-
Benjamin Basil Lovett
- Wayne State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Benjamin Basil Lovett 1876-1952 "However important Mr. Ford's role was in bringing back old-fashioned dancing, Mr. LoveWs part in the reemergence of the popularity ofEarly American dancing must not be underestimated.,, —Eva O'Neal Twork* Henry Ford enjoyed the old-fashioned dances of his youth and was convinced everyone, young and old, should likewise enjoy them. To accomplish this revival of old-fashioned dancing, Ford hired Benjamin B. Lovett to teach the calls and the steps. Ford furnished the musicians. For years in Dearborn, dancing quadrilles and cotillions at the monthly Ford parties became obligatory for anyone who expected to associate socially with Henry and Clara Ford. Benjamin Basil Lovett was born in West Swanzey, New Hampshire, on February 2, 1876, the second eldest of nine children. His parents were Joseph L. Lovett and Florence McConlough Lovett. Soon after Benjamin was born, his parents moved to Ayer, Massachusetts, where Joseph Lovett worked in a shoe factory. Beyond ordinary public school, Lovett was essentially self-educated. He enjoyed music, became an accomplished clarinet player, and spent his summers with a musical group at Martha's Vineyard. An incident that is said to have influenced his turn to dancing was the refusal of a pretty girl to attend a dance with him, telling him he was too clumsy on the dance floor. At that moment, he vowed he would learn to become an exceptionally fine dancer. Lovett took dancing lessons, became an excellent dancer, and began to give lessons to others. On August 5, 1905, he married Charlotte L. Cooke, the twenty-five-year-old daughter of Charles and Adella Cooke of Alstead, New Hampshire. She was a secretary. The Lovetts would have no children. As Lovett's dancing career flourished, his wife began to help him with his work. As a dancing team, they became well known in the Bos- * From Eva O'Neal Twork, Henry Ford and Benjamin B. Lovett : The Dancing Billionaire and the Dancing Master (Detroit: Harlo Press, 1982), p. 262. 183 Henry's Lieutenants ton area and beyond. They conducted dancing schools in such Massachusetts cities as Worchester, Fitchburg, Maynard, Marlborough, and Hudson. Lovett became well enough known to become president of the International Association of Masters of Dancing. During World War I, he served in France as an entertainer with the YMCA. In 1923, Lovett was teaching at Marlborough, Massachusetts, when Henry Ford was at nearby Sudbury visiting his Wayside Inn. Ford was restoring the inn with its large ballroom. Both Henry and Clara Ford, now middle-aged, were looking back to their youth and the oldfashioned dances they had enjoyed. They had heard of Lovett's outstanding reputation as a teacher. Ford invited Lovett to Wayside Inn to discuss the promotion of old-fashioned dancing, and Lovett was engaged by Ford to direct dances there. The next year, Ford had induced the Lovetts to move to Dearborn, where they were to organize dancing programs for both adults and children. Ford and Lovett agreed that dancing lessons and dancing parties offered valuable social training as well as enjoyable recreation. The first dancing engagement conducted in Dearborn by Lovett was a Halloween party held in the barn of the 1860 Ford family homestead. Hosting dancing parties conducted by Lovett greatly enhanced the social life of the Fords. They had avoided modern social affairs with the attendant smoking, drinking, and sophisticated chatter. They felt oldfashioned dancing was more wholesome. For three years, the Lovett address in Dearborn was 93 Lapham Street, until they bought a Ford-built home at 22525 Nona. Although the Lovetts were married in a New Hampshire Congregational church, in Dearborn they attended the Episcopal church to which the Fords belonged. Lovett's office was near Ford's in the newly constructed Engineering Laboratory of Ford Motor Company. In this laboratory building, a large area was reserved as a dance floor. Here, with a small group of musicians playing such instruments as violin, dulcimer, cymbal, sousaphone , and accordion, and with Lovett as caller, friends of the Fords were invited to participate in evening dances. The Fords especially liked the quadrille, the waltz, schottische and varsovienne. Some of the men invited were Ford executives who were quite annoyed at being expected to attend. They had probably worked harder that day than Henry Ford had. With their jobs at stake, however, almost all did participate when asked. Charles Sorensen, one of the few Ford executives who would not attend the dances, stated in his...