Encyclopedia Dubuque
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ARTHUR MURRAY STUDIO
ARTHUR MURRAY STUDIO. Arthur Murray was born in Galicia, Austria-Hungary in 1895 as Moses Teichmann. In August 1897, he was brought to America by his mother Sarah and landed at Ellis Island. In 1912 at the age of 17, he taught dance at night while working as a draftsman by day.
Murray won his first dance contest at the Grand Central Palace, a public dance hall where he later became a part-time dance teacher. The 1st prize had been a silver cup, but Murray went home without anything to show for his win. His partner of the evening took it; it was destined for a pawnshop. This loss made an impression on Murray, and in later years every winner in his dance contests took home a prize.
He soon began teaching ballroom dancing in Boston, Massachusetts at the Devereaux Mansion in Marblehead, Massachusetts, before moving to Asheville, North Carolina.
In 1919 Murray began studying business administration at Georgia Tech and taught ballroom dancing in Atlanta at the Georgian Terrace Hotel. In 1920, he organized the world's first "radio dance"; a band on the Georgia Tech campus played "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" and other songs, which were broadcast to a group of about 150 dancers (mostly Tech students) situated atop the roof of the Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta.
Murray was inspired by a casual remark made by William Jennings Bryan one evening at the hotel: "... You know, I have a fine idea on how you can collect your money. Just teach 'em with the left foot and don't tell 'em what to do with the right foot until they pay up!"
Murray thought about what Bryan's remark, and devised the idea of teaching dance steps with footprint diagrams supplied by mail. Within a couple of years, over 500,000 dance courses were sold.
On April 24, 1925, Murray married his famous dance partner, Kathryn Kohnfelder whom he had met at a radio station in New Jersey. After their marriage, the mail-order business declined and the Murrays opened a dance school offering personal instruction. Their business prospered, especially in 1938 and 1939 when Arthur picked two little-known dances, the "Lambeth Walk" and "The Big Apple", and turned them into dance crazes. They were taught at hotel chains throughout the country, and the name "Arthur Murray" became a household word.
This business was expanded more widely in 1938, when an Arthur Murray dance studio franchise was opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Others followed. His slogan was: "If you can walk, we teach you how to dance", and the company guaranteed that the pupils learn to dance in ten lessons.
There are now hundreds of Arthur Murray studios globally, with specially trained instructors, making Arthur Murray the most successful dance instructor in history.
The 1953 and 1955 Dubuque City Directory listed 552 1/2 Main for this dance studio.
The 1957 through 1966 Dubuque City Directory listed 880 Locust.
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Source:
Arthur Murray. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Murray