Gene-Gene

Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, aka Eugene Patton (born April 25, 1932), was a member of the stage crew and occasional performer on The Gong Show. He was one of several amateur performers who would "warm up", and entertain the audience during commercial breaks. Host Chuck Barris found him so entertaining that he had him dance on the show on-air, and he proved so popular that he soon became a recurring act, an occasional judge, and eventually the regular closing act for the show, with the credits regularly rolling over his enthusiastic dancing, often joined by Chuck, the celebrity judges, the stage hands, and whoever else felt like joining in. Usually Gong paddles, flowers, plastic fake food, stuffed animals and various other items were thrown onstage for good measure.

Well I certainly would never claim to be as magnificent a talent as Gene Gene, but I did go out dancing Saturday night, and dance I did. The big NCYPAA/ICYPAA dance was held in the cavernous Gothic sanctuary of a church on East 74th Street in Manhattan and ran from 10:30 to 1:30am. The room was amazing, with a massive pipe organ in the corner and the DJs, who set up on the altar, really rocked the place. I had originally planned to go with a friend, but he bailed out due to a family function and I decided to go by myself - and I'm glad I did, even though I didn't get home until almost 4am. I always used to be too self conscious to dance much, however, I found that this is no longer the case. I danced with lots of very cute young ladies, made lots of new friends and had an amazing time! Who would have thunk it?