100 years ago in Spokane: Waltzing war kicks off between Marine and city’s reigning dancing champion

Hans Berland was the reigning Waltz Champion of Spokane and Waltz Champion of Washington.

Now, however, a formidable opponent was gliding onto the scene, aiming to win those crowns: A.B. Quorn, the Waltzing Marine.

Quorn was a corporal in the Marine recruiting station in Spokane, and he announced his intention to challenge Berland for the Waltz King crowns.

“I am not afraid of Quorn,” said Berland, a serviceman during the war and a painter at the Davenport Hotel. “I feel confident that I can successfully defend my title as champion waltzer of Washington. … If there is a man in the state who can dance the good old waltz smoother and more gracefully than I can, I want to see him get the title.”

Berland laid down a few rules for this competition, however, including, “manner of holding the lady to be considered” and “the old, smooth waltz shall be the dance.”

Berland did concede that Corporal Quorn would be “entitled to doll up in his dress uniform, with all his medals, for the contest.”

One more rule was being considered: An egg or glass of water might be balanced on the head of the dancer to showcase their “smoothness.”

From the auto beat: The automobile continued to proliferate in Spokane County.

Licenses were up 25% over 1919. There was also a “heavy increase” in motor truck licenses.

On this day

(From the Associated Press)

1972: Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who’d broken Major League Baseball’s modern-era color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.