Happy World Baton Twirling Day! Here are some pictures of the late Monta Jeanne Gayhart (nee Smith) a collegiate twirler who was featured in the October 24, 1952 issue of LIFE Magazine. Gayhart was the University of Oklahoma “band twirler.” Gayhart was born in 1932 and died in 2000.
Here is an excerpt about Monta’s LIFE Magazine feature, which appeared in Sooner Magazine in 1952.
The University of Oklahoma’s leggy, blonde, band twirler, Monta Smith, was featured in the October 24 issue of Life magazine in her fiery baton act. Monta, sophomore education major from Seminole, had been experimenting with the spectacular act as a novelty for night pep rallies . Life became interested and pictured her on a page in full color, twirling fire against a black background of the night sky. It took some experimenting on the part of Dr. Leon S. Ciereszko, assistant professor of chemistry, in order to get the fire to show up in its natural brilliant orange. Photographers had found that the high-speed film used revealed ordinary flames as blue in the finished picture. After a little mixing and testing, the chemistry prof prepared a special inflammable fluid which produced flames that would photograph as fire should .
The resulting picture shows Monta, clad in her red and white twirler’s costume, encircled with the baton’s flaming pattern of orange light. The color shot, along with half a dozen black and white pictures used in the layout, was made by photographer A. Y. Owen of Oklahoma City .