El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-26

TT OW many Of you who dance the
tengo and the one step know
how these dances happened to
become so popular IN the United
States2 I venture t. say that not one
in 5000 can answer the question.
Ten years ago you viii remember
that the dance everybody in the United
States liked best was the cake walk.
AT this time many American million
aires were in the habit OF going to
Paris and Of all nations OF the world
Congregated there they were the big
gest- spenders- Consequently the
women dancers In the public ball
rooms supper places and restaurants
Of the Quarter Latin and the Mont
Martre in Paris were anxious to please
the Americans. because, above all the
night life in Paris is cOmmercialiZed
When these clever little women dis
covered that the Americans liked the
cake walk they all learned it and ev-
eryWhere you went in Paris you could
see the American cake walk with
French variations.
But the Argentine, in the past few
years, has been producing untold mil
lions from its mines, its cattle and its
forests The millionaires produced by
these conditions have sought their
pleasures abroad, especially in Paris, |
and they have proved even more open
handed in scattering money in pursuit |
of the night life pleasures Of Paris !
~.
The clever little women who, as a I
whole, form the picture and animate 1
the spirit of the glittering night life /
especially served to foreigners in 4
Paris, with true French burgeofs 1
sense were quick to realize this and to 1
discover that the dance most liked by i
the Argentine milliOnaires was the 4
tango. So Of course they learned the |
tango and it was danced in all the /
late supper places Of Paris. Ameri-
can and French society women who !
sometimes went through these places
saw these dances and liked them and 1
the tango became the rage in Paris.
The Original TnmEO.
The tango as danced in the Argen-
tine had over so steps, many of them
danced with so much temperament and
sensuousness Lnat they were impos-
sibIe in the ball room. This was quick !
" realized by the dancing masters
and they adapted the steps to q ball !
room, taking out all Objectionable |
features and using about 70 to 16 OF
the original steps. The man who
probably did more than anybody else
to pOpularize these dances, was Maui
rice. he danced every night in the
Cafe de Paris, which was the most
chic OF the supper places where con-
gregated the elite among French So
ciety and visiting foreigners, after the
theater-
The Rise OF Maurice.
Maurice was a man beautifully built
and with absolute pOise and rythm in
his dancing. His history was peculiar.
He was born in New York city and as
a mere boy went to Paris and became
q buttons" in the Automobile club /
there. One day an organ was playing
In front of the club and Maurice in /
his little short Jacket with its double /
row Of buttons, could not resist the
temptation, and went out on the door
step Of the club and did a good. old |
fashioned buck and wing dance. Some
Of the members OF the club who hap I
3ened to be passing were so fascinated i
with the clever way in which he did
It that they raised a purse and sent
him to study dancing, and from that
be graduated to the Cafe de Paris
During the day he would give lessons
1t 100 francs $4,000 per hour. and
could always find more pupils than he