The Square Dancing Master (February 1972 | Volume: 23, Issue: 2)

The Square Dancing Master

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Authors: David L. Lewis

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February 1972 | Volume 23, Issue 2

For four decades Henry Ford was one of America’s most original crusaders. At one time or another he was protecting birds, chartering a peace ship, proclaiming that every criminal was “an inveterate cigarette smoker,” exposing a scheming but fictitious character called the “international Jew,” declaring that he would stop making cars “if booze ever comes back,” or insisting that only a diet of soybeans, carrots, or wheat could insure good health.

But of all the auto king’s crusades, few were more exciting and none created more merriment than his attempts in the 1920’s to convince a jazz-mad generation that it was more fun to dance the Virginia reel than the Charleston and to listen to country fiddlers than to saxophonists.

Ford and his wife had organized old-fashioned dance parties even before World War i. But their interest in this form of recreation strengthened after the industrialist’s purchase, in 1923, of historic Wayside Inn, in South Sudbury, Massachusetts. There the Fords organized square dances as part of the regular entertainment program. Gratified by their reception, the manufacturer announced in 1925 that he would lead a crusade to bring oldfashioned dances back into public favor.

Organizing an “orchestra” consisting of a violinist, a cymbalist, a dulcimer player, and a sousaphone player, the motor magnate enrolled friends and Ford executives and their wives into classes taught by his Wayside Inn dancing master, Benjamin B. Lovett. Ford’s announcement and activities were, of course, gleefully publicized. In an article entitled “Just a Reel at Twilight When Your Flask Is Low,” the Cincinnati Times-Star reported that “it looks like it will be a big summer for grandma.”

To publicize his hobby, Ford invited two hundred Ohio and Michigan dancing instructors to his home town, Dearborn, Michigan, to learn the Virginia reel, schottische, varsovienne (Ford’s favorite), gavotte, ripple, minuet, and other almostforgotten steps popular in the auto pioneer’s youth. He also arranged for his orchestra to play old-fashioned dance music over a nationwide radio network during the public showings of his new cars in January, 1926, and January, 1927. Hundreds of dealers set up loud-speakers in their show rooms and invited townspeople to dance to the music. In some communities nearly 25 per cent of the local populace attended the parties.

 
 
 

In addition, the industrialist made arrangements for Lovett to teach dancing to Dearborn’s schoolchildren. After the instruction had begun, two hundred parents petitioned the school board to stop the dances, claiming that they were immoral. Amid nationwide clamor, a jury of five hundred parents saw twentyfive student-couples demonstrate the steps, and voted to have them continued.

Old-fashioned dancing quickly became the rage throughout the country. Newspapers carried detailed instructions covering an entire page. Thirty-four institutions of higher learning, including Radcliffe College, Stephens College, Temple University, and the universities of Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia, added early American dancing to their curricula;