Society Fads and Fancies
A newspaper's "society page" once covered the community's social news, listing not only the attendees at local club meetings, parties, and other gatherings, but ...
dancing
What We Found
Fred Astaire’s Omaha Origins
The year 1999 marks the centenary of Fred Astaire's birth in Omaha, where he was born as Frederick Austerlitz on May 10. His sister, Adele, two years older than Fred, ...
Leap Year Masquerade Ball
The old leap day (February 29) custom of women proposing marriage to men is reflected in early Nebraska accounts of dances and parties celebrating past leap days and ...
Dance Crazes
The spreading popularity of ragtime music during the early 1900s led to a series of so-called animal dance fads, including the fox trot, horse trot, turkey trot, crab ...
Defending the Cancan
The cancan, with its high kicks by a chorus line of female dancers in ruffled skirts, was once considered dangerous to good morals. "T. B. M." wrote to ...
“What’s happened to our teenagers?” Elvis in Nebraska
Why is this young man all shook up? Elvis Presley performed at the University of Nebraska Coliseum on May 19, 1956, and at the Omaha Civic Auditorium the next day. This ...
Fred Astaire’s Omaha Origins
Never forget that Fred Astaire was born in Omaha. This column originally from 1999 tells the story.
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