Mummers

George C. Clyde, active with the Mummers and in his community, died Saturday. He was 63 and lived in Olney. Clyde's last job was with the Philadelphia Housing Authority for which he was a building superintendent from 1991 until his recent illness. He had previously worked in the state auditor general's office and as a building superintendent for the State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden streets. A 1947 graduate of South Philadelphia High School, Clyde worked as a mechanical engineer for Katz & Blakemore Co. in Philadelphia from 1948 to 1976, and for the Klein Branch of the Jewish Youth Center in Philadelphia from 1976 until the late 1980s.

Bob Hope will be there. So will Martha Stewart, Saddam Hussein, and the pesky little FBI bug that roiled the November mayoral campaign. And when this odd collection of 2003 newsmakers marches up Broad Street - in the company of thousands of dancing, strutting Mummers - the group will have Howard "Jinks" Jenkins to thank for the voyage. Jenkins, 53, the head builder for the Murray Comic Club, is the man most responsible for the floats and figurines that help depict the newsmakers spoofed in the club's yearly march past City Hall.

The Mummers' welcome to the Sunoco Welcome America! celebration last night came with a thundershower. But instead of playing "Gimmie Shelter," the Mummers began singing in the rain. And so did their fans, who danced in curbside puddles as representatives from 25 Mummers clubs snaked through Center City during their annual summer parade. "Most of us are winter Mummers at heart because we wilt in the heat," said Quaker City String Band saxophonist Chris Schomely. "But when it comes to our fans, I'm a summer Mummer.

Jokingly, Rich Ashburn told Mayor Rendell that the Mummers should be part of the festivities. Well, that can-do mayor placed a call and, wouldn't you know it, six Mummers were in town by Saturday night. One problem: There were no rooms left. And even the can-do mayor couldn't solve that. The Mummers ended up taking naps in their cars and rose at dawn to play. They weren't the only early risers. By 9 a.m., the field surrounding the outdoor stage was dotted with red-dressed people.

In the controversy over the Mummers and television yesterday, no pickets appeared, no new agreements, either. The status quo remained, with half the Mummers' divisions going on television New Year's Day and the other half not going. In other words: String Bands and Comics on the air, Fancy Clubs and Fancy Brigades off the air. A noon deadline passed without either of the two latter divisions signing on to an agreement with two cable operators, the Lenfest Group and Comcast, to televise the New Year's Day parade up Broad Street.

In the small town of Greensburg, Pa., not far from Pittsburgh, the Mummers name is mud. It's been that way since Saturday, when the local fire department threw a big parade for the town's bicentennial. The featured performer was the Greater Overbrook String Band, all the way from Philadelphia. Overbrook took a scaled-down traveling band. But the townspeople of Greensburg apparently expected an elaborate, full-blown New Year's Day-type performance - the kind they had seen in Philadelphia, and on TV. That's not what they got. And the headline on the front-page story in the local paper this week read in part, "Mummers a real bummer.

MARY BRAUN was laid to rest on July 2. For over 40 years, she and her husband, Carl, created Mummers costumes in their Two Street shop in the 1700 block. South Philadelphia Costumes was a major headquarters for many a Fancy Brigade and String Band to have their New Year's Day suits measured, sewed and put together by Mary, with her Two Street style, and Carl, with his quiet manner. Mary was the Annie Oakley of 2nd Street - she told it like it was and her words spared no one when she argued her point.

As the Mummers march down Broad Street on Saturday, strutting and shuffling in their feathers and sequins, Mike Golden expects to be sitting alone in his empty store on Sansom Street. No customers, no ringing cash register. Golden has gloomily told his employees not to bother showing up for work. "It will put Cambridge Clothing out of business for the day," groused Golden, co-owner of the store in the 1500 block of Sansom, who says he will manage the day's scant business by himself.

  Most days, Jeff Nash, a lawyer and Camden County freeholder, wears a suit and tie. On Sunday, he'll dress as an octopus, with eight black tentacles stretching from his hooded sweatshirt and with his face and shoes painted gold. Nash, who is also vice chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, is part of an intermittent Mummers comic brigade known as the Golden Schleppers. The group of South Jersey politicians, county, and municipal workers and their friends came together in 1990 but hasn't participated for 10 years since a key member died, Nash said.

Jerry Murray, 57, a prize-winning Mummers captain who suffered a heart attack while dancing in front of the reviewing stand during the New Year's Day parade, died Monday night at Hahnemann University Hospital. Mr. Murray, of Havertown, had marched with the comic brigade Wild Rovers New Year's Association for seven years. He was a lawyer for 32 years, and at the time of his death was a real estate lawyer with the firm of Hepburn, Axelrod & White in Philadelphia. For 23 years before that he worked at Hepburn, Wilcox, Hamilton & Putnam.