FLASHBACK FRIDAY: The Beach Boys Burbank Connection

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If you have ever listened to a Beach Boys Greatest Hits Record (yes I said Record) or you have heard this song on classic radio, you can’t forget the lively tune and the chorus “Be True to Your School…”!

All of this was brought about by Burbank High School Drill team member and super loyal student Jodi Gable. Here is her story as related in the book “The Blue and White Wave High” 2008 for the BHS Centennial…

Jodi Gable 1964

As a child growing up in Burbank, Jodi Gable (Class of 1965) fondly remembers the grape arbors that filled the hillside above her house and describes her life as living in “a Norman Rockwell painting.” When Jodi was 13 she met the Beach Boys at an Olive Rec Center dance and was amazed at their sound. After talking with them they asked her to head up their fan club. After her parents met the Wilsons (parents of Brian, Dennis and Carl), Jodi began hanging out with the boys, who treated her like a sister, and building fan support.

“I loved BHS and couldn’t wait to get to school each day,” she recalls. “I called Dr. Leland, ‘Unc,’ and I had teachers who really seemed to care.” Jodi was an active member of the Drill Team, and her loyalty to BHS became the genesis of one of their hits. Jodi recalls, “Brian Wilson was a genius and could come up with lyrics on the spot.

We were eating chili fries one day at an A&W in Hawthorne and he penned, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun.’” Jodi was driving the guys crazy with her drill team stories and Wilson came up with “Be True to your School” (which coincidently contains part of “On Wisconsin,” Burbank’s fight song).

On her 16th birthday, the Beach Boys threw a party and performed in her back yard.

 By the end of her junior year the band’s popularity meant greater demands on her time. Jodi left BHS and finished at Hollywood Professional School in order to work for the Beach Boys full time. At the time she was dating Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones and was in the middle of the exploding 1960’s music scene.

Eventually Jodi hired some of her classmates to join her staff and to help answer fan mail. She stayed with the band until she was twenty, and then went on to her own singing career.

 Jodi resides in Oregon with her husband, but has stayed connected to her classmates and has always remained true to her school.”

When you hear this Fun song from the golden era of surf music just remember Jodi and  Burbank High School.

( no hard feelings Burroughs J )

And just in case you have not heard this fine classic rock song here is a link! Or listen below. Enjoy, Crank it up!

 

Burbank Historical Society presents

LOST BURBANK
By Michael McDaniel

The places and people of Burbank’s past tell a vibrant story.  Before the arrival of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, First National Pictures built its original studio lot on Olive Avenue in 1926.  For over sixty years, Lockheed Aircraft Company produced some of the nation’s best airplanes where the massive Empire Shopping Center now stands.  Heavyweight champion James Jeffries turned his Burbank ranch home and barn into a beloved landmark and boxing venue.  Join die-hard Burbanker Michael McDaniel share theses and many more fascinating stories about “Lost Burbank”!

When:  Saturday, May 20, 2017 @ 2:00 pm

Where: Cunningham Room of the Gordon R. Howard Museum
Free parking behind George Izay Park
In the lot off Clark Street
(818) 841-6333

Admission:  FREE

 

NOW AVAILABLE!!

Get your Copy of Lost Burbank Now!
lost-in-burbank-book-coverSlowly fading with the city’s ever-changing landscape, the places and people of Burbank’s past tell a vibrant story. Before the arrival of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, First National Pictures built  its original studio lot on Olive Ave in 1926. For over sixty years, Lockheed Aircraft Company produced some of the nation’s best airplanes where the massive Empire Shopping Center now stands. Heavyweight champion James Jeffries turned his Burbank ranch home and barn into a beloved landmark and boxing venue. Inventor Joseph Wesley Fawkes’s scheme to build a monorail to Los Angeles became a local laughingstock.  Diehard Burbankers Wes Clark and Michael Mc Daniel collect these and many more forgotten local stories where they can finally be found.

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