Diane (me) had been taking ballet, but tap was new to her. Before her first tap class in October, 1941, she needed tap shoes. In her mother's diary, Ruth said, "I was lucky to get a pair of tap shoes for only 50 cents. They were nice to her because she tried hard to do the steps."
In June, 1942 at age 6, Diane poses in her red and white gingham outfit with teapot motif, made by Ruth, after a dance recital. She and the girls in her class tapped, danced and sang to "I'm a Little Teapot." It was quite a hit with the proud families watching. My dance career was about to end, though, because the young teacher was soon to close her school and follow her husband to U.S. Army Basic Training camp.
In the picture, Diane is standing on the "sundeck" that was off of two bedrooms, hers and brother Ken's. A peek at the Oak Park neighborhood's garages, trees, homes appears behind her. Wrought iron fencing and low orange brick walls form a bulwark around the second-floor porch.
The tarred sundeck was fine to walk on or lay a beach towel on most of the year, but on the hottest summer days pools of liquid tar would appear, banishing any thoughts of sunbathing. Neither the picture nor diary quote are in Pieces of a Life.
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