“The Castles”

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

“The Castles”

“The reference to the forthcoming appearance of Astaire-Rogers in a film dealng with the lives of Mr and Mrs Vernon Castle (not Castles) will arouse romantic yearnings in the breasts of all those whose senile memories extend deep into the pre-talkie era. “After the death of Vernon Castle, his wife, Irene, took to the screen, being publicised as the best dressed woman in America, thus joining a legion with almost as many members as there are descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers. She was among the first women I rdmember having fallen in love with. I think I was 13. SITe appeared in a serial, the name of which I have long forgotten (not that it matters), and I wouldn’t have missed the weekly thrilling instalment at the local picture house for a chance to join a circus. She must have been meant to represent some kind of W.A.A.C. (U.S.A. version), because she wore a jaunty forage cap, military coat and a short skirt. Looking back, I realise that her most attractive feature was her manner of walking—an art acquired on the dance floor.

Her “Bobbed” Hair “One also remembers her ‘bobbed’ hair—a rare sight in those days. As a mere male, I stand open to correction, but I am under the impression that you erred in saying that she was the first woman to shingle. The shingle was a much later development. Wasn’t it? “Unhappily Irene Castle will always be associated in my mind with that execrable tune, “Ren-dez-vous.’ Week after week she was chained to railway trucks, blown up in old barns, pursued by villains, kissed by heroes, to its strains —hackneyed even in that remote age. The ‘lady pianist’ who produced them might have been able to play something else—we never found out—but she liked watching the film as much as we did, and I suppose she knew ‘Ren-dez-vous' by heart. So did we. The Days of Ragtime “To go back even farther into history, it may be recalled that Mr and Mrs Castle introduced what was then known as ‘ragtime dancing’ to Europe. I suppose that to-day, as the surviving member of the team, she feels almost as culpable as the man who introduced the first pair of rabbits into Australia. All the same, speaking as a devotee, I think it’s better than the polka and the schottische —or even the Lambeth Walk. But I won’t argue about it.

“To conclude by getting utterly away from the subject—Wasn’t it curious how the silent screen was cluttered up

with dancers who never danced, opera singers who never sang (e.g., Geraldine Farrar), and great actors and actresses who never acted (my innate good taste and the pressure on space forbids me from mentioning names). And on the subject of serials—Billie Burke appears to be the only old-time heroine who has survived the march of time. Remember ‘Gloria’s Romance’? She was Mrs Florenz Ziegfeld then, too complicated.”