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Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers of the early 20th century. They are credited with both invigorating and dousing the popularity of the modern dancing.
Vernon Castle (May 2, 1887 - February 15, 1918) was born William Vernon Blyth in Norwich, Norfolk, England.
Irene Castle (April 17, 1893 - January 25, 1969) was born Irene Foote in New Rochelle, New York.
Rise to Fame
The Castles' initial fame began in Paris, where they introduced American ragtime dances such as the Turkey Trot and Grizzly Bear. When the Castles returned home to the U.S., their success was repeated on a far wider scale. Making their New York debut in 1912 at a branch of the Cafe de Paris, operated by Louis Martin, who had given them their start in Paris, the duo were soon in demand on stage, in vaudeville and in motion pictures. In 1914 the couple opened a dancing school in New York called "Castle House," a nightclub called "Castles By the Sea," and a restaurant, "Sans Souci." At Castle House they taught New York society the latest dance steps by day, and greeted guests and performed at their club and cafe by night. They also were in demand for private lessons and appearances at fashionable parties. Despite their fame, they often found themselves treated as hired menials; if a rich client was too demanding, Vernon would quote a fee of a thousand dollars an hour for lessons and he often got it.
Film and Fashion
The Castles appeared in a newsreel called Social and Theatrical Dancing in 1914 and wrote a bestselling instructional book, Modern Dancing, later the same year. The pair also starred in a feature film called The Whirl of Life (1915), which was well-received by critics and public alike. As the couple's celebrity increased in the mid-1910s, Irene Castle became a major fashion trendsetter, initiating the vogue for bobbed hair and shorter skirts. Her chic wardrobe was supplied almost exclusively by the couturiere "Lucile," (Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon) but Irene also designed some of her clothes herself.
The Castles endorsed Victor Records and Victrolas, issuing records by the Castle House Orchestra, led by James Reese Europe –– a pioneering figure in Black music. They also lent their names to advertising for other mechandising products, from cigars and cosmetics to shoes and hats.
The Castles' greatest success together was on Broadway in Irving Berlin's debut musical Watch Your Step (1914). In this extravaganza, the couple refined and popularized the Fox Trot dance, which Vaudeville comedian Harry Fox is believed to have invented. After its New York run, Watch Your Step toured through 1916.
World War I
Vernon served as a pilot during World War I for the Royal Flying Corps and later as a training instructor for US pilots. In 1918, while conducting flight maneuvers at Benbrook Field near Fort Worth, Texas his plane crashed and he was killed instantly. Irene paid tribute to Vernon in her memoir My Husband (1919).
Life After Vernon
Irene starred solo in about a dozen silent films between 1917 and 1924 and she also appeared in several stage productions before retiring from show business. She married three more times –– to Robert Treman, Frederic McLaughlin, and George Enzinger.
In 1939 her life with Vernon was turned into a movie, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, produced by RKO and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Irene served as a technical advisor on the film but clashed with Rogers who refused to cut or color her hair or to wear authentic reproductions of Castle's Lucile dresses.
For the rest of her life, Irene was a staunch and litigious animal-rights activist, ultimately founding the Illinois animal shelter "Orphans of the Storm," which is still active.
Vernon and Irene Castle are interred together in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. There is a large monument to Vernon Castle near the site of his crash in Benbrook, Texas.
"Vernon and Irene Castle"