It was during lunchtime at Blaine-Sumner Elementary School, in 1953, that Richard Pryor first performed for a larger audience \u2014 as part of a double bill that included The Glow Girls, a singing group that included his close friend Margaret Ruth. The sixth-grade Richard performed his Jerry Lewis-influenced brand of slapstick; the Glow Girls performed the songs of the era\u2014including the popular Mills Brothers’ song “The Glow Worm,” from which they derived their name.<\/p>\n
The entrance to the school gym served as an amphitheater, its steps as risers for an audience of twenty-five or more kids. An alcove around the corner formed the wings of the stage, where the acts could make their dramatic entrances. The Pryor-Glow Girls double bill had a theatrical run of around fifteen impromptu performances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was during lunchtime at Blaine-Sumner Elementary School, in 1953, that Richard Pryor first performed for a larger audience \u2014 as part of a double bill that included The Glow Girls, a singing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[367,369,119,412,54,26],"tags":[211,356,355],"class_list":["post-4882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-born-star","category-education-of-richard-pryor","category-1953-1962","category-2-floating-from-school-to-school","category-richard-pryor","category-schooled","tag-blaine-sumner-school","tag-margaret-ruth-kelch","tag-the-glow-girls"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n