Speaker 1:

Once, it was the playground of the Hollywood jet set; a desert paradise of shimmering sunny days, pool parties, and golf. Lots of golf.

But that was before the developers came with their malls and condominiums, and the stars moved on; before Palm Springs turned grey. Before it was unkindly called, "Gods waiting room."

Beverly Allen:

It seemed like we had an awful lot of young men that were dying to take us out.

Speaker 1:

Beverly Allen came here three years ago, but not to retire. Anything but.

Beverly Allen:

... play a tune.

(singing) sort of like that, and I was in front, and I did my little Dutch number.

(singing).

Speaker 1:

Instead, while many of her peers are reduced to walking frames, Ms. Allen is working at staying as lithe as she was in Chicago dance halls back in the '30s.

Beverly Allen:

(singing).

Speaker 1:

Lithe isn't a word you would use to describe the Mercer brothers. They like the breakfast specials at Elmer's pancake house too much for that.

Jim Mercer:

See, I'm on a diet. I've got to lose some of this weight.

Speaker 1:

They're dieting because they have costumes to squeeze into.

Bud Mercer:

I can do things that some 50-year-olds can't do. Just some things, you know, physically. Mentally, we're all crazy.

Speaker 1:

Bud, 86, is nearly blind. Jim, 83, has bad legs, but these are the best of days for the Mercers who started out playing for nickels and dimes in vaudeville houses. They're brothers who have been partners for some 70 years, through all of lives twists and turns. Like Jim's tumour, diagnosed 40 years ago.

Jim Mercer:

It kind of presses against the heart and gives me trouble, sometimes. But they told me it was malignant, and I had six months to live, and my laugh in life is, all these years later, that the three doctors that went in there and cut me open are all dead now. Talk about getting a second opinion.

Speaker 5:

You're going to see a Fabulous Palm Spring Follies show. Anything you want with [crosstalk].

Speaker 1:

For a legion of fans who make the bus trip from LA to Palm Springs each year, the Mercer brothers and Beverly Allen are idols.

Speaker 6:

(singing).

Speaker 1:

It's become something of a desert pilgrimage for an audience that doesn't get around much anymore. A journey to visit old friends in a one of a kind show that's been running for nine straight seasons.

Speaker 6:

I like to see these people that are 80, 75, what they can do. I'm 39, and I can't do half of that stuff.

Speaker 1:

It's an explosion of energy that's brought back memories and stage careers, but its creator says it's much more than a chorus line of toe-tapping grandparents.

Speaker 8:

It seemed clear to me that whatever happened in this theatre it would have to be authentic, it would have to have the ring of the past, you know? Then it became clear to me that it would be this great American art form, the Follies. Then it became even clearer that it could only be performed by people whose lives had touched that era.

Speaker 1:

The youngsters in the cast, the 50-year-olds, mostly understudy. To join the ladies and gentlemen of the Follies, as well as passing tough auditions it's preferred that you're 60 or over.

Speaker 9:

(singing).

Speaker 1:

And you have to be up for the physical challenge of performing for three hours, eight times a week, for 240 shows a season.

Glenda:

I'm Glenda. It's my fifth season at the Follies, and I am 66.

Speaker 11:

In the fabulous Follies I've done lots of kicks. Would you believe I'm 76?

Beverly Allen:

I'm nowhere near ready to bid you adieu; even though, this year, I'm 82.

I hope that they think of it as good without thinking of how old I am. I don't want them to think that ... To always just take that into consideration and think, "Oh, that was good for an old lady." I think it stands on its own. I hope it does anyway.

Speaker 8:

Well, darlings, welcome to another exciting episode of the young and the rest of us.

I think that we all look our age and act our age. I think it's the rest of the world that looks much older than their age and acts much older than their age. They've given up, in a sense.

Jim Mercer:

(singing).

Bud Mercer:

(singing).

Speaker 1:

Does it keep you young, their energy feeding back to you?

Speaker 8:

That's what does it. It's hard to explain that to those people when they come out. "Where do you get your energy? What vitamins do you take?"

No, it's them. Charisma, we feel the charisma, and now we're feeling their energy, and we can do twice as much on stage in front of an audience as we can in rehearsal.

Speaker 1:

In a week the show is closing, it's the end of the season. For a leg wary cast, the injury toll is climbing.

Speaker 13:

The fire engines came over.

Speaker 14:

I go to the emergency hospital.

Speaker 1:

The 81-year-old star comic is confined to a wheelchair after a car accident.

Speaker 14:

But I'm lucky to be alive, I think.

Speaker 15:

You need to get up on the table just a little bit sooner.

Speaker 16:

You need to get up on the table just a little bit earlier. It's cutting it real close.

Speaker 15:

Okay?

Speaker 1:

And between shows Beverly Allen, herself nursing a hamstring, has to pick up a tap number, replacing a 76-year-old who turned her ankle.

While they might forget a phone number, they never lose their steps or the lines.

The creator of the Follies likes to say: "That when vaudeville died television was the box they buried it in."

But in America's Mojave desert, the spirit of variety has been lovingly restored.

Speaker 12:

(singing).

Speaker 1:

At the Follies, for your money, you get much more than the world's oldest chorus line. You get some old-fashioned glamour, a little soft shoe, and cause for hope.

Speaker 12:

(singing).

Speaker 18:

That was wonderful.

Speaker 19:

We had a wonderful time. Absolutely.

Speaker 20:

It's very inspirational.

Speaker 21:

Good.

Speaker 22:

It gives hope to all of us.

Speaker 21:

Thank you.

Speaker 23:

You do so well, and you look so good.

Speaker 21:

Thank you.

Speaker 24:

You ladies are beautiful.

Speaker 21:

Thank you.

Speaker 25:

Oh, you did great. [inaudible] exercise now [inaudible].