THE CULTURE

Aside from the unique stylings of each individual, the dances were basically routine. The Operation was perhaps their trademark performed to "Was Dog A Doughnut" by Cat Stevens. Then there was The Football, The Baseball and Staying Alive during the Saturday Night Fever heyday. There was the Tick Tock Tik for "Fly like an Eagle" ending with the Spanky Dip Shuffle Dive! And The FREAK was a take on House Club line dancing, the dance group The Operators helped The Doctors debut it at a Mendel party. There was also a dance called The Philly that was popular with the crowds. To be the best, they had to incorporate dances that were socially popular into their routines, but it would always come back to showcasing their fancy footwork, arm movements and synchronicity.

THE UNIFORM

The Doctors signature attire resulted mostly from Bahb's and Darien's desire to capitalize on the group's initial popularity- partygoers loved the clever member monikers like Dr. Kildare, Dr. Pepper, etc. and quips, such as a group that "has a PhD in getting down," so having a uniform look was designed to bolster that cleverness- black painter pants, physician's smocks, same color gym shoes and “The Doctors” T-Shirts, which became signature performance wear early on. Jamie designed an official cartoon mascot logo for the group that went on every party flyer and produced cartoon style caricature images of the group members that was printed on t-shirts for the group to wear exclusively. The group's signature outerwear- shiny silver acetate bomber jackets with multi color shoulder stripes- wasn't actually exclusive at all, but found in a clothing store on Chicago's Roseland southside, discovered by Dr. Spumone.

THE PLUGGERS

Jamie's "plugger" designs and creative ideas were really just the result of his taking various themes and ideas from all the other members of the group and incorporating them into a cohesive picture or narrative that would appeal to the larger public and reinforce The Doctors as a creative force, like placing the group on a cereal box and proclaiming the group to be an important part of any party diet, etc....Jamie's resulting concepts were designed to be playful as well as clever and his signature cartoon illustrative approach reflected that. Promoting the parties was strictly an organic effort, as the members themselves, as well as family members, girlfriends, etc. would distribute the "pluggers" wherever they could, often at other Catholic schools or party events, but increasingly everywhere (i.e. public and private high schools like CVS or Chicago Lab, at popular stores for their peer groups, etc.) helped propel The Doctors fame far beyond their Catholic School environment. We would get upwards of 10,000 pluggers printed because We calculated that it would provide a 20-30% response.

THE MUSIC

From the perspective of the DJ rocking the room at Mendel High School, if the crowd wasn’t moving and grooving it would be a complete disaster for your set. Dance groups like The Doctors gave the dj’s the motivation and energy to the entire room to move. Playing the dance group’s favorite songs was a sure way to send energy to the crowd. So, you can say since these groups gave recommendations for music they help shape the musical landscape of House Music. 

Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me by Peter Brown, Fly Like An Eagle by Steve Miller Band and Was Dog a Doughnut by Cat Stevens were The Doctors' go to songs when battling other dance groups at Mendel parties. “Cat Stevens' song was attached to us for good reason. Our classmate Greg Howard had discovered the song and we used it for our dance, the OPERATION”, said Bahb Peters (Dr. Gannon). Was Dog A Doughnut was kept secret from other dance groups and djs since no one could not figure out who made the song. Such things as Shazaming a song did not exist. R&B, Soul, Funk and Disco was primarily the music being played in the early years of Mendel. Jamie Shelton (Dr. Kiley) recalls, “Pretty much the entire disco genre, incl. The Sound Of Philadelphia (TSOP), Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, etc.”