Beauty Knows No Pain Transcript
- [Instructor] Rangerettes, you're looking good.
- Y'all sure were good today.
- [Rangerettes] Thank you. Bye
- You're good stuff and thank you for everything, bye!
- When the president of Kilgore College asked me to come see him, to talk about something to do for halftime entertainment, that would not only be colorful but would keep the people in the seats. I said, "Well, what do you want? A pep squad or a drill squad or a drum and bugle corps?" And he said, "Oh, none of those." And I said, "Well, what do you want?" He said, "Hm, that's why I hired you"
- Da da-da da-da da-da da-da-da da-da One, two, three, four
- [Instructor] Left, left, left, right, left
- [Gussie] Five, six, seven, eight I tried to instill many values to the girls under my direction. Number one, and above all things, is to be a lovely, poised young lady. They must always be the kind of girl that you can depend on. They must have values of life that are morally sound and that fit with society, as long as it does not curb them to such a degree, but that they can't be individuals. The many reasons a young lady wants to be a Rangerette. Some of them want to be Rangerettes because their big sisters were, or their older sisters, or their cousins, or some kin folks, or some girl they particularly like in town. Some want to be a Rangerette because they've seen us on television and they think it looks most glamorous. Go back to this old theory that we all have so much ham in us. We hate to get out and perform alone, but when we can perform in a group, then everybody feels like, that they're a star. Others want to be because they feel like the uniform is just about the most beautiful and the cutest thing. And they can just visualize how they would look in one. They are little sissy red blouses, and just little plain blue skirts. And that's our flag, and that's everything concerned with our nation, the most beautiful nation there is. I don't know just exactly what does motivate each girl, I do know, that I have never asked a girl to be a Rangerette yet. I have never recruited, I've never had to.
- You're not gonna get a million dollars for that I'm Gussie Nell Davis.
- I'm from Corpus Christie, nice to meet you
- Oh how nice! Is it wet down where you are? I heard you-
- That's what I heard. I'm Gussie Nell Davis, and I know who you are, You're gonna start right in again!
- Hi
- Hello, welcome. I'm Gussie Nell Davis
- Nice to meet you, I'm from Nebraska
- From where now?
- Nebraska
- Oh, Nebraska!
- Yes ma'am
- Welcome, how very nice you're here! Hello, I'm Gussie Nell Davis
- Diane from .
- That's right, you surely are, even with the college there, you're here Hello
- I'm Phyllis from Kilgore
- You certainly are Phyllis, well I'm Gussie Nell Davis hahaha
- The staff of our Rangerettes, and I, welcome you. We're so thrilled that you're here and we know you're here because you wanna be a Rangerette more than anything in the world. You haven't been asked to be one, you have asked to be one. We're going to do everything in our power, each girl here, one of these girls will be your big sister. And every girl here, will be doing nothing but helping you be a Rangerette. Remember we try to make you one, not to eliminate you. So welcome, and get ready for two weeks of intense work, something you will never forget in your whole life. And next year you'll be up here, doing it for another group of freshmen
- [Instructor] Three, four and hold for two three, four, hold and over, two, legs apart, hold! And down
- Forward march. Ready? Begin March! Okay
- [Instructor] Okay, sway! Let's do it again!
- [Gussie] If a girl wants to be a Rangerette, she is obligated to me, to try out and to work.
- [Instructor] Come on let's smile!
- [Gussie] Now, there are many who do not make the Rangerette line. First, a girl must have normal rhythm, and she must show improvement. And since the high kick is our trademark, they have to be able to kick over their head.
- [Instructor] Ready? Just kick, just kick! That's right! Ready, stop! Let's do it again! First step, make it look good.
- [Gussie] The line must look as one. And if any girl stands out by the way she does her routine, then she can't be in the line, because the line is one person.
- Abby do you see yourself making mistakes? See what it looks like? That's why we want you to think, we can't see thinking up here does nothing, but think down here works, course your head has to work too Well, we've seen it. We've got so much to work on and don't think we'll ever get through. You start with step one, anybody that couldn't do step one, you shouldn't be here. We've got to remember our , you've got to learn to go down on count two. We're gonna say one, two, and we're going to say one, two. We stay here midnight to do it.
- [Rangerettes] One, two, three, four five, six, seven, eight
- [Gussie] All right, discipline yourself! I've learned how, discipline yourself. Discipline. If you want that hand to turn one, you say so! Make yourself do it. Give yourself a spankin or talking to or pillow talk or something, but discipline yourself. All right, ready? Once more. Go!
- [Rangerettes] One, two, three, four five, six, seven, eight
- Four, five six, seven, eight one and two, and three and four, and five and six and seven, eight leg, leg, leg, leg now kick! One two, three four, five six,
- [Gussie] One of our rules is you have to be in Rangerettes every day. If they're there, then they're smiling. They know that they cannot do a routine as perfect as when they smile. Routine done without smiles is not good. And it has to be done correctly, every time they do it. Now you've got to talk to yourself. You've got to smile you've got to snap your fingers. You gotta step right, step right and kick and kick and get it up by that knee. All right, here we go again.
- [Gussie] They are so far from the audience, that each member has to overdo what she does and it is all big, huge movements. They have to be prissy, they have to seem like they're excited, that they love to do what they do. And as long as they can put this over, then the audience is with them. We call it projection.
- [Gussie] The Rangerettes have many slogans to help them through all of their workouts. But there's one slogan that means more than anything else. Beauty knows no pain. Beautiful girls never have any pain with anything that makes them beautiful. I started using the slogan where we take our pictures, just as soon as we get our uniform. At this particular place, there is a driveway with a retaining wall at the side of it. Half of the girls can stand on the retaining wall and half can stand on the driveway. But those that stand on the retaining wall, their left leg is into a hedge that is very stickery and having to stand there with the pain, we all say and think, as the camera clicks, beauty knows no pain. Smile, keep smiling, keep smiling. And when you get through, you won't be able to put your lips together. But a beauty knows no pain, we just keep 'em apart. The Rangerette smile is not like any other smile. Our smiles just have to come all through their legs, up through their body. It has to come through their soul. They have to smile because they love it and because they want to. Smile, smile. When they come off of the field, they've just smiled so hard and had so much fun doing what they're doing. It's kind of hard to get their face back in normal position once again. All right, smile, all the time never quit. Say I'm beautiful. Come on, say it, with your face, with your body, say you're beautiful. Look how differently you look. Come on, say I'm beautiful with your face. It's lovely! Raise your heads! Beautiful, gorgeous! Love, boys, everything. Say it beautiful.
- [Gussie] Stretch tall. Give a nice smile, but remember you're not on a football field, this is just on a stage. You have a nice smile. Tighten your derriere, stretch tall where in the world did all those pounds come from get 'em off. Y'all are not stretching! Get those wrinkles outta your brows, outta your leotards. Get those wrinkles out. Let's go!
- [Gussie] The difference in a girl when she first comes in to Rangerettes and when she leaves me, is unbelievable. They gain so much confidence and self poise. Strangers don't frighten them in any way. Adults do not frighten them. When a Rangerette goes in to get a job from somebody, if they find out she's a Rangerette, she always gets the job, because they know she will always look well groomed. I never treat them with any other feeling than they are perfect they're never gonna make a mistake, that they will always do a beautiful job.
- Okay. Turn, look at your audience, pose. Okay. Go back. Okay. You go ahead. Okay. , you better be smiling. Okay, walk back and look at your audience. I saw the Rangerettes perform for the cotton bowl game in Dallas. And I thought they really did a really great job. And I'd never seen a group like Rangerettes and and I wanted to go outta state, and meet other people, especially the south, being from way up in the north. I wanted to find out what the people in the south were like and I wanted to try out for a real dance team. And I had a girlfriend that is a Rangerette, and she was real interested in dance, and we decided to just try our luck. We didn't know what to expect. We, um, didn't understand everything that the Southern people said. And we just, we just didn't understand. We were really homesick. I guess it's not real important to some people but I'm just used to a white Christmas. And I'm used to being with my family. If you are gonna be in Rangerettes, and if you're from North Dakota, you just can't go flying home and flying back. I guess that's the biggest sacrifice, staying in Texas, like on Christmas Eve and not having any snow and not being with your family and people that you've just grown up with. When all the girls have their Rangerette uniforms on, it looks just great. Like the Rangerette belts, like you're supposed to have your belt at least two inches smaller than your waist and they're stiff leather. You might end up with a few welts or something on your ribs but you're just supposed to keep smiling through everything. During pre training, your muscles get awfully sore and it's, you just can hardly walk and being from North Dakota, as I said before, we weren't used to the heat down here and we got really tired out and we, we just were so tired. We just slept every chance we could. And we weren't used to the treatment that we were given by the sophomores. But now that I am a sophomore, I understand why this treatment is necessary. It's to find out which girls really wanna be in Rangerettes and can stick it out. Can stick out the treatment you give, because to have an organization this size, you have to have discipline.
- Come here and look at this one! Hahaha
- [Rangerette] You just have to learn a lot from those two weeks because it's just a entirely different situation, and all that constant pressure.
- [Rangerette] Even if the girl doesn't make the Rangerette line, it's a good experience. Most girls after they think of it, you know, we just think, well, you can't win everything.
- Okay, let's vote. In, out our alternate for number 78. Let's vote for out, raise your hands. Okay, alternate, raise your hands. Okay girls, She'll be, she'll be seen again. Number 78 will be seen again. All right, number 72 in, out or alternate, 72 Vote for, Lisa, okay. Out, raise your hands, 72 out, raise your hands. Alternate, raise your hands, number 72. All right, she'll be seen again. Okay, Paula , 74 Paula , 74. In, out or alternate. Raise your hand for out, out
- [Rangerette] She's got beautiful projection,
- [Rangerette] This is the only thing that I have to say about her is that, when she does things it's mechanical, there's no, she has no, she knows no, has no idea in her mind why in the world she's doing back, point, back, point she's just going through it. She doesn't know that it's supposed to look like something. She doesn't, and it doesn't look like anything. She didn't have any feeling for it, at all.
- [Girls] I agree
- Okay, that's what I've gotta say about it. Okay, in, out or alternate. Vote for out, raise your hand. Okay, for alternate raise your hand. Alternate, raise your hand. Okay girls, it's 24 to five, she's out. Okay, scratch her.
- [Gussie] When we finally posts the numbers there is going to be great emotion. It is one of the the most vivid memories that a girl will ever have. Of course, those that make it, cry. Those that don't, cry. And then they grab each other, in their thrill of making it and then they grab each other in their sorrow. But those that do make it, they know at that moment, that great excitement, that all the noise and the hollering and the tears and everything that is gone with it, they know they're a Rangerette. They know that in all this work, they really made it.
