My Summer of ‘75

Tilda Cobham-Hersey as Helen Reddy

It’s no secret that music has been a great influence in my life. In college (1965-68) I was a member of The Januaries, a folk trio (“two guitars, two guys and a gal”) in Los Angeles. Why I mention this is because of an experience I had in Las Vegas.

In June 1975, at the start of my term as president of the Honolulu Jaycees, I joined the Hawaii State Jaycees delegation to the Jaycees National Convention in Miami.

When the convention ended, two of my Jaycee friends and I met up with in Las Vegas. We stayed at Caesar’s Palace (no skimping, just first-class enjoyment). We also attended one of my more memorable dinner shows at the casino-hotel.

A nice $25 tip (that was big money those days) got us front row seats at a stage-side table. I forget what I ordered, but it was probably prime rib. What I do remember was the name of the expensive wine we ordered — Piesporter Goldtropfchen Reisling Spatlese (can’t recall the winery). It was so good that I searched it out when we returned home to Hawaii.

Around that time, Australian-American singer Helen Reddy was a huge success in the U.S. and after dinner, there she was, singing her hits on stage, only a few yards away from us. Comedian Ruth Buzzi opened the show. She wasn’t particularly special, but I did chuckle a lot, anxious to hear Reddy sing.

Her recording, “I Am Woman,” of course, was very popular and had soared up the charts. Up until the Vegas show, I had no idea what a powerful impact it had on women. Okay, I thought, here’s another woman trying to make it in a man’s world.

Maybe, I wondered, maybe I can learn something about her when she performed live.

I wasn’t disappointed. When she sang her anthem, “I Am Woman,” and the women in the audience joined in with great volume, enthusiasm, and power, it floored me. I got it. I became so emotional, felt a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes. She received a standing ovation from all the women, and a helluva lotta men (me included).

This memory manifested recently when I watched her bio-pic, “I Am Woman,” on Netflix. It was so enjoyable! I learned a lot about the personal problems she had to bear, and sang along with her concerts, cementing in my heart how women had struggled for equality during my lifetime.

The closing scene, when she sang “I Am Woman” before thousands at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1989 “Mobilize for Women's Lives Rally” in Washington, D.C., was so emotionally powerful. Great cinematography, thousands — men included, me too — joined her in singing.