1920s References in Speakeasy Dead: Dance till you Drop

If there’s one nearly everyone knows about the 1920s (apart from Prohibition), it’s that people loved to dance. Even the men, as any reader of F. Scott Fitzgerald can attest, were keen on donning the “soup and fish” (tuxedo), and taking a spin around the ballroom.

Add this to an obsession with fads and a general agreement that you could never get too much of a good thing, and it’s no surprise to learn that Alma Cummings’ widely-publicized feat of dancing 27 hours straight on March 28, 1923* sparked a wave of dance marathons that lasted well into the 1930s and provided a livelihood for thousands of contestants, venue managers, nurses, and associated workers.

By 1924, a typical marathon ran 24 hours a day with breaks of up to 15 minutes per hour and could drag on for weeks as radio reporters, newspapers, and a ticket-buying audience savored the drama of who’d be the last man–and woman–standing.

1923 Dance Marathon via Library of Congress

Clara’s initial plans to hold a dance marathon as part of Speakeasy Dead had to be modified to allow for the fact people in the story were mostly interested in the star-studded party taking place across the street. Fortunately, she engaged the services of silent film star Beau Beauregard to attract ladies to the contest. Unfortunately for Clara’s cousin, Bernie, this left him the job of taxi-dancer, a man (or woman) employed to dance with customers in need of a partner.

The Taxi Dancer. Joan Crawford, 1927

The term taxi dancer wasn’t strictly accurate, in Bernie’s case, since Clara had no intention of paying him.

*From The 1920s by Kathleen Drowne and Patrick Huber.