The turkey trot and the grizzly bear 🐻

Alright?

No doubt you’re incredibly discombobulated by the clocks changing. Hopefully, you find a moment after figuring out how to change the time on your oven to give this special edition of Secret Norwich a read.

It’s a special edition because it’s not written by me, it’s written by a proper historian.

I’ve introduced you to Clara before - she’s about to finish her PhD in Medieval History at the UEA.

But today’s email isn’t about Medieval Norwich. Instead, this is a little-known story from the 20th century.

Aside from contributing to this newsletter here and there, Clara is running the Halloween Pub Tour next week. Tickets are selling fast, but there are still some available 👇

No business like show business

Norwich isn’t short of showbiz connections. From Hugh Jackman rocking up at Carrow Road to support his mum’s footy team, to hometown sightings of national treasure Olivia Colman, Norwich boasts a fine tradition of producing talent destined for the silver screen.

But did you know that Norwich’s Hollywood connections date back over a century?

Meet Vernon and Irene

In 1906, a Norwich boy by the name of William Vernon Blyth headed to New York to seek acting work alongside his sister, the popular Edwardian theatre actress, Coralie Blythe.

Vernon (as his pals knew him) had initially embarked on training as a civil engineer in England, before trading in the glamour of public service for a more alluring career on stage across the pond. A gifted dancer, he quickly made a name for himself as a comic actor in the Big Apple.

By 1910, he’d bumped into a stylish young actress from New Rochelle called Irene Foote and promptly put a ring on it a year later. The pair adopted ‘Castle’ as a stage name and turned a shared love of modern dance into a cultural phenomenon.

A match made in New York

What modest fame Vernon had earned as a solo act was eclipsed by the success of his partnership with Irene.

As a duo, the Castles became an international dance sensation, revolutionising ballroom dancing from the stiff, formal tradition of European aristocracy into a dynamic activity for the trendy socialites of America’s Progressive Era.

Performing everywhere from Broadway to Paris, the Castles popularised the modern foxtrot, along with a smorgasbord of trendy new steps such as the glide, the castle polka, the bunny hug, the turkey trot, and the grizzly bear.

I promise I haven’t made those up...

The true pioneers

Perhaps most importantly, however, the Castles enthusiastically embraced the rhythms of ‘ragtime’, an emerging genre rooted in African American music that was previously shunned by the upper classes.

But the Castles’ appreciation for Black artistry extended beyond pinching their sheet music. The couple’s partnership with Black bandleader James Reese Europe brought his orchestra, and African American culture more broadly, into the high-society spotlight during a deeply segregated era.

At the peak of their fame as ballroom trendsetters, the Castles transitioned into cinema, starring in a silent film The Whirl of Life (1915), completing their ascent from jobbing theatre stars to bona fide silver-screen icons.

The dance goes on

Sadly, Vernon’s stardom was cut tragically short. Having served with distinction as a fighter pilot in the First World War, Vernon was killed in 1918 in an accident during a training exercise for American cadets at Fort Worth, Texas, aged only 30.

Irene Castle remained an influential It Girl deep into the 1920s and kept Vernon’s memory alive, publishing his wartime letters and tributes to his theatrical skill in her memoir, My Husband in 1919.

And having pioneered the aesthetic of modern dance on screen, the Castles’ legacy lived on into the golden age of cinema. In 1939, none other than Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers played Vernon and Irene in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.

Every Hollywood dance duo that followed owed something to the fresh, modern routines the Castles introduced.

So, when this series of Strictly serves up a wobbly foxtrot from a leggy C- list celeb, spare a thought for the debt it owes to a Norwich lad and his chic American partner who turned ballroom into a global craze.

See you next week,

Secret Norwich