Comics, With A Twist

Flannery and Rea echoed her sentiments. They never feel like party crashers, even if they haven't been marching for decades. "Once they saw that we took it pretty seriously, [the other Mummers] were encouraging," said Flannery. "We got heckled last year because they said we did well because we had hot girls in unitards. It was good-natured Mummer heckling."

The Vaudevillains do take it seriously. Their first parade, they came in 17th in the Comics Division, but have come in fifth the past two years.

"They've learned to adapt to what the comics really do," said Murray's Porco, about the infusion of new blood. Porco doesn't see a difference between the Vaudevillains and the more established troupes. "We're trying to preserve the tradition of Mummery. To do that, we have to look back on where we came from. I'm not saying there's no room for change. You still have to have that base there."

"There's a reason that these guys who are Mummers do it for decades," Goldstein said. "But it's cool that we can do it our way while respecting their traditions. It's just a nice way to stay connected to Philadelphia."