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| LAST DANCE ON THE STARLIGHT PIER - Sarah Bird It is the height of the Great Depression. Millions are out of work, homeless, hungry, and desperate to find any kind of living. Starting in the nineteen twenties, dance marathons became popular, but by the nineteen thirties, they were a means of cheap entertainment, and sometimes a chance to make money. It's early summer of 1929 and Evie Grace Devlin, who grew up in a notoriously bad part of Houston, is checking into the St. Mary's Hospital School of Nursing in Galveston. She is still in shock that she got the full scholarship, and her mother, Mamie, is furious that Evie is now no longer the bread-winner. Mamie has never been what most people would think of as a good mother. In fact, some of the things she forced Evie to do as a young girl made Evie stretch some of the information on the scholarship application a bit. After all, this is a Catholic-run school. With Evie's vaudeville experience, as well as her mother's questionable behavior, it's a miracle that Evie is walking through the doors of St. Mary's School. Immediately taken under the wing of another new student, Sofia, who happens to be related to the powerful Amadeo family of Galveston, Evie is, at first, denied entry by the director of the school. However, much to the director's disgust, Evie begins training, and, after an exemplary three years, she is ready to graduate and be pinned with the rest of the students. But, just before the ceremony, the director calls her aside, and shows her photographs someone had sent her that were taken when Evie was a child. No pin, no nursing degree. Fleeing back to Houston, devastated and broke, Evie ends up at an old friend's dance studio where she stumbles in on the beginnings of a dance marathon, and is hired as the company nurse. A dance marathon consists of couples who enter the contest in the hopes of surviving long enough to win some of the cash prizes. They cannot sit down or take breaks except when authorized by the timer, and breaks are usually fifteen minutes. Some couples have enough experience that one can sleep while the other holds them up. But blisters, minor injuries, or illnesses require that a medical person be around. That's where Evie steps in, despite not have the certification. She meets the couples who travel together to the marathons, including Zave and Cleo. Zave, it turns out was initially trained by Evie's father, who died when she was five. So, she has an extra special interest in him. But there is still a depression going on, as well as the election of a, hopefully, new president in the beleaguered country, and things don't work out for long in Houston. As the troupe moves on to Chicago, Evie eventually follows, and it is a life-changing experience for her and Zave. Will their return to Texas, and the Amadeo's Starlight Pier in Galveston, be what they hope for? LAST DANCE ON THE STARLIGHT PIER is a story of the Depression as well as a coming of age for many Americans then. Evie has never had anything handed to her in her life, so when she gets the scholarship, and discovers a real affinity for nursing in helping people, she is destroyed when that is all taken away from her. How will the dance marathons help? Find out if they do and learn a little history while you're at it. Jani Brooks |
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