on honey, we're going to the Follies!"'"
MORE FUN FACTS:
- Michael E. Naber attained the rank of Commander in his Navy career and was a combat jet pilot during service in Vietnam.
- Joni's own stint with the USO for five years encompassed travels to Greenland, Iceland and the Azores, and she relished "the applause of our service men and women."
- Her most memorable experience was waiting for an elevator with cast members in a Richmond, Virginia, hotel when the door opened and out walked Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who looked straight at the showgirls, smiled, and cheerily said, "Good evening, ladies." Adds Joni, "We said ‘Good evening' right back to him and got a good laugh out of it later."
- Joni connected with the Follies when her in-laws, from San Diego, gave her and her husband tickets for a Christmas show, and she enjoyed it so much she flew back cross-country by herself, unannounced, for a successful audition.
- Her husband is a volunteer mission pilot for both the Civil Air Patrol and the Palm Springs Police Department.
- Joni offers words of wisdom, attributed to Confucius, that she lives by: "Choose a job that you love and you'll never have to work again."
