Arthur Murray (born Moses Teichman; April 4, 1895 – March 3, 1991) was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name.

Early life and start in dance

Arthur Murray was born in 1895 as Moses Teichman in Galicia,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, to a family of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

background. In August 1897, he was brought to America by his mother Sarah on the ''S.S. Friesland'', and landed at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

. They settled on Ludlow Street, on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of Manhattan with his father, Abraham Teichmann. He soon began teaching

ballroom dancing Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...

to patients from the greater

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, area, at the Devereux Mansion Physical Therapy Clinic in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, along the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsu ...

, before moving to

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

. Murray arrived at the Battery Park Hotel November 28, 1914, at age 19 and began teaching dance there. At the outbreak of World War I, under the pressure of the anti-German sentiment prevalent in the U.S., Murray changed his last name of Teichman to a less German-sounding name. The '' Asheville Citizen'' reported in 1920 that Murray had spent six summers teaching at the Battery Park. At that time, he had also begun his chain of dance studios and become a well-paid dance writer. He had also signed a deal to produce records for teaching dance for

Columbia Gramophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a manageme ...

. Murray released many successful dance records for Columbia as well as Capitol Records, some of which included coupons for dance lessons at Arthur Murray Studios. In 1919, Murray began studying business administration at the

Georgia School of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, 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 "(I'm a) Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is the fight song of the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. The composition is based on "Son of a Gambolier", composed by Charles Ives in 1895, the lyrics of which are based ...

" 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. He graduated from

in 1923. On April 24, 1925, Murray married his famous dance partner, Kathryn Kohnfelder (September 15, 1906,

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

– August 6, 1999,

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

), whom he had met at a radio station in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. She had been in the audience while he was broadcasting a dance lesson.

The start of Arthur Murray Studios

After WWII, Murray's business grew with the rise of interest in

Latin dance Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America, though a few styles originated elsewhere. The category of Latin dance ...

, and he regularly taught and broadcast in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in the 1950s. Murray went on television with a dance program hosted by his wife, Kathryn; ''

The Arthur Murray Party ''The Arthur Murray Party'' is an American television variety show that ran from July 1950 until September 1960. The show was hosted by dancers Arthur and Kathryn Murray, the show featured various acts and celebrity guests and acted as adverti ...

'' ran from 1950 to 1960, on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, DuMont,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, and then on CBS. Among the Arthur Murray dance instructors in the early 1950s was future television evangelist D. James Kennedy, who won first prize in a nationwide dance contest. He appeared as a guest on the June 17, 1956, episode of ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists ...

''. The Murrays retired in 1964; but they continued to be active for some time, appearing as guests on the '' Dance Fever'' disco show in the late 1970s. By then, there were more than 3,560 dance studios bearing his name. In 2020, about 275 Arthur Murray Studios remained in operation. Arthur Murray Dance Studios claims to be the second-oldest franchised company (the first,

A&W Restaurants A&W Restaurants, Inc. (also known as Allen & Wright Restaurants) is an American fast food restaurant chain distinguished by its Hamburger, "Burger Family" combos, draft root beer and root beer floats. A&W's origins date back to 1919 when Roy ...

, began in 1919). In 2012, Arthur Murray Studios celebrated more than 100 years of teaching dance at over 270 Arthur Murray Dance Studios in 22 countries across the globe. These range from studios in Australia (where the prestigious Crows Nest and Parramatta Dance Studios are located) and throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Death

For many years, Murray had two homes – one in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

and another in

Rye, New York Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It received its charter as a city in 1942, making it the most recent such charter in the state. Its area of ...

. He died at his Honolulu home at the age of 95; according to his daughter, Phyllis Murray McDowell, pneumonia was the cause of death. He had been active and in good health until a short time before his death.

In popular culture

Hal Borne and His Orchestra recorded the Mercer-Schertzing song in a

Soundie A soundie is a three-minute American film displaying both the audio and video of a musical performance. Over 1,850 soundies were produced between 1940 and 1946, regarded today as "precursors to music videos". Soundies exhibited a variety of mu ...

released May 25, 1942, with the Three Murtah Sisters.The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America: a history and filmography of their "jukebox" musical films of the 1940s. Terenzio, MacGillivary, Okuda. 1954. page 79. The name and franchise of Arthur Murray were prominently referenced in the popular song "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry", published in 1942 by

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...

and

Victor Schertzinger Victor L. Schertzinger (April 8, 1888 – October 26, 1941) was an American composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His films include ''Paramount on Parade'' (co-director, 1930 in film, 1930), ''Something to Sing About (1937 fi ...

. The song was featured in the film '' The Fleet's In'' and was covered by various artists, including the

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peopl ...

Orchestra and

Betty Hutton Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appea ...

. Arthur Murray is mentioned in

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. He wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four books of poetry. Brautigan's work has been publi ...

's book " Dreaming of Babylon". Arthur Murray and his dance lesson patterns are mentioned in

Steve Goodman Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song " City of New Orleans", which was recorded by artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, The ...

's song, "Would You Like To Learn To Dance?" Arthur Murray is mentioned in "Dirty Dancing" movie as Johnny's dance teacher.

References

External links

*
Arthur Murray Dance Studios
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Arthur 1895 births 1991 deaths American ballroom dancers American draughtsmen American education businesspeople American entertainment industry businesspeople American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American reporters and correspondents Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States Jews from Austria-Hungary Businesspeople from Atlanta Businesspeople from Massachusetts Businesspeople from New Jersey American dance teachers Dance education organizations Educators from Georgia (U.S. state) Educators from New Jersey Georgia Tech alumni Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria People from Pidhaitsi 20th-century American businesspeople