Vernon and Irene Castle's Ragtime Revolution (review)

Eve Golden's Ragtime Revolution is the first full-length biography of Vernon and Irene Castle, two of the most influential but least known figures in twentieth-century American popular culture. During the ragtime dance craze of the 1910s, the Castles were the nation's preeminent exhibition ballroom dance team. Their graceful routines appealed not only to New York socialites, who saw the Castles perform at fashionable cafés or received private dancing lessons at their Manhattan dance school, but also to middle-class Americans, who attended their vaudeville shows, read about them in magazines, and purchased their dance instruction manuals. Their signature dance, the Castle walk, was one of the decade's most popular, and Irene's elegant dancing dresses and short hairstyle helped set new trends in women's fashions. Golden depicts the Castles as both highly talented dancers and ambitious, business-minded entertainers who, with the help of their marketing agent, Elisabeth Marbury, never missed an opportunity to capitalize on their talent and popularity.

Golden, a former magazine editor, does a commendable job chronicling the Castles' rise to stardom. In clear and often lively prose, she recounts Vernon and Irene's unfriendly first meeting in 1910, their marriage in 1911, their first performances in Paris and New York, and the opening of their own nightclubs. Along the way, Golden provides many fascinating details about the Castles' personal lives, including their lavish spending habits and tremendous love of animals. Her narration of Vernon's service in the British Royal Flying Corps during World War I, his death in 1917 during a routine training flight, and Irene's subsequent marriages and show-business activities is equally detailed and well-written. Even though sympathetic to the Castles, Golden does not ignore their flaws. She points out their involvement in the operation of a Broadway clip joint, their condescending racial attitudes, and Vernon's wartime infidelity to Irene.

Golden also clearly understands the importance of relating the Castles' story to broader trends in American social and cultural history, but she is less successful in this endeavor. Although there are brief chapters on the growing popularity of ragtime music and social dancing in the United States during the early 1910s, Golden never fully explains why so many white, upper- and middle-class Americans of the era idolized the Castles. On this point, the degree to which the Castles eliminated more physically expressive elements from their Latin and African American-inspired dances deserved further analysis. Additional consideration of the role the Castles played in popularizing the modern, companionate model of marriage, even though their own marriage was in tatters at the time of Vernon's death, would have been instructive as well. Moreover, the book's incomplete documentation of sources casts into doubt the credibility of Golden's evidence, much of which appears to derive from Irene's 1958 autobiography, Castles in the Air.

Ragtime Revolution will appeal most to lay readers with a particular interest in the Castles and scholars seeking an overview of their careers. The book's limited historical analysis and incomplete documentation will reduce its usefulness to university students and future researchers.