Betty Lambert still going strong at 80
HARMONY — Instead of a collection of knitting needles or bingo daubers, visitors to 80-year-old Betty Lambert's home will be shown a rack of 37 majorette costumes.
Lambert began performing with the Harmony Harmonettes in the late 1940s, and two years ago she expanded her high-kicking, baton-twirling act to include burning knife twirling.
While a weakened wrist a few years ago eliminated the front walkover from her act, which is usually done with the Resurrection Band, she still easily drops to the ground in a split.
“I take care of myself,” Lambert said in her unassuming way.
A front-page Wall Street Journal article on Sept. 11 last year featuring Lambert and her age-defying skills propelled her into the consciousness of the paper's 2.1 million readers, and gained her national attention.
That attention brought her a call from the producers of “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN, who called and asked her to appear on the show. But a blip in Lambert's journey in the form of a serious cancer surgery six months ago did not allow her to make it.
However “I was back to work in three-and-a-half weeks,” Lambert said of her recovery.
That work has Lambert cutting, perming and styling the hair of senior citizens who come to her shop on the outskirts of Harmony as well as those who are unable to leave their homes or retirement complexes.
The Journal article also elicited an invitation for Lambert to perform in the Doo Dah Parade, an annual comedy parade held each spring in Ocean City, N.J., to celebrate the end of tax season. The 28th annual Doo Dah Parade this year was on April 13.
Lambert was the first act in the parade, and led the Ocean City High School Marching Band for six city blocks, onto the boardwalk and to the Music Pier, where the parade ended.
The parade was 16 blocks long, and Lambert said she had to pick strategic areas on the boardwalk to do splits in order to avoid splinters.During the parade, she twirled regular and hooped batons, knives and pompoms. Also included in her act were no fewer than 14 splits.She also found the strength to perform on the Music Pier at the parade's end.“My daughter and her friend were pooped, but I wasn't,” Lambert said.In addition to Lambert, the Doo Dah Parade's special guests were cartoonist John McPherson and actress Peggy King, who is best known as the mother on the TV show “Lassie.”She said 60,000 spectators watch the Doo Dah Parade, which included 600 basset hounds this year.“People come from overseas,” Lambert said.She said the best aspect of the parade was meeting King, who shared stories from her days as a performer with Bob Hope's USO show during war time.“Peggy was very, very easy to talk to and very informative,” Lambert said.A spare room in Lambert's large farmhouse holds all the evidence of her long career as a majorette, from patriotic or spangled blouses and matching short skirts to nine pairs of white majorette boots and a case containing long, charred stainless steel knives.While she has never cut or burned herself twirling the flaming knives, Lambert recalls an Oktoberfest gig in Station Square that could have ended badly.“The people watching kept pointing to me, and I looked down and my tassel was on fire,” Lambert said. “I just reached down and put it out with my hand and kept twirling like it was part of the act.”Photographs also line the room, including one of Lambert and the Steelers' mascot Steely McBeam dancing together.“Steely and I did a split, and I had to help him up,” she recalled.Shirley Wahl of Zelienople has played tenor sax in the Resurrection Band since its inception in 1980.“I've known Betty all that time,” Wahl said. “She is a fantastic personality and she would do anything for anyone. She really goes out of her way to please.”But the spry octogenarian isn't in it for notoriety, fame or money.“Every year, I take on a new adventure,” Lambert said. “I like to challenge myself.”
