Dashing Dancer: Tony de Marco

Tony de Marco (born today in 1898) was one of the premiere 20th century ballroom dancers. Starting in his native Buffalo he began in small time vaudeville and burlesque, working with eight partners before striking it big in the 1924 edition of George White’s Scandals. Over the next two decades, the dashing De Marco would appear in and choreograph a dozen Broadway shows. In the 40s, he was a star of the night club scene, and when that waned he took to acting in television in the late 50s and 60s. He died in 1965.

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.