MARATHON DANCERS

Southland Times, Issue 18968, 15 June 1923, Page 15

MARATHON DANCERS

CLIMAX OF THE CRAZE. FOOLISH ENDURANCE TESTS. In an effort to break the Texas record of 65 hours 53 minutes, Marathon lancers are now whirling in all parts of the United {States, and the craze recently reached a climax warranting the attention of alienists and students of mob-psychology, says the New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. To judge by the space devoted to dancing, the American Press to-day is far less concerned with the woes of the world and the speeches of statesmen than the Terpsichorean efforts of the ten couples who were one-stepping in New York, and of whom only three survived at an early hour on the following Tuesday morning. Public interest was then focussed upon Miss Vera Sheppard and Mr Ben Solar, who declared their intention to dance until nightfall or die in the attempt. Dancing to the point of sheer physical exhaustion is opposed by the police authorities, but the prohibition by the latter seems to have increased the zest of non-stop couples and promoted popular hysteria. Ten couples, including the redoubtable Miss Sheppard and Mr Solar, were literally chased from New York to New Jersey one Saturday night, and three couples who survived found themselves still dancing and going north to Connecticut in a motor-van in rhe early hours of the morning cheered by a big crowd, and vivacious accounts were printed in the early editions of the newspapers. The really big feat was that of three couples, who reached a motor conveyance without missing a step. Then the tailboard was lowered, and with spring dance leaps three couples made their way aboard, new phonographs were set in action, and a group of relief partners and reporters scampered aboard. The Mara t-hon then went on merrily at a club somewhere in Connecticut, twenty-two miles beyond the New York .State line. Connecticut dispatches report that the Marathon dancers, on arrival at Eastport, Chester, were massaged. The attendant who fed the dancers collapsed under the strain and slept in the motor truck. Twc contestants also slept, and their claims tc resume the contest were disputed. breakfast time it was expected that the Connecticut police would take up the chase, and to foil their efforts Mr John MacCartney, the New Y’ork dance impresario, secured legal aid. Mr MacCartney said that the contestants shifted from State to Stat< to avoid a vulgar row, which might react unfavourably on the art which he promote. A motor truck bumping and rattling ove? cobble pavements, insufficient lighting, worn out gramophone records, and the occasional hopeless mix-up of dancers, reporters, am attendants were outstanding features of th' historic ride. In the wake cf the van cam' a snappy roadster, with the New Jersey police superintendent, whose vigilance wr not relaxed until the State boundary wtu reached. According to the penal code i’ New Jersey, the limit of endurance tests i twelve hours. A telegram was later received in NeYork saying that Miss Sheppard had broke; the world’s record and hoped to last seventy five hours. She was described as tiring ou all her partners, and was Last reported t be dancing in the arms of a professional masseur, who constantly rubbed her spit and manipulated her muscles to keep he awake.