The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-10-07
BY WILLIAM ENGLE.
Times stan Correspondent

n a corner OF Lne CdIe Qe FdflS,
i Irene and Vernon Castle sat
talking Of the debut they we're go
ing TO make the next night, a
matter of grave concern. for they
we're obscure aliens and stranded.
Papa Louis, the head waiter
who had befriended them, inter-
rupted abruptly. The Russian
count, he said, wanted them to
dance now. and never mind to-
morrow nights uncertainties.
The Russian count brought him
moreA business than any score Of
other patrons.
They looked at the table silent
ly. They were not dressed for ex-
hibition dancing Her gown had
train. He was not pressed. But
she pinned up the train; he
patted the wrinkles.
She took his arm and they
walked out upon the floor and
into the history Of their time.
For it seemed as though the
moment and the place had been
waiting for her to smile grayely
and for him to nod.
The Cafe de Paris had not liked
any one else so we'll before. The
count made them accept 300
francs in tribute. The Cafe de
Paris, it appeared, could not
encore them enough.
Fame came swiftly Paris cabled
the news of two phenomenal
young dancers to New York. New
York Cabled inducements to them
to leave Paris.
And through the next six years
they danced their way into inter-
national esteem.
n
DUT the triumph was peculiarly
- her own. Internationally, she
made over the American girl. Hips
vanished, because hers did not
show Hair was bobbed, because
hers was.
Plumpness went out and 1.-THE
ness came in. And the dances
which the Castles originated-the
maxixe, the tango, and one-step
swept the country
Almost as swiftly as fame came
to her it left her. Castle was
killed during the war; she danced
on a while, was feted; starred in
movies; married again; got a di-
vorce; and when she was mar
ried third time, to Major Frede-
ric Mclaughlin, a Chicago mil
liOnaire, nine years ago she re-
nounced fame for good, to become
the lady of her own manor and
a memory.
Her romance and Castles was
an idyl that caught public fancy,
their popularity a revelation of
the public's sheepish worship of
its current idols.
Born in New Rochelle, N. Y,
Irene Foote, the daughter of a
doctor, made her debut there at a
charity bazaar, after she had
studied Spanish dancing in Mex
leo
She met Castle in 1907 when
each had agminor role with Lew
Fields in The Girl Behind the
Counter"
He, born in Norwich, England,
educated to be an electrical enpi-
neer, had come over with his sis
ter, Coralie Blythe-he dropped
the family name-found her to be
a spectacular dancing partner,
fell in love, and they were mar
ried in 1911.
They wanted to see Paris, could
not afford it, but went with hard
ly more than their passage
money.
IN a garnet presently they were
4 wondering where the next meal
would come from. Their small
parts in musical revue left them
in debt to the management.
We were very little helped by
the money We borrowed from the
theater, for it invariably had to be
turned over to our landlady," she
wrote later in book called, MY
Husband"
Every time we paid the rent,
however, we had one good dinner
and blowout I can remember
Vernon buying me a petticoat and
hat with one of our rolls of Dor
rowed money.
we had admired them both on
our way to and from rehearsals,
and I had looked so, long and hun
grily at the black and white
striped petticoat costing 10 francs
that, though we could i'll afford it;
Vernon insisted on buying it for
me even before we paid the rent"
A little while after that, her
book tells, their days were even
darker.
I'VE figured we could hold out
four days more if we lived on po-