ROCKETTE-ING AHEAD EX-DANCERS STILL ON THEIR TOES.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Young at heart and still in great shape, six former Radio City Music Hall Rockettes got together for an alumnae luncheon at the home of one's daughter.

At the home of Maureen McCormack, whose mother, Barbara McCabe, was a Rockette from 1945 to 1950, the six compared memorabilia and traded any information they had on Rockettes one or more remembered.

Elaine MacDonald, a Rockette from 1963 to 1965, was just a baby when some of the other women were dancing on stage, but she said the common background made them seem like her sisters.

``It was a little girl's dream,'' MacDonald, who appeared on the cover of the Dec. 11, 1964, issue of Life magazine, said about dancing in the Rockettes.

The group included three who knew McCabe on the job for the Rockettes: Rosemarie ``Rickie'' Rickerhouser Elsegood from Mariposa, who danced from 1946 to 1952; Joan Rootvik MacCleod from Granada Hills, 1949 to 1957; and Kay Birk Milligan from Los Angeles, 1939 to 1946. Also there was Sandra Deel Talsky from Brentwood, a Rockette from 1943 to 1945.

``My mother took me to the opening of the Music Hall. Never did I realize that I would be up there (on stage),'' Talsky said.

An Internet alumnae association lets former Rockettes get and stay in contact. Before the luncheon, MacDonald and McCabe became acquainted online and communicated by e-mail before at the luncheon.

Times have changed for the Rockettes.

In the 1950s, the Rockettes performed four shows a day - five on Christmas and Easter - along with a ballet corps, singers and guest entertainers.

Their workplace was equipped with a cafeteria and costuming room, they recalled, and their health was watched by two nurses on duty. There also was a movie theater at the Music Hall, and dancers could catch first-run films between their shows.

The pay in most of the '50s was $84 a week, they said, and the typical Rockette shared an apartment with four others to afford rent, they said. Now Rockettes do all of the singing and dancing in their shows, but each is paid $1,200 a week.

Rockettes had to be 5 feet 3 to 5 feet 8 in height, but there was no age restriction, they said.

``They tried to keep the ages secret,'' said MacDonald, adding that few in audience seats could guess a performer's age.

As in most occupations, mishaps occur - often at the worst possible time. Talsky was a newcomer on stage in her worst moment.

``The curtain went up, and I stepped on the ... stairs, and my foot slipped, and I slid on my bottom all the way down the stairs,'' she recalled. Later, backstage, a new friend helped her laugh about it - jokingly asked if she always made such spectacular entrances.

MacDonald, now a Learning Center technician at Antelope Valley High School, recalled the Rockettes job as a tough one. ``It was extremely hard work,'' she said.

Ultimately, though, she found the experience helpful.

``It was hard. It was disciplined. It made me a better person,'' said MacDonald, adding that she thinks it has that effect on all who do the job.

Some of the six still remember a few of the dance steps. They're all in great shape and, they say, with relatively few aches and pains.

Most went on to other careers. Some have retired.

After Talsky left the Rockettes, she performed as an actress in several Broadway and television shows. Then, 26 years ago, she began a career in real estate. She serves on the board of directors of the Beverly Hills Greater Los Angeles Board of Realtors.

``I don't think I could ever retire,'' Talsky said. ``I love to be involved. I enjoy what I do.''

Milligan, Elsegood and McCabe are now retired. MacCleod works as a travel agent in Granada Hills.

MacDonald began auditioning for Broadway shows before she left the Rockettes and already had a job waiting in Puerto Rico when she last danced in the Music Hall.

Many former Rockettes communicate online - ``unfortunately not all of us,'' Talsky said. ``It's amazing what it's done for our relationships.''

The six women agreed that dancing at Radio City Music Hall was an honor.

``There was a prestige to being there,'' Elsegood said.

``I think we all just loved to dance,'' McCabe said.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2) Barbara McCabe is on the far left in a 1948 photo of a circle of Rockettes. At right, Elaine MacDonald was one of the Rockettes dancing in 1964. The two women were among six who met for a Rockettes alumnae luncheon in Lancaster.

(3 -- color) Still in agile condition more than 35 years after each danced in the Rockettes are, from left, Kay Milligan, Sandra Talsky, Elaine MacDonald, Barbara McCabe and Rosemarie ``Rickie'' Elsegood.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer