Former Up With People performer Jean Henike displays a couple of pages from a photo album illustrating her adventures with the international musical troupe in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She joined the troupe when she turned 18, and traveled worldwide for five years.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- She performed at the White House with Bob Hope, sang for Jack Paar in Africa, entertained Prince Charles and Princess Anne in London.
For five years, Jean Henike traveled across the country and around the world as a member of an international, motivational youth musical troupe, "Up With People."
A thick scrapbook brims with news clippings and photos tracing visits to exotic and unlikely places, pictures of her beside a group of Masai tribal warriors; celebrating her 21st birthday in Spain; riding a float in Richard Nixon's inaugural parade in Washington.
Ah, the memories.
After five years on the road, she spent the biggest chunk of her life as a pianist and secretary for her church.
Now at 61, slowed somewhat by a stroke, she looks back on her touring years with wonder and gratitude.
Did she really do all that?
"I was born right here on the West Side. My father left my mother with three children, so she and my aunt raised us. When I finished high school, I went on the road with Up With People.
"We were made to take piano lessons when we were young. I'm so thankful my mother made me do that, because I got to play in the White House and for Bob Hope and all over the world.
"At Stonewall High, I was in the Madrigals and All-State and All-County choruses, but I didn't know I was going to go with Up With People until I saw them at the Civic Center. I loved what they had to say. I asked my mother if I could go with them for a year, but I ended up staying five years.
"My mother had gone to a show and saw what they stood for, so it wasn't hard for her to make the decision to let me go.
"You had to go to New York, not far from White Plains, on an island called Fort Slocum. About 10,000 kids from all over the world came for interviews. They asked me why I wanted to go. I said it was because of what the show says.
"At a time in America when they were burning the American flag, these young people were saying let's be positive about the good things in our country.
"Everything may not be perfect here, but you go to a Third World country, and then come back and burn a flag. In Ethiopia, we saw nine people hanging in the town square for stealing food to feed their babies. If you steal a loaf of bread from Kroger here, you aren't going to hang. We are a blessed nation.
"We were staying in made-up dorms. They would call you in for the interview and then tell you they would let you know in two days. I got a letter in my mailbox saying I'd been accepted. That was June 1967. I was turning 18.
"We had three big international casts, Casts A, B and C. I started with Cast B. We got to go to Africa with Jack Paar. We performed for Prince Charles and Princess Anne. We did the L.A. Music Center benefit where all the stars came for a $1,000-a-plate dinner.
"After New York, we went on four big buses to Modesto, Calif. The first place out of the country we went to was Scandinavia, 268 of us to 13 cities in Norway.
"In Tromso, above the Arctic Circle about 250 miles, people were gracious enough to put us up in their homes. This was 1967. No cell phones then. The lady who kept me and this blonde named Sherry from Chicago, her husband was a fisherman at sea and came home every four or five weeks. She told us to take the master bedroom because he was gone. She slept in a smaller bedroom down the hall.
"He came home, but there was no way for him to call and tell his wife he was coming. He didn't know she had guests. We were sound asleep. In the dark, he put his pajamas on and got ready to climb under the feather duvet with me and Sherry. He saw me and started screaming. His wife was a blue-eyed blonde. We laughed about it over raw fish and cocoa the next morning.
"Jack Paar wouldn't sit through anything in New York, not the Metropolitan, not Carnegie Hall. Everything bored him. But he saw us and cried through most of the show because of the positiveness of it. He was going to Africa to do 'Jack Paar's African Diary,' and he wanted to us to go with him and get the response of a primitive tribe.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. --
She performed at the White House with Bob Hope, sang for Jack Paar in Africa, entertained Prince Charles and Princess Anne in London.For five years, Jean Henike traveled across the country and around the world as a member of an international, motivational youth musical troupe, "Up With People."
A thick scrapbook brims with news clippings and photos tracing visits to exotic and unlikely places, pictures of her beside a group of Masai tribal warriors; celebrating her 21st birthday in Spain; riding a float in Richard Nixon's inaugural parade in Washington.
Ah, the memories.
After five years on the road, she spent the biggest chunk of her life as a pianist and secretary for her church.
Now at 61, slowed somewhat by a stroke, she looks back on her touring years with wonder and gratitude.
Did she really do all that?
"I was born right here on the West Side. My father left my mother with three children, so she and my aunt raised us. When I finished high school, I went on the road with Up With People.
"We were made to take piano lessons when we were young. I'm so thankful my mother made me do that, because I got to play in the White House and for Bob Hope and all over the world.
"At Stonewall High, I was in the Madrigals and All-State and All-County choruses, but I didn't know I was going to go with Up With People until I saw them at the Civic Center. I loved what they had to say. I asked my mother if I could go with them for a year, but I ended up staying five years.
"My mother had gone to a show and saw what they stood for, so it wasn't hard for her to make the decision to let me go.
"You had to go to New York, not far from White Plains, on an island called Fort Slocum. About 10,000 kids from all over the world came for interviews. They asked me why I wanted to go. I said it was because of what the show says.
"At a time in America when they were burning the American flag, these young people were saying let's be positive about the good things in our country.
"Everything may not be perfect here, but you go to a Third World country, and then come back and burn a flag. In Ethiopia, we saw nine people hanging in the town square for stealing food to feed their babies. If you steal a loaf of bread from Kroger here, you aren't going to hang. We are a blessed nation.
"We were staying in made-up dorms. They would call you in for the interview and then tell you they would let you know in two days. I got a letter in my mailbox saying I'd been accepted. That was June 1967. I was turning 18.
"We had three big international casts, Casts A, B and C. I started with Cast B. We got to go to Africa with Jack Paar. We performed for Prince Charles and Princess Anne. We did the L.A. Music Center benefit where all the stars came for a $1,000-a-plate dinner.
"After New York, we went on four big buses to Modesto, Calif. The first place out of the country we went to was Scandinavia, 268 of us to 13 cities in Norway.
"In Tromso, above the Arctic Circle about 250 miles, people were gracious enough to put us up in their homes. This was 1967. No cell phones then. The lady who kept me and this blonde named Sherry from Chicago, her husband was a fisherman at sea and came home every four or five weeks. She told us to take the master bedroom because he was gone. She slept in a smaller bedroom down the hall.
"He came home, but there was no way for him to call and tell his wife he was coming. He didn't know she had guests. We were sound asleep. In the dark, he put his pajamas on and got ready to climb under the feather duvet with me and Sherry. He saw me and started screaming. His wife was a blue-eyed blonde. We laughed about it over raw fish and cocoa the next morning.
"Jack Paar wouldn't sit through anything in New York, not the Metropolitan, not Carnegie Hall. Everything bored him. But he saw us and cried through most of the show because of the positiveness of it. He was going to Africa to do 'Jack Paar's African Diary,' and he wanted to us to go with him and get the response of a primitive tribe.
"We went to Nairobi and did the film with the Masai warriors. They lived on blood and milk, very primitive. We were out in the Rift Valley with Jack Paar clowning around on drums. An elephant spit all over his $3,000 camera lens and ruined it.
"We had performed at the Royal Albert Hall. Our American ambassador saw our show and liked it. He was having a private dinner party for Prince Charles and Princess Anne. So we went to the ambassador's residence and did a 25-minute show for Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
"They came up, and I curtsied and said, 'Your Royal Highness, it's a pleasure to meet you.' He said, 'You play a mean honky-tonk there.' They were very personable in a private setting. That was an absolute honor.
"My favorite performance was the White House. The press secretary for Nixon called Up With People and asked us to come to the White House and entertain for the governors' conference.
"This was 1970, before the terrorist attacks. We pulled up at the White House and the guard saw our badges and said, 'Go on in.' We got to ride the presidential elevator and go to kitchen and get food. You can't do that now.
"Arch Moore was there. I was the only performer from West Virginia. Gov. Moore said, 'Jean, I'm going to call your mother and tell her I met you in the White House.' He did call my mom. She thought, 'Goodness, the governor's calling. What has she done now?'
"Our group and Bob Hope were the entertainment for the evening. We rehearsed and rehearsed. We were going to play Bob Hope's theme song, 'Thanks for the Memories,' when he walked in. In rehearsal, he turned to me and said, 'Young lady, play my refrain.' Refrain? He said, 'You don't know my refrain?' He came over and sat on the piano bench in the east ballroom and said, 'I'm going to teach you. Think you can remember it?' I remembered it that night and he winked at me.
"Bob Hope was an avid golfer. Nixon had this golf ball and he said, 'Bob, I want to give you one of these golf balls with my signature, and the vice president wants to give you one of his balls, too.' We were standing right behind the president trying to keep straight faces. It was on video. They put that on "American Bloopers."
"When we would go out of the country, we did many of our songs in the language of that country. We would learn them on the plane. I can sing in Swahili, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Japanese. I got really fluent in the French.
"I remember being in Fountainhead, Okla., for Christmas. Glenn Close was there. She wrote a lot of the music for Up With People.
"Usually, we got two weeks out of the year to come home. Five years is a long time to live out of a suitcase. I have no desire now to travel at all.
"I went to San Francisco for two years, then came home. I got in trouble there. My son's father is a cable car driver. I tell everyone I rode the wrong streetcar named desire.
"I was brought up right, and we were clean cut on the road, but I think a wild streak kicks in when you turn 21. I'd been secluded and felt like I'd missed everything. Turns out, I hadn't missed a thing.
"I came home and worked as a secretary for the Living Word Church for 25 years, and I was their musician.
"I've haven't worked for three years. I had a stroke. As long as I take the medicine, I'm doing all right. I couldn't walk on one side for a couple of days, but it came back.
"I did a lot of local theater after I got out. I did 'Barnum' for the Light Opera Guild with Jennifer Garner in 1985. She was just 16.
"There's a band I play with, just good 'ol boys from Logan County. I was used to playing black gospel. I never dreamed I'd play redneck. We call ourselves the Prayer Warriors. We go to nursing homes and minister to people who are shut in.
"I never wanted to have a musical career. I was so blessed to have that opportunity at a young age. A lot of kids today are into drugs and stuff. I was in the right place at the right time. I was blessed to travel, 24 countries and 36 states, and it was all paid for. Incredible!"
Reach Sandy Wells at san...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5173.
