Murray in a Hurry

Into the shiny new Los Angeles studio of the world’s No. 1 dance teacher last week bustled a big brawny workman in his shirt sleeves. “I wanna learn to dance,” he told the pretty girl at the desk. “Would you like to join one of the defense classes?” she asked. “Hell no! Don’t you have any classes with society people?” he demanded, plunking down $100 for 20 lessons.

Arthur Murray, the Tiffany and Sears, Roebuck of U.S. dance, has almost every kind of pupil in his nationwide chain of 146 dance schools. But the trade of socialites is fast being augmented by the trade of new-rich war workers, who have long listened to the juke-box hit “Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry.”

Murray’s business is up 50% to 100% (most in defense cities), has actually risen 300%…in Los Angeles. There 600 pupils pay $11,000 each month to learn the rumba, smooth swing, jitterbugging or “New Yorker” (West Coast name for the Lindy Hop).