Vernon and Irene Castle facts for kids
Vernon and Irene Castle were a famous husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers and teachers. They performed on Broadway and in silent movies in the early 1900s. Many people say they helped make modern dancing popular again.
Vernon (born William Vernon Blyth) was from England. He was born on May 2, 1887. Irene (born Irene Foote) was from the United States. She was born on April 7, 1893. Castle was their stage name.
The couple became very popular in Irving Berlin's first Broadway show, Watch Your Step (1914). In this show, they made the Foxtrot dance famous. They also helped people enjoy ragtime and jazz music for dancing. Irene became a fashion icon because of her stage and movie looks. Both Vernon and Irene were in demand as dance teachers and writers.
Vernon bravely served as a pilot in the British Royal Flying Corps during World War I. Sadly, he died in a plane crash in Texas in 1918. Irene continued to perform alone on Broadway and in movies for another ten years. She got married three more times, had children, and became a strong supporter of animal rights. In 1939, a movie called The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle was made about her life with Vernon.
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Becoming Famous
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Vernon was born in England on May 2, 1887. His father owned a pub. Vernon first studied to be an engineer. In 1906, he moved to New York with his sister, Coralie Blythe, and her husband. Both were actors. Vernon got a small acting part and soon became known as a funny actor, singer, dancer, and magician. He used the stage name Vernon Castle.
Irene was born on April 7, 1893, in New York. Her father was a doctor. She learned to dance and performed in many amateur plays. She met Vernon Castle in 1910. With his help, she got her first professional dancing job.
Vernon and Irene got married on May 28, 1911. After their wedding, Irene joined Vernon in a show called The Hen-Pecks. Then, they went to Paris to perform in a dance show. That show closed quickly. But the Café de Paris hired them as a dance act. They performed the newest American ragtime dances, like the Turkey Trot and the Grizzly Bear.
The Castles quickly became very popular in Paris. Their success was reported in the United States, which prepared them for a big return to New York in 1912.
When they came back to the U.S., they became even more famous. They first performed in New York in 1912. Soon, everyone wanted them for stage shows, vaudeville acts, and movies. They also became a big part of Broadway. Some of their popular shows were The Sunshine Girl (1913) and Watch Your Step (1914). The music for Watch Your Step was written by Irving Berlin especially for the Castles. In this show, they made the Foxtrot dance very popular. After its New York run, Watch Your Step toured until 1916.
In 1914, the couple opened a dance school in New York called "Castle House." They also opened a nightclub called "Castles by the Sea" and a restaurant called "Sans Souci." At Castle House, they taught new dance steps to New York society during the day. At night, they greeted guests and performed at their club and cafe. They were also asked to give private lessons and appear at fancy parties.
Movies and Fashion
As America's top dance team, the Castles started many trends. Their love for dance encouraged people to try new social dances. The Castles were seen as proper and classy. They helped remove the idea that close dancing was rude. Their image as a happily married couple also showed how social dance could lead to healthy relationships.
The Castles often danced to ragtime and jazz music. This helped make African-American music popular among wealthy white people. The Castles appeared in a newsreel called Social and Theatrical Dancing in 1914. They also wrote a popular dance instruction book called Modern Dancing that same year. The couple also starred in a movie called The Whirl of Life (1915), which was well-liked by critics and the public.
As they became more famous, Irene Castle became a major fashion trendsetter. She started the style of shorter, fuller skirts and loose corsets. She is also known for introducing American women to the bob haircut in 1913 or 1914. This short, boyish hairstyle became very popular with flappers in the 1920s. The elegant, simple dresses Irene wore on stage and in movies were often shown in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines. Many of these were made by the famous designer Lucile, but Irene also designed some of her own clothes.
The Castles were also pioneers in other ways. They traveled with a black orchestra, James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra. Their manager, Elisabeth Marbury, was openly gay.
The Castles promoted Victor Records and Victrola record players. They released records by the Castle House Orchestra, led by James Reese Europe, a key figure in African-American music. They also let their names be used to advertise other products, like cigars, makeup, shoes, and hats.
World War I: Vernon's Death
In 1915, Vernon decided he wanted to fight in the war. He started flight school in the U.S., leaving the touring cast of Watch Your Step. He got his pilot's license in early 1916. The Castles gave two farewell performances in New York in January 1916, with John Philip Sousa and his band. Vernon then sailed to England to join the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot during World War I.
He flew over the Western Front and completed 300 combat missions. He shot down two enemy planes and received the Croix de Guerre award in 1917. He was sent to Canada to train new pilots and was promoted to captain. Later, he was transferred to the U.S. for winter training.
In late 1917, while Vernon was away, Irene performed in a big show called Miss 1917. Critics praised her, but she was not happy performing alone. She felt lost without Vernon. The show did not attract enough people, and Irene was eventually let go. She later won a lawsuit, but the company was already out of money. For the rest of 1917, she made popular appearances to help war charities.
On February 15, 1918, Vernon was flying at a training field near Fort Worth, Texas. He had to quickly avoid hitting another plane. His plane stopped flying in the air and he could not get control back before it crashed. He died soon after the crash, at age 30. Vernon was the only person who died. A monument at the crash site says that the other pilot, his student, and Vernon's pet monkey, Jeffrey, were not seriously hurt. Irene wrote a book called My Husband in 1919 to honor Vernon. There is a street in Benbrook, Texas, named after him, with a monument. Vernon was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York.
Life Without Vernon
On May 3, 1919, Irene married Robert E. Treman. He was from a well-known family in Ithaca, New York. Irene starred alone in about a dozen silent films between 1917 and 1924, including Patria (1917). She also appeared in several more stage shows before she stopped performing. Treman reportedly lost Irene's money in the stock market. They divorced in 1923.
She married two more times. In 1923, she married Frederic McLaughlin, who was 16 years older than her. Two years after he died in 1944, she married George Enzinger, an advertising executive. During her marriage to "Major" McLaughlin, who started the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, she is said to have designed the team's first jersey. She had two children with McLaughlin: Barbara McLaughlin Kreutz (1925–2003) and William Foote McLaughlin (1929–2012).
After William was born in 1929, Irene mostly stopped dancing. She focused on helping animals. Around 1930, she had a radio show about her travels in Europe.
In 1939, a movie about the Castles' life was made. It was called The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Irene Castle was a technical advisor for the movie. She had some disagreements with Ginger Rogers, who did not want to wear Irene's famous short bob haircut or darken her hair. Irene also did not like that a white actor was hired to play their black friend and servant, Walter.
For the rest of her life, Irene was a strong animal-rights activist. She founded an animal shelter in Illinois called "Orphans of the Storm," which is still helping animals today. In 1954, Castle and her fourth husband moved to Destiny Farm in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Irene died at her Arkansas farm on January 25, 1969, at age 75. She was buried with Vernon at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.
Images for kids
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Ball costume
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Summer afternoon costume
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Costume for Patria (1917)
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Winter afternoon costume
Dances They Made Popular
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Irene Castle's Movies
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