EXTRAS IN LIFE WILL MISS `LOKRANTZ ANGEL'.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
She will retire from the angel business this week to become a part-time storyteller. To volunteer two or three afternoons a week in a public library reading children's stories to kids who will sit at her feet and hang on her every word. But they will know nothing about the woman reading to them, and that's a shame. Because maybe the warmest, most wonderful story of all isn't between the covers of a library book. It's in the real life of the storyteller. The life of Elsie Schiowitz, who retires this week from Lokrantz Special Education Center in Reseda after 36 years. It's the life of a little girl who dreamed of becoming a star to millions, but instead became an angel to thousands of physically and developmentally disabled children reaching for their own fullest potential. To begin Elsie's book, you have to go back to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. in the glorious early 1930s as Ida Abro gets her little 6-year-old daughter, Elsie, ready for another day's work (Naut.) the account or reckoning of a ship's course for twenty-four hours, from noon to noon. See also: Day as an extra on the ``Our Gang'' comedies at the Hal Roach roach: see cockroach. roach Common European sport fish (Rutilus rutilus) of the carp family (Cyprinidae), found in lakes and slow rivers. A high-backed, yellowish green fish with red eyes and reddish fins, the roach is 6–16 in. Studios. Just one of the kids filling out the background scenes for Spanky, Alfalfa alfalfa (ălfăl`fə) or lucern (l  sûn`), perennial leguminous plant (Medicago sativa and the gang, and dreaming of one day moving center stage herself. Elsie never did, but she never lacked for work. She would go from little girl in the '30s to teen-ager in the '40s filling out the background scenes in dozens of movies, including the Andy Hardy series, ``Hollywood Canteen'' and ``The Harvey Girls.'' Her specialty was the jitterbug jitterbug Dance variation of the two-step in which couples swing, balance, and twirl in standardized patterns to syncopated music in ⁴⁄₄ time. It originated in the U.S. in the mid 1930s and became internationally popular in the 1940s. . If a director needed to fill out a dance scene, they called Elsie Abro. Nobody could jitterbug like Elsie could jitterbug. Either on screen or down at the Hollywood Canteen The Hollywood Canteen operated at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, California between October 3, 1942 and November 22, 1945 (Thanksgiving Day) as a club offering food, dancing and entertainment for servicemen, usually on their way overseas. , where she entertained en·ter·tain v. en·ter·tained, en·ter·tain·ing, en·ter·tains v.tr. 1. To hold the attention of with something amusing or diverting. See Synonyms at amuse. 2. and danced with GIs home on leave from World War II. That's where she met Mel, and after the war went from Elsie Abro to Elsie Schiowitz. The Navy man swept Elsie off her feet and into a marriage that would produce a family with a son and a daughter growing up in a place that was so cool Bing Crosby sang about it. The San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . She wasn't a star, but she was a lucky woman, Elsie Schiowitz knew, as the '50s gave way to the '60s. She didn't have to look very far, though, to see the extras in this serene life she was leading in the Valley. The kids who weren't out playing ball, dancing and double dating. The kids whose bodies kept them in the background scenes. After dropping her own kids off at school one day in 1962, Elsie found herself walking through the front door of another school. A school where the extras went. ``I'd like to help in any way I can,'' Elsie said to the woman behind the front desk at Lokrantz Special Education Center. They sure could use the help, the woman told her, but they didn't have much money in the budget for assistants. She wasn't there for the money, Elsie said. She was there for the kids. ``I started out as an attendant ATTENDANT. One who owes a duty or service to another, or in some sort depends upon him. Termes de la Ley, h.t. As to attendant terms, see Powell on Morts. Index, tit. Attendant term; Park on Dower, c. 1 7. taking care of the physical needs of the children for $1.75 an hour, and I was thrilled thrill v. thrilled, thrill·ing, thrills v.tr. 1. To cause to feel a sudden intense sensation; excite greatly. 2. To give great pleasure to; delight. See Synonyms at enrapture. ,'' Elsie said last week, getting ready for her big retirement bash. It didn't take long for the kids to warm to this new attendant, to see that she seemed to have this innate ability to relate to them - the background players. It wasn't long before Elsie was offered the position of supervisor of all assistants, the person who would make sure all the kids in this school got only the best instruction and care so they could reach their fullest potential. After all, wasn't that what they were all here for, Elsie would tell her assistants? Giving these kids every chance at success so they could move center stage like the kids in regular school? That kind of thinking got Elsie tagged with the label ``Lokrantz angel'' many years ago, say the longtime long·time adj. Having existed or persisted for a long time: a longtime friend; a longtime resident of Detroit. longtime Adjective administrators and assistants at the school. It stuck. For more than three decades, she offered the dedicated people working at this school friendship, a shoulder to lean on, and solid advice. But most of all, she was their conscience, they say. The angel who sat on their shoulder, and never let them forget what their mission in this school was. To give the extras in life, the background players, every chance to be a star. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Elsie Schiowitz has worked at Lokrantz Special Education Center for 36 years. Evan Yee/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion