100 Years Ago: Wood River Woman Makes National News for Dance Injury

“The first injury due to the vogue of the Charleston” was reported in the Alton Evening Telegraph on January 4, 1926. The previous Saturday evening (January 2), Miss Mildred Volz of Wood River suffered a dislocation of the kneecap while dancing at the Valley Park dancing pavilion. The injury locked the knee joint and prevented all knee movement. Volz was driven to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Alton by automobile, and then, after being checked there, was taken home. “It was said that the injury is not one of a serious nature.”

Volz was attending an Old Time Dance at Valley Park Pavilion, near Rock Spring Park, at the time of her injury. Pavilion manager Harry Robertson hosted these dances on Thursdays and Saturdays, and January 2, 1926, was particularly warm and pleasant, so the crowd at the dance was even larger than usual, with many young people present. “The young folks soon tired of the old-fashioned steps and importuned Manager Robertson to permit some of the newer dances. He refused until a late hour, but finally at 11 p.m. capitulated to the demands of the young people, and agreed to insert one Charleston on the program.”

Volz slipped on the slick floor during the dance and wrenched her knee. Robertson said later that only a modified form of the Charleston was to be danced in future dances, and no “extreme steps” would be permitted.

The Associated Press picked up the story, and newspapers across the United States printed blurbs about Mildred Volz and her Charleston injury. There were articles in papers all over Illinois, as well as California, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Texas, with titles like “Charleston Perilous,” “Charleston Dangerous,” and “Knee Revolts at New Dance.”

A follow-up article in the Alton Evening Telegraph on January 25, 1926, gave an update on Volz’s health. She was still confined to her home, but in the last two weeks had received sympathy letters from all over the country. Her relatives clarified that “the injury was primarily caused while playing basketball, but that it was not serious until she was hurt a second time while on the dance floor.” It is unclear if Mildred Volz ever attempted the Charleston again, but the incident didn’t force her to retire her dancing shoes; she is listed as a dancer in a 1928 performance put on by the Standard Oil Athletic Association.

Special thanks to George Fuller for research help with this week’s article.

Sources

“Charleston Dance Locked Dancer’s Knee.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), January 4, 1926.

“Charleston Dance Victim Receives Wide Attention.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), January 25, 1926.

“Charleston Dangerous.” Centralia Evening Sentinel (Centralia, Illinois), January 8, 1926.

“Charleston Perilous.” Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, California), January 8, 1926.

“‘Fashion Plates’ Ably Presented by Large Cast.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), February 17, 1928.

“Knee Revolts at New Dance.” Biddeford Daily Journal (Biddeford, Maine), January 8, 1926.

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