history research prize dancing 1916?

Question

My dad purchased a silver cup with the engraving (Presented by The New Breakers Cafe, Mrs. Charles A. Gray, January 28th, 1917, for Prize Dancing 1916. Does anyone know anything about this.

Answer 1

Dance Contests were a big deal in both Britain and America from the turn of the twentieth century up to World War Two. Dance became an acceptable social outlet in part because of Irene & Vernon Castle whose grace & 'obvious' breeding gave the increasingly affluent middle class a viable social outlet.
You will find from the mid nineteen thirties an amusing anedote about dancing in the Ginger Roger's film 'Bachelor Mother.' Many a couple entered dance contests to win modest prizes such as ten or twenty five or maybe even a hundred bucks, big money back then, but in 'Bachelor Mom,' Giner and her partner are so good they win the grand prize - - - a 'Loving Cup' such as you describe, nice for the mantel but not being cash - - - -

Gonna throw these links at ya----
http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/foxtrot.htm
"""Foxtrot Dance History
The Foxtrot originated in the summer of 1914 by Vaudeville actor Harry Fox. Born Arthur Carringford in Pomona, California, in 1882, he adopted the stage name of "Fox" after his grandfather.

Harry was thrown on his own resources at the age of fifteen. He joined a circus for a brief tour and he also played professional baseball for a short while. A music publisher liked his voice and hired him to sing songs from the boxes of vaudeville theaters in San Francisco. In 1904 he appeared in a Belvedere Theatre in a comedy entitled "Mr. Frisky of Frisco." After the San Francisco earthquake and the fire of 1906, Harry Fox migrated East and finally stopped in New York.

In early 1914, Fox was appearing in various vaudeville shows in the New York area. In April he teamed up with Yansci Dolly of the famous Dolly Sisters in an act of Hammerstein's. At the same time, the New York Theatre, one of the largest in the World, was being converted into a movie house. As an extra attraction, the theater's management decided to try vaudeville acts between the shows. They selected Harry Fox and his company of "American Beauties" to put on a dancing act. An article in Variety Magazine stated "Harry Fox will appear for a month or longer at a large salary with billing that will occupy the front of the theatre in electrics".

At the same time, the roof of the theatre was converted to a Jardin de Danse, and the Dolly sisters were featured in a nightly revue.

The May 29, 1914 issue of Variety Magazine reported "The debut of Harry Fox as a lone star and act amidst the films of the daily change at the New York Theatre started off with every mark of success. The Dolly Sisters are dancing nightly on the New York Roof. Gold cups will be given away next week to the winners of dance contests on the New York Roof."

The Fox-trot originated in the Jardin de Danse on the roof of the New York Theatre. As part of his act downstairs, Harry Fox was doing trotting steps to ragtime music, and people referred to his dance as "Fox's Trot."

In the rise to fame of the Vernon Castles, exhibition dancers of outstanding talent and charm, there was no doubt that the fox-trot was the most original and exciting of their various dances.

The elite of the dancing world were soon trying to capture the unusual style of movement and when a very talented American, G.K. Anderson came over to London, and with Josephine Bradley won many competitions, he set the seal - so to speak - on the style of the foxtrot.

As a result of the great popularity which ballroom dancing was enjoying, it was necessary to evolve a form of dance that could express the slow syncopated 4/4 rhythm and yet could remain "on the spot." This did not mean that the "traveling" fox-trot was dropped, but the "on the spot" dance did provide a means of enjoying the music in a background which large numbers of people could afford and enjoy, and where various bands were all producing excellent and individual musicians and experimenting with and perfect all of the new sounds and beats from America. The "on the spot" dancing was known appropriately as crush, then rhythm dancing. It is now called "social" dancing and possibly this conveys its purpose and limitations. It would be anti-social to attempt to stride around a ballroom crowded with dancers, to dance with only one partner when out with a party, or to be so engrossed with the performance of figures that any conversation is taboo. It can also create a very good base - should it be desired - for the foxtrot.

The Foxtrot was the most significant development in all of ballroom dancing. The combination of quick and slow steps permits more flexibility and gives much greater dancing pleasure than the one-step and two-step which it has replaced. There is more variety in the fox-trot than in any other dance, and in some ways it is the hardest dance to learn!

Variations of the foxtrot include the Peabody, the Quickstep and Roseland foxtrot. Even dances such as the lindy and the hustle are derived to some extent from the foxtrot."""

http://www.paragonragtime.com/castle.html
"""Irene and Vernon Castle: Dancers

"The public of the nineties had asked for tunes to sing. The public of the turn of the century had been content to whistle. But the public from 1910 on demanded tunes to dance to." - Edward B. Marks, noted music publisher.

Our great-grandparents simply loved to dance to ragtime music. In fact, the high-water mark of popularity for ragtime coincided with the fabled "Dance Craze" of the 1910s. During this period the link between dancing and popular music became stronger than ever before, and more than a hundred new steps appeared between just 1912 and 1914. It was no longer enough to just sing, play, or sit and listen to a piece of music; for a tune to be a big "hit," you had to be able to dance to it. And at the core of this mania whirled the celebrated Irene and Vernon Castle.

Irene and Vernon Castle were undoubtedly the most famous ballroom dancers of their day, and while they did not invent social dancing, they were among the first to make a career of it. The Castles popularized many innovative dances, and their talents and public attitudes made them perfect symbols for the new generation. The public, accustomed to well-padded and stiff standards of personal appearance and carriage, found them exotically slim and "chic." Both were fine athletes. Vernon was tall and slightly built, and Irene willowy, boyish, and yet thoroughly feminine. Together they were a breath of air for a world stuck in the stodgy Edwardian mode. And their brief, almost incandescent career stands as a metaphor of an entire glittering, fragile world soon to be shattered by the horror of world war.

Despite Puritan disapproval, there had been dancing in America ever since Colonial days. A very formal code of propriety governed the types of dances and the behaviors of the dancers. The presentation of a ball was a serious social ritual with an intricate and highly formalized etiquette. But the 1890s arrival of ragtime and the dances that came with it (many with black origins) began to erode these rigid conventions in middle and upper class white America. This new music was intoxicating to dance to, since it featured a rhythmic conflict between its steady march beat (propelling the feet) pitted against an eccentric, syncopated melody above (swinging the arms and shoulders). Most late Victorians found it an electrifying reprieve from the antiquated waltzes, schottishes, and quadrilles they had grown up with. So ragtime spread, as did the fashion (and passion) for dancing to it.""


Pax--------------------------------

Answer 2

This might be of some use:

http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/Venicebusinesses.htm

Also there was an American artist Charles A. Gray of that era.
I can also find reference to a different Charles A. Gray b. 1861 and married to Sarah Ann Belding b 1865, which might make her a bit old to be in a dance contest.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I suggest that your father take the cup to an antique appraiser who is more capable of answering your question.

Congratulations to Mr. Gray for winning the cup. Whoever thought we would be discussing his dancing skills 90 or so years latter. Love your question.

Answer 4

I agree with your first answer and gave it a good rating. Sorry you have to read the "book" that follows.