"Black" Dance Marathons (continuous motion) or "Derbies" can be traced back to 1364 in London and became extremely popular during the depression years (1920s-30s) as many out of work people would compete for money prizes, as well as stars of some kind seeking publicity, or, basically anyone could enter these pagents of fatigue and endurance.

    Most of the music that was played was slow, but once or twice an hour they would pick up the beat (called Sprints) and they were required to dance the dance of the music, sometimes for extra cash or prizes. The general rule was you could not fall asleep, while some contests allowed one part of the team to sleep so long as the other

held them up, kept in contact and / or kept moving.

    As time in the contest continued, resting times would go from the 1st week - half hour, 2nd week to fifteen minutes, then ten minutes, then five minutes, then three minutes to none, while some marathons would be danced sixty minutes then rest for fifteen. There were many variations, but you get the idea.

   The marathon consisted of a emcee, a Band and or phonograph player, a Nurses, inhouse Doctor, a few cots, a dance floor, Contestants, Barbers, >Manicurists and Podiatrists, etcetera. Some contestants were professional dancer/actors. Not all entrants were there to win, some were placed (staged) in the contest to later get into a fight (Jerry Springer type) or some kind of entertainment to draw interest and draw the paying audience, as well as having "fixed" type entertainment like modern day wrestling on television. Dance marathons eventually turned into walk-a-thons, being that you had to dance part of the hour and walk another part of the hour, eventually they became just walking the whole time.

   The longest running dance marathon lasted for 22 weeks and 3 1/2 days. Some dancers would do many things to help them continue, one ladies success was due to "Pickling her feet" before the contests (yes, just like making pickles). Some marathons would allow you to switch partners with another contestant within a certain time period >if your partner dropped out or quit, feel asleep etc. with another who's partner did same. Dance marathons were eventually outlawed (called Blue Laws) in most states due to the unhealthy condition they would put the contestants in and yes, some even died doing them.

   The Dance Marathons Book and Dance of the Sleepwalkers is a great source for information on the whole aspect of Marathon Dancing in a book form. [Click on Link to purchase from Amazon.com]. Personally, my favorite was the Kissing Marathons :)

Marathons

Date

Location

Hours

Couples

Allentown Marathon

5/13/1933

Allentown, PA.

n/a

n/a

Audubon Ballroom

3/30/1923-3/31/1923

Audobon Ballroom-NY

27:00

-

Bayonne Marathon

1932

Bayonne Opera House, NJ

-

-

Baltimore Marathon

4/11/1923-4/14/1923

Baltimore, MD - was Stopped

53:00

8c & 6s

Cedar Grove Marathon

1923

Cedar Grove, LI

shut down

n/a

Cleveland Marathon

4/12/1923-4/16/1923

Cleveland, OH

66:00

4 couples

Crystal Star Dance Marathon & Walk-A-Thon

12/1931

Crystal Star Stadium, E. Patterson, NJ

n/a

51 couples

Dance Derby Of The Century

6/10/1928

Madison Square Garden

481:00

91couples

Derby Show, The

1935

-

-

-

Dreamland's World Championship Marathon

3/19/1910 & 3/20/1910

Dreamland Rink,

n/a

n/a

Hagerstown Marathon

8/23/1938

Hagerstown, MD.

-

-

International Super
Dance

4/13/1933 10p.m.

Tulip Land Ballroom- Colins Park, Baltimore, MD

-

31 couples

Lehigh Valley Marathon [Winners]

1933

Easton, Pennsylvania (85 days)

2040:00

40 couples

Mad Marathon

1920's?

Calamut City, IL.

-

-

Madison Square Garden

1929

New York

-

-

Manhattan Casino (Shorty George)

6/17/1928->7/4/1928

Harlem New York

16 days

80 couples

Marathon Dance Hall

1930s

Ocean Pier- Santa Monica

-

-

McMillan Dance Marathon

4/15/1923

McMillan's Dance Acadamy - Houston, TX

65:30

7 Solo

Merry Garden Marathon

1930

Merry Garden Dance Hall- Chicago, IL

2780:00?

-

Million Dollar Pier

5/26/1932 - 10/19/1932

Atlantic City, NJ

-

-

Motor Square Garden Marathon

-

Pittsburgh

-

$100

Revere Beach Marathon

1933

Boston, MA

-

-

Savin Rock Marathon

1933

Savin Rock, Conn.

2151:00

n/a

Seashore Marathon

1931

Atlantic City

-

-

Sunderland Marathon

2/18/1923 & 3/6/1923

Sunderland, England

07:00

-

Youngstown Marathon

5/27/1923

E. Youngstown Pavilion, Ohio

182:08

n/a

W.E. Tebbits Walkathon & Derbie

1932

Convention Hall Annex, PA & Atlantic City. ($2000 Grand Prize)

n/a

n/a

Wildwood Marathon

1933?

Wildwood, New Jersey

81 days

-

White City Ballroom Marathon

1934

White City Park

-

-

World Championships [prgrm cover]

1910

Dreamland Rink

-

N/A

World Championships [prgrm cover]

1930

Green's Palace Ballroom. Baltimore, MD

2424:00

N/A

Judges

Political

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...

Musicians

Entertainers

Artists

Poets / Writers

Other / Note

1374 - Aachen, Germany - A Dancing Madness, lasting many hours is believed to be due to the bite of the Tarantula Spider (Tarantella). This is considered the first dance marathon.

4/22/1927 - L.A. Herald - L.A. / Venice Marathon

1930s - Red Skelton - W.E. Tibbetts and Various Marathon Emcee and comedian.

1930s - color=Texas Guianan & Earl Carroll did not approve of the Marathons (it stole business)

1932 - Johnny ' Sour Puss' Loe was hailed as 'the Demon Judge' at W.E. Tibbetts Marathon.

1935 - Horace McCoy - was a Marathon Bouncer - California

1935 - NEAA- National Endurance Amusement Assoc.

Some marathons were repeated over the years, and in some instances, many times in the same year and are not represented above unless of some significant event (s) happening in them.

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