Post by Terry Harbin on Jun 3, 2005 1:24:29 GMT -5
Irene Castle
In the early part of the century, Irene Castle and her husband, Vernon, was America's most renowned dance team. The famous Castle Walk and Hesitation Waltz, dances that they created, were popular around the world, and t he couple became international symbols of youth and beauty, and millions of people followed their every move.
But besides being a superb dancer and trendsetter, Irene Castle was an ardent lover of animals. In fact, she considered their welfare to be more important than her riches or fame, and her ability to command attention helped them immeasurably.
Irene Castle built the still famous Orphans of the Storm Animal Shelter in Deerfield, near Chicago, and she raised many thousands of dollars for that institution.
One of the dogs buried in the Castle plot in Hartsdale is Zowie, an animal who occupied a special place in the story of the Castles' lives. Zowie is depicted in the 1939 Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire movie, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. In one scene, the dog playing Zowie is caught in a cross current off a bathing beach at New Rochelle, near Hartsdale, and is swept toward deeper water, rescued him, and thus met. The couple eventually married and Zowie, as they named the dog, was with them for the rest of his life.
When Zowie died on August 2, 1917, Irene Castle placed a poem with other tributes people often leave on the walls of the cemetery's office. She wrote "I do not cringe from death as much/Since you are gone, my truest friend/Thy dear dumb soul will wait for mine/However long before the end."
Also buried at Hartsdale is Irene Castle's monkey, Rastas. After his death she wrote, "Rastas, the smartest most lovable monkey that ever lived."
All through her life, Irene Castle continued to devote herself to the benefit of animals, and on the eve of her seventy-second birthday in 1965, when a national magazine interviewed her, she told the public "When I die, my gravestone is to say 'humanitarian' instead of 'dancer.' I put it in my will. Dancing was fun, and I needed the money, but Orphans of the Storm comes from the heart. It's more important."
Irene Castle, humanitarian, died in 1969.
In the early part of the century, Irene Castle and her husband, Vernon, was America's most renowned dance team. The famous Castle Walk and Hesitation Waltz, dances that they created, were popular around the world, and t he couple became international symbols of youth and beauty, and millions of people followed their every move.
But besides being a superb dancer and trendsetter, Irene Castle was an ardent lover of animals. In fact, she considered their welfare to be more important than her riches or fame, and her ability to command attention helped them immeasurably.
Irene Castle built the still famous Orphans of the Storm Animal Shelter in Deerfield, near Chicago, and she raised many thousands of dollars for that institution.
One of the dogs buried in the Castle plot in Hartsdale is Zowie, an animal who occupied a special place in the story of the Castles' lives. Zowie is depicted in the 1939 Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire movie, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. In one scene, the dog playing Zowie is caught in a cross current off a bathing beach at New Rochelle, near Hartsdale, and is swept toward deeper water, rescued him, and thus met. The couple eventually married and Zowie, as they named the dog, was with them for the rest of his life.
When Zowie died on August 2, 1917, Irene Castle placed a poem with other tributes people often leave on the walls of the cemetery's office. She wrote "I do not cringe from death as much/Since you are gone, my truest friend/Thy dear dumb soul will wait for mine/However long before the end."
Also buried at Hartsdale is Irene Castle's monkey, Rastas. After his death she wrote, "Rastas, the smartest most lovable monkey that ever lived."
All through her life, Irene Castle continued to devote herself to the benefit of animals, and on the eve of her seventy-second birthday in 1965, when a national magazine interviewed her, she told the public "When I die, my gravestone is to say 'humanitarian' instead of 'dancer.' I put it in my will. Dancing was fun, and I needed the money, but Orphans of the Storm comes from the heart. It's more important."
Irene Castle, humanitarian, died in 1969.