It was dancing room only Thursday night at the Willowbrook Ballroom.
The 75-year-old dance palace, once a sizzling night spot for the hottest swing musicians in the 1930s and 1940s, provided the backdrop Thursday for the U.S. Postal Service’s ceremony for its new big band stamps.
The stamps, officially unveiled on Wednesday in New York, are now available at post offices everywhere.
The four stamps portray five of the legendary big band leaders: Benny Goodman, the “King of Swing” clarinet great; Glenn Miller, whose popular orchestra sparked scores of rival bands; Count Basie, a jazz musician who proved the most enduring of the leaders; and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, brothers who led joint and separate bands.
The evening’s events featured swing dance lessons and two hours of classic big band hits by the 16-piece Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
An original member of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the orchestra’s current leader, trombonist Buddy Morrow, unveiled the Dorsey brothers’ stamp before the nearly 600 people dressed in gowns, tuxedos, and some even in World War II uniforms.
Each had paid $20 to get a chance to twirl away the evening on the dance floor.
“This is the best place in Illinois to show the big band stamps,” said Postal Service spokeswoman Judy Winiarz. “What we were looking for were places that epitomize the big bands, but there are very few of them left.”
During the swing era there were 100 ballrooms and dance halls in Chicagoland. Today the Willowbrook is one of only five that have survived nationwide.
The Willowbrook is a place of special memories for thousands of Chicago-area residents, including Anne and Ray Lach of Berwyn, who have been regulars since they were teenagers in the 1930s.
“We’ll be coming back as long as we can,” Anne Lach said.
