If there’s one thing that the Hokey Pokey taught us, it’s not being afraid to join in to have some fun.
This is the almost-Quixotic crusade of a 93-year-old woman from Prairie Village, Kansas.
Phyllis Brinkerhoff, fondly known in her neighborhood as Mrs. B, knows a sick beat when she hears one. No, it’s not electronic dance music that we listened to in the past decade, and it’s not the current music that the kids of today rave about. It’s something much older. It’s so old that almost everyone in the north-western hemisphere knows when to put their right foot in and shake it all around.
The song, if you haven’t guessed it already, is the Hokey Pokey. And for Mrs. B, it’s an artistic masterpiece.
She shared her admiration for the song with CBS, saying:
“It’s just a fun joyous song.”
It was so enjoyable for Brinkerhoff that she doesn’t have the heart to keep it all to herself. After all, the Hokey Pokey is much more enjoyable if you’re dancing to the tune with a whole bunch of people.
The song, which was covered by Ray Anthony’s orchestra during the 1950s, has a lot of origin stories.
Some say it originated from the other side of the pond when Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy made an instructional dance called the “Hokey Cokey”. Others say that a similar version, the “Hokey Pokey” was written to entertain Canadian troops stationed in London at that time.
The “American” version, meanwhile, sprang about in 1949 when Charles Mack, Taft Baker, and Larry Laprise performed the song to entertain skiers in Idaho.
But no matter where you go or which origin story you believe in, there’s one thing that’s the same across all versions – you need a friend to dance it with.
This is the reason why Brinkerhoff stopped by her neighbor, Melanie Mendrys, and gave her a CD. She wanted Mendrys to like the song so bad that she checked in on her from time to time. Mendrys shared that whenever Brinkenhoff’s name popped on her phone, she already knew what she was going to ask.
“The CD I gave you, are you hooked on it yet?” Brinkerhoff asks, to which Mendrys would reply, “Not quite yet.”
Her neighborhood’s reluctance to listen to the Hokey Pokey baffled Brinkerhoff.
She believes that the song is good enough to be enjoyed by everybody. When the team from CBS told her that the song was not really as big as she thought it was, she was surprised.
“I find that very amazing,” she told the news outlet.
This didn’t stop her from campaigning for the song, however.
She was still unsure if Mendrys would ever listen to the Hokey Pokey — until her birthday came along. She mentioned to Mendrys that her 93rd birthday was just around the corner and Mendrys came up with the perfect surprise for the almost-centenarian.
Mendrys rolled up invitations like scrolls and gave them out to their neighbors. When the day finally came, Brinkerhoff’s front lawn was filled with a tune she was so familiar with.
On her 93rd birthday, Mendrys, together with their neighbors, danced to her favorite song.
It was an unforgettable moment where the people around her shook it all around and enjoyed the song with her.
“The smile on her face was so big,” Mendrys told CBS. “It doesn’t take that much to make someone’s day. And I think we can all do a little more of it.”
And that is what it’s all about.
Watch how this neighborhood came together to surprise this sweet lady with her favorite song in the video below!
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