Vernon Castle and Irene Foote

Vernon Castle, and Irene Foote 1893-1969, husband-and-wife dance team. Vernon Castle was an English dancer, who studied civil engineering before turning to the stage and making his debut in 1907. In 1911, he married Irene Foote, b. New Rochelle, N.Y. In Paris in 1912 their versions of such dances as the "Texas Tommy" and the "Grizzly Bear" brought them fame. The team originated the "Castle walk," the one-step, and the "hesitation" waltz, and Irene Castle introduced bobbed hair and the slim, boyish figure to the ballroom and the world of fashion. Castle was a pilot during World War I and was killed during a training mission in Texas.

Bibliography: See I. Castle, Castles in the Air (1958).

Castle, Vernon [né Blythe] (1887–1918), dancer. Coming to America from his native England, he made his debut in About Town (1906), the first of seven Lew Fields shows in which he danced and often served as Fields's stooge: The Girl Behind the Counter (1907), The Mimic World (1908), The Midnight Sons (1909), Old Dutch (1909), The Summer Widowers (1910), and The Hen‐Pecks (1911). After he married Irene Foote (1893–1969), who danced in the chorus of the last two shows, they went to Paris, where they perfected their ballroom technique and became a dancing sensation. On their return they almost single‐handedly initiated a rage for ballroom dancing in America, starting what was called “the dancing craze” and introducing or popularizing such dances as the tango, the Maxine, the Castle Walk, and the Turkey Trot. Vernon appeared briefly in The Lady of the Slipper (1912), a Victor Herbert musical Irene had walked out of during rehearsals, but they then danced as a team in The Sunshine Girl (1913) and in Irving Berlin's ragtime musical Watch Your Step (1914). The Castles were also applauded for their vaudeville appearances. While Vernon was training pilots for the war, Irene appeared alone in Miss 1917. After her husband was killed in a training accident, she retired from performing, although she helped later Broadway shows re‐create period dances. Autobiography: (Irene): Castles in the Air, 1958.