100 years ago in Spokane: It was Waltz Week 1923, and a tie led to a spirited dance-off with the previous year’s winners

The most popular new waltz in Spokane was a number titled, “Call Me Back, Pal o’ Mine.”

This was the verdict of Whitehead’s Dance Palace, which kept records of how many couples danced to each tune during what it called Waltz Week.

A total of 1,015 couples danced to that song, with “Red Moon” a close second – just two couples behind. Third and fourth place went to “Through the Night” and “Lovely Lucerne.”

The contest was strictly for new waltzes. The old favorites, such as “My Wild Irish Rose,” were not included.

Whitehead’s planned to host a waltz-off, of sorts, to cap off Waltz Week. The winners of the 1922 contest for best waltz couple were challenged by the winners of the 1923 contest. Actually, they were challenged by two pairs of winners, because a dispute had arisen about which couple actually won the 1923 contest.

One couple took second place in the contest, “but claim they lost through excitement, and desire another opportunity to prove their prowess.”

From the schnozz beat: An unsavory Prohibition enforcement practice was inadvertently revealed during testimony at a Spokane liquor trial.

“When a man runs out of a place, grabs his nose and begins to blow, he is saying in substance to the watching policemen, ‘Come on boys, someone here has sold us some liquor,’ and the police swoop down and make an arrest,” reported The Spokesman-Review.

The dry squad officers did not deny it.

The defense attorney claimed to be outraged by this admission, saying that “things had come to a sorry pass when men will hire out to purchase liquor, then call police – by blowing their noses.”