Elmhurst's Link To 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'

ELMHURST, IL – It was in July 1985 that Gerda Pilz, President of the Elmhurst Ladies Chorus (now Elmhurst Harmonie) got a call from Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, asking if the ladies would be interested in being part of the upcoming Ferris Buehler movie production.

It did not need much convincing - we were on board.In late August, none other than award-winning film, TV and show Choreographer and Director Kenny Ortega (Dirty Dancing, Michael Jackson’s Thriller among other hits) showed up at the old Elks Lodge at York and Schiller in Elmhurst.

For almost two hours, he took us thru the moves of ‘Twist and Shout’. Dressed in dirndls, we were to be the backdrop (comic relief?) to Matthew Broderick’s Ferris, who was belting it out from a float during the Chicago Steuben Parade.

Ortega liked what he saw and we were hired. The first Saturday in September, we marched in the Parade on Dearborn Street in Chicago, together with other German groups, which drew over 10,000 spectators that year.

Our friends from the Rheinische Mardi Gras Society were caught on camera, as were lots of people we knew. We had the honor to sing the National Anthem with Illinois Governor Thompson.

After the parade, we stayed on, met the staff and some of the cast and were fed a “healthy” lunch (they don’t seem to eat very much in Hollywood, one needs to be skinny for the camera). In other words, we were still hungry but, longing for fame, we didn’t mind.

The afternoon came and went, filming even the smallest scenes took forever - so we were asked to come back the next day. Donning our dirndls again, we drove downtown all the way from the boonies - and stood around, watching some exciting, but alarmingly slow, filming to take place.

Of course, we had a healthy lunch again (some of us wisely had packed some granola bars) - and time flew by like nothing. It got later and later, - and then it got dark. Oh boy! No more filming for the day, one would ‘get in touch.’

Our spirits sank, our claims to fame seemed to fade away - and we headed to the Brauhaus on Lincoln Avenue for a bite to eat and a glass of beer (or two). The promised recall never came; the ‘twist and shout’ dance number was performed by some talented ladies walking down a set of stairs, swinging their hips. Could we have done it better? One never knows! 40 years later, we are still singing, yet dancing a bit slower.

But who else can say that they got paid by Paramount and worked with Hollywood legend Kenny Ortega? And, of course, any chance we get we are still catching “our” movie on the small screen. Next time you watch it, I’m sure you can spot us somewhere in the crowd! Or not - oh well!