needed for graduation, as Patty made the
audition for the last traveling group of Rockettes.
Aer spending her late teens touring all over the
United States and Canada, Patty received a call
that would change the trajectory of her life.
"ey wanted to put me in at the end of the
Christmas show in 1958," she recalled. On
December 12, 1958, Patty's star began to shine
on the kick line.
"We had the most fabulous boss you can ever
imagine," she mused, referencing Russell
Markert. "He was always there with the girls."
During her time with the Rockettes, Patty was
under the tutelage of both Markert and Emilia
Sherman. "Emilia Sherman was Russell Markert's
sidekick/assistant who became an equal choreographer,"
explained Patty. "She was like our surrogate mother and he was
like our surrogate father. I can't visualize the Rockettes without
thinking about Russell." Patty provided a bit of firsthand
knowledge of Russell, sharing that he was a WWI veteran and
had seen e Tiller Girls, a famous precision dance troupe
from England, while in Europe. "He had this idea of starting a
line in the U.S. and he thought he could have a better line,"
laughed Patty. "He wanted to have a very leggy group of girls
and I think he got that."
100 years and hundreds of trained Rockettes later, it's safe to
say that Markert succeeded in bringing his vision to life across
the pond. "e anksgiving Day Parade was so fun to do,"
recalled Patty. "I had never been to Macy's and when we got off
the bus, it was like magic…snow just started to fall as we got off
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