American Dance Marathons, 1928-1934, and the Social Drama

Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 American Dance Marathons, 1928-1934 and the Social Drama and Ritual Process Chelsea Rae Dunlop Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ART, THEATRE, AND DANCE AMERICAN DANCE MARATHONS, 1928-1934 AND THE SOCIAL DRAMA AND RITUAL PROCESS BY CHELSEA DUNLOP A Thesis submitted to the Department of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2006 Copyright 2006 Chelsea Dunlop All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Chelsea Dunlop defended on November 3, 2006. __________________ Sally R. Sommer Professor Directing Thesis _________________ Tricia H. Young Committee Member _________________ John O. Perpener III Committee Member Approved: __________________ Patricia Phillips, Acting Chair, Department of Dance __________________ Sally E. McRorie, Dean, College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Carol Martin for her elaborate and fascinating research into all things dance marathon. Without her interest in the dance marathon phenomenon and her wonderful book and numerous articles, I would have been lost. It was her book Dance Marathons: Performing American Culture in the 1920’s and 1930’s, that caught me hook-line-and-sinker and kept me interested. If not for her passion to preserve the memory of these events that have otherwise fallen by the wayside of American history texts and dance texts, I never would have discovered my love for this timeless and truly American form of entertainment. Thanks also go out to Frank Calabria for his book, Dance of the Sleepwalkers: The Dance Marathon Fad, which similarly infected me with the marathon bug. More thanks than I can properly express go to my wonderful, dedicated, and exuberant thesis advisor, Dr. Sally Sommer, who never let me lose sight of the end goal. Though there were some bumps and dips, in the road to its completion, Sally stayed on for the journey and never tried to jump off the bandwagon. Her passion, tireless editing, and general devotion to my thesis were instrumental to the completion of this manuscript. A true student-teacher collaboration, this project was encouraged and coached to fruition through the support she offered as advisor and friend. I am also indebted to the other members of my thesis committee and the American Dance Studies program faculty of the Dance Department at Florida State University. I am sincerely grateful for the assistance of both Dr. Tricia Young and Dr. John Perpener whose gracious guidance contributed to my love and passion for dance and history. Finally, I must thank my family and friends for all their support – emotional, financial, and material. Thank you to my parents, Hill and Shelly Dunlop, for always letting me chase my dreams, no matter how far they might take me. Their guidance and love during the past two years, has made this entire degree program worthwhile. And a very special thank you goes to my grandmother, Florence Adair, who made it possible for me to pursue this degree. Much thanks and love to all those who have stood by with kind words or a hug throughout this entire process. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE………………………………………………………………………...……………….v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ……………………………………………..……………………..vii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………….viii INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………...…………………………1 1. PRE-1920 HISTORICAL CONTEXT: DANCING TOWARDS A NEW DECADE AND MODERNISM…………………………………..……………………………….…5 2. MAD-CAP FADS OF THE 1920S: THE HULLABALOO OF ENDURANCE DANCE, FLAGPOLE SITTING, AND PEANUT PUSHING……………….…………19 3. THE STOCK MARKET CRASH AND THE TURBULENT 1930S: HARD TIMES…………………………………………………………………………...24 4. THE SPECTACLE OF THE DANCE MARATHONS: STRUGGLE, HOPE, ENDURANCE, AND SURVIVAL……………………………………………………...30 5. A DAY IN THE LIFE…………………………………………………………………………37 6. GENDER ON THE MARATHON FLOOR: BLURRING AND LENDING………………...61 7. PERFORMANCE REALITY OF SOCIAL DRAMA: REDRESSIVE ACTION AND REINTEGRATION …………..…………………………………………………………74 8. REALITY-TV AND DANCE MARATHONS: A POSTSCRIPT….………………….……..79 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..83 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………..88 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………..………...94 iv PREFACE It was in my “American Dance History II” class at Florida State University that I first became interested in dance marathons. While the topic sounded vaguely familiar, I was not sure where I had previously heard of these events. Perhaps it was the dance marathon charity events held by numerous Greek societies at universities across the nation, or maybe the marathons had been discussed at some point in one of my undergraduate courses. Regardless of where I was first exposed to the dance marathon phenomenon, I was hooked on the topic and, after reading the assigned material and attending the class lecture including scenes from the motion picture They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, I was definitely enthralled. That semester I wrote two papers, one on the history of dance marathons and the other exploring the gender relationships played out in the events. My research led me to Carol Martin’s Dance Marathons and Frank Calabria’s Dance of the Sleepwalkers. I also picked up Horace McCoy’s novel They Shoot Horses Don’t They? and a DVD of the motion picture based upon his book. By the end of the semester I had succumbed to a mild addiction to the dance marathons of the 1930s. When the time came for me to choose a thesis topic, I was torn. I was still interested in the dance marathons, but was not sure that I could add much to the story Martin and Calabria had already documented. As a student of American history, I had developed an affinity for the early decades of the 20th century, especially the beginnings of American modern dance and social dance styles. As I considered options for my thesis topic, it became clear through discussions with my faculty advisors and peers that the dance marathon was a good fit with my academic interests and I already had a base of research upon which to build. Once the question of a thesis topic was settled, I was still undecided on the perspective my research would assume. On the advice of my thesis advisor, Dr. Sally Sommer, I returned to Victor Turner’s work with tribal cultures and found that his theories of ritual process and social drama could be applied to the dance marathons. I found Turner’s theories thought provoking and decided to focus on how the marathons served as a redressive action for the participants and spectators during the economic and social upheaval of the Great Depression. As I researched and applied Turner’s theory, the thesis slowly revealed itself; I came to view the dance marathons as more than entertainment and spectacle—they were a way of life. v The finished text examines the historical significance of the dance marathons (something that has been substantially underplayed in both the world of dance and American society in general) and applies Turner’s theories to the marathon events, the marathoners, and the audience members. Dance marathons were an extraordinary form of entertainment that, though born of the frivolous excess of the 1920s, were reinvented in the 1930s, ultimately to become a symbol of the struggle and hope that characterized America during the Great Depression. Finally, the relevance of this historical examination is demonstrated by a comparison of the dance marathons to another equally absorbing form of entertainment, the current Reality TV craze. As I began to recognize that the dance marathons and Reality TV shared similar underlying characteristics and functions, I found newspaper articles that suggested the same parallels. Though the last chapter is brief and less developed, it serves to position the dance marathons within a continuum of entertainment that has reached a massive scale in the 21st century through the convenient, intrusive, and ubiquitous nature of television. Though different in form and medium, both dance marathons and Reality TV are rooted in struggle; they present a challenge, create drama, and are fueled by hope. I anticipate further research in this area and the possible future emergence of yet another competitive entertainment spectacle along the same continuum. vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Flagpole Dancers ……………………………………………………………………………..49 2. On your mark, get set, DANCE ………………………………………………………………50 3. Couple #30…………………………………………………………………………………….51 4. Smitty & Ruthie……………………………………………………………………………….52 5. Yours for Endurance…………………………………………………………………………..53 6. Tom & Rita……………………………………………………………………………………54 7. Primping for the contest……………………………………………………………………….55 8. Sleeping dancers………………………………………………………………………………56 9. The 3,327th hour……………………………………………………………………….………57 10. Dragging her partner..………………………………………….…………………………….58 11 Keep those knees up...…………………………………………..…………………….………59 12. The weaker sex ………………………………………………..…………………………….60 vii ABSTRACT Americans first experienced and embraced dance marathons in 1923, after which these events quickly gained popularity. But the dance marathon that burst upon the scene as yet another fad in keeping with the ebullient nature of the 1920s was dissimilar in form and intent from the dance marathon as

Load more