On a sweltering summer's night, Fox Movietone Newsreel trucks pull up in front of the entrance to an upstairs roller-rink at Grand and Enright, in St. Louis, Mo.  It is July 17, 1935.  Marathon dance contests are the rage of the century.  Long lines of impatient fans form four abreast, waiting to get into the rink for the final night.  The screaming and shouting of 6,900 spectators assail the ears of the Newsreel crew as they unload their equipment and make their way up the long flight of stairs. The voice of Jack Fagan, the Master of Ceremonies, hardly discernible above the ear-splitting din, exhorts the fans to even louder demonstrations of support for the two remaining couples on the contest floor, Vivian Crenshaw and Tony Bergoni and Porky and Bella Joseph, a brother and sister team.

     Setting their equipment up at the end of the contest floor, 20ft. wide and 60ft. long, the cameraman focus first on the M. C. and then on signs surrounding the bandstand proclaiming, "ONE FALL AND OUT", "TEN SECOND STOP AND OUT", and then upon the hour board showing 1,176 HOURS ELAPSED.

     Jack Fagan, a tall, nice looking man with thinning black hair plastered down with pomade, finds renewed energy as the cameras point his way.

     "Porky!  Porky!" he shouts, although his throat is raw and raspy from his two hour stint on the elevated bandstand.  A five piece band is in the background, silent now as they stand watching the drama unfolding, that will mean the end of their jobs.

     "Porky!  Keep your feet moving!" Fagan shouts.

     An exhausted Porky Joseph strives desperately to keep his sister Bella's knees from touching the floor.  If her knees touch, she will be disqualified and Vivian Crenshaw and Tony Bergoni will be the winners of the $3,000.00 first prize money.

     Ernie, the floor judge, is on his knees and one hand.  His other hand holds a 22 caliber starter pistol, cocked and pointed toward the ceiling in readiness to end the contest.  His eyes dart from Bella's knees that are but a fraction of an inch from touching the floor, toward the team of Vivian and Tony.  Vivian holds the front of Tony's belt and backs slowly, tugging him forward as he stumbles drunkenly.  Vivian's eyes are heavy and swollen with sleeplessness.  Her head nods forward sharply, startling her to consciousness and she gives another tug on Tony's belt causing him to stagger forward.

     Schnozzle Ross, Fagan's backup M.C. is on the contest floor close to Porky and Bella, waving his hands frantically, exhorting the fans to respond to Fagan's pleas for applause.  Porky struggles valiantly and manages to lift Bella's knees about eight inches off the floor and staggers backward.

     Fagan points dramatically toward the cameramen...

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