Midori and Chad

Everybody loves a good mystery. And while clever crimes and heinous murders grab the headlines and make for bestsellers, ballroom dancing is not without its own form of whodunit. Foremost among the ballroom case files, in this writer’s humble opinion, is the mystery of the Peabody.

According to legend, New York City Police Captain William Frank (or John) Peabody, a popular, colorful character in Jazz Age dance circles, created this dance in the late ‘Teens (some sources cite 1915) or early ‘Twenties. He was a portly man who accommodated his girth by dancing with his partner to his side. It’s a lovely legend. There’s only one problem with it. In several years of researching the Peabody, admittedly in my spare time, I’ve come across no document describing this man beyond this legend. To boot, in searching dance manuals from the ‘Teens and ‘Twenties, both those available at the American Memory Collections and those that I’ve acquired, I’ve found exact one manual that mentions the Peabody, a small book, published in 1925 by Moore’s Acrobatic & Dancing School (Smyrna, New York). It has one page devoted to the Peabody. It’s my earliest reference to the dance. I have a few ads from dance schools in the later 1920s and 1930s advertising lessons in the Peabody as well as some dance manuals from the later 1930s, but that’s it.
In 1931, the Peabody made, as far as I can tell, its feature film debut in a James Cagney picture called “Taxi”. In the film, Cagney and Loretta Young compete against George Raft and his partner in a Peabody contest. A placard outside the contest labels it a “Foxtrot contest,” but the dancing is more Peabody than Foxtrot as they dance to a swift rendition of “Darktown Strutter’s Ball.” Herein lies the challenge of researching the Peabody. As far as I can tell, it’s often referred to as a fast foxtrot. After reading a number of dance manuals from the 1920s, I can see why. The foxtrot of then looks more Peabody and much less Foxtrot than the Foxtrot we have now. But I digress, that’s the subject of another investigation. Let’s get back to the Peabody.

My wife Midori and I first became interested in the Peabody in the late 1990s, after seeing a tape of Sandra Cameron and Paul Grecki performing a Peabody routine choreographed by Peter DiFalco. We’ve since studied the dance with a number of wonderful dancers who danced the Peabody in the 1930s and 1940s, John Lucchese, Peter DiFalco, Frankie Manning, Vinnie Zambardi, and others. None of them knew Capt. Peabody. But what they could confirm was the popularity of the dance. The Savoy Ballroom, Harlem’s famous home of the Lindy Hop, had a popular Peabody contest. It was a race around the great ballroom, which spanned an entire block. It’s possible this is where the Savoy got its nickname as “The Track.” The dance was popular at Club Fordham and, of course, Roseland Ballroom. Some of the steps we know in the Peabody today have names attributed to Roseland, foremost among them, the Roseland Hop. In 1977, Merchant and Ivory, the well-known filmmakers, directed a picture titled “Roseland” that featured a vignette called “The Peabody.” Though there’s not much in the way of Peabody dancing in this vignette, it does point to the popularity of the dance. In Albert and Josephine Butler’s authoritative “Encyclopedia of Ballroom Dances,” Albert Butler describes the Peabody as a “dancer’s dance.”

Having danced every week for a year with a band that plays hot ’20s jazz (the Blue Orchid Dance Orchestra), Midori and I understand why. There’s nothing as exhilarating as the Peabody. It starts with the fast, hot music, which is infectious. But it’s the ability to dance a ballroom style that allows full improvisational freedom that really attracts us. Perhaps, it’s priceless because while the dance includes a host of steps passed down from generation to generation, it remains a mystery open to each new enthusiast’s interpretation. Come to think of it, perhaps, that’s exactly what the good Captain wanted.

Calling all Peabody dancers. We are trying to pull together as much information as is available on the Peabody. If you danced the Peabody or know a relative or friend who danced it, please let us know. We are looking for information on: places where it was danced; locations and dates of Peabody contests; literature on the dance; footage (film, television, video) of the dance. We are also interested in preserving the steps and personal anecdotes of Peabody dancers. You can reach us at 212-807-4210 (work), chad@fasca.net (email).

Any information you can share is extremely valuable. We thank you all for your support. We’ll share what we find in these pages.

Posted on July 19th, 2006 by chad