Some times of a morning

Some times of a morning

the life and homes of Jane Love

Marathon Dancing

[This section and the previous one were pieced together from discussions with mom. -DL]

I finally ran away from home when I was 14. It was 1929, and the depression just added to what we had been suffering all my life. I wanted to do something with my life, not just live in a small town. I had gone to school through the first year of highschool, but nobody ever told me to study. My mother only went as far as third grade, and my parents didn't have much interest in education. I had a miserable childhood, and left home as fast as I could.

So I joined the Marathon Circuit. We would travel from town to town, and dance all night and day.


Jane at 18
 
The last couple standing got a prize of about $100. We were given free room and board, and had 20 minute breaks every 4 hours, when we would sleep. It was grueling, but it was a living in those days, and we did travel around. [For more on this life, see the movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"]

cousin Lillian Hemphill
 My dad had a fit, and said that he was going to drag me home by my long hair. But he came to the show and saw that we were doing a good job entertaining folks, so he left me there.

Lillian and I were good pals, as well as relatives, and we went off to the Marathon Dances together. She wasn't that enthusiastic about the walking, but she didn't want to go back home either. She didn't have any talent to sing or dance, so when she got tired of walking, they made her a nurse. She remained a nurse in the army in World War II.

I liked to make people laugh, so I became a Comedienne. Comedians were just as important as singers and dancers. I was "the world's worst singer" for awhile, then I developed a skit about riding a trolley car to "Fish hook", the end of the line.

We were in Carbondale for a month, then we went to Hannibal MO. That's where I met Frankie and Leeroy. I didn't know anybody then, and I never thought that we would work together. There were many other interesting people, but I don't remember their names.

Frankie Wegner was a great dance partner, and was nice to me. We had a skit based on "Frankie and Johnny", and we saw a band on TV do most of it in the 1980s. I was amazed that someone had remembered it!

I also met Red Skelton in Carbondale. We knew each other, but were not "buddies" like Frankie and Leeroy. Red emceed sometimes, having come directly from the Vaudeville theater. He hung out with the other vaudeville performers. I guess that Leeroy didn't feel that he was as good as them, since he was Jewish, so he stayed with Frankie and me.

After Chicago, Red Skelton and I were going to return to Poplar Bluff to work together, but Frankie and Leeroy found me and stayed with me, while Red Skelton went off to fame and fortune.

Leeroy was an old-fashioned vaudeville comedian. He was funny, and he could really dance and sing. He and Frankie Wegner drank together, but I don't remember what we drank. In those days, I thought beer was a big deal.
a photo Red Skelton's publicist sent us

I also worked briefly with Red Buttons. I actually don't remember what we did, I just remember going up on stage and doing something with him. We worked well together, and he begged me to stay and work with him.

Then Frankie and me were married. I was stupid! I didn't keep working with either Red because Frankie wanted to go to another show. [One online biography states that he married actress Roxanne Arlen in the '40s, but the marriage was annulled after two years. This could have been the fate of my mother!]
Red Buttons

One of Jane's art photos
 At Poplar Bluff, MO., I wanted to quit, but Frankie and Leeroy didn't want me to. So I went swimming in the Mississippi, in the nude, at midnight, in the dark. I wasn't afraid. I could hear them walking up and down the riverbanks calling for me to not do anything bad. But finally it got late, and I got tired, so I put my clothes on and told them where I was. I was right next to them! They didn't want to lose me because I was a good commedienne. So they took care of me. I was only 16, and it felt like I was a million miles away from home.

We worked in various places such as San Francisco, Salt Lake city, Chicago, and back to Poplar bluff. The idea of being on the floor all the time and doing funny stuff got pretty crummy after awhile. We never did any dirty stuff, but we just didn't know what else to do in those days, when there was no other work. My relatives were ashamed that I was doing skits, thinking that we were doing bad things. The funny thing was, my Mom & Dad weren't worried about me. The Marathon Dances weren't bad places, because the people there stuck together and protected each other. Lillian finally quit, but I stayed, because I didn't have anything back at home.

Frankie was a great gambler. He would borrow money from me, and I was stupid enough to give it to him. Instead of paying me back, he married me. Leeroy didn't want to get married, but Frankie did, because there was good money in it. We were married on the stage in San Bernardino.

Frankie and I hitchhiked across the country twice, which was no mean feat in the 1930s. One time Frankie had 10 cents in his pocket when we arrived in California, so we called up the producer, and he sent someone to bring us to the show. Another time, a nice elderly couple on vacation picked us up in Albuquerque, and Frankie drove us all the way to our destination, which was Chicago, where Frankie had relatives.


Frankie and Johnnie's wedding
Some of us settled down, and some returned to show business. I was a teenager, and didn't know enough to perk up and become something. Frankie was Catholic, which I didn't mind, and he had a daughter, Francis Anne, who I took and loved as my own daughter. We settled down in Chicago, where Frankie became a truck driver. I became a Girl Scout leader so that Francis Anne could belong. We had a lot of fun during this time, and I kept in touch with Francis Anne until she died in a Detroit suburb a few years ago, just after we visited her and her nice husband and neighbors.

Joe Skibinski, Jane Love, Frances Anne Skibinski, and Doug Love in 1994
We still went dancing, and at the dancehall we met a nice gentleman named Jack Raith. He took care of us young people, and kept us out of trouble. He married Elizabeth, and they remained true friends with me and my families as long as we lived in the Chicago area. They would come and visit us on Sundays, and after dinner the boys would walk the railroad tracks so Jack could smoke his huge cigars. Doug loved his funny laugh!
Jack Raith
Elizabeth Raith
Frankie, however, had a gambling problem. When I came home to find all the furniture sold to pay gambling debts, I knew it was time to leave. I put Francis Anne in the care of her grandmother, and found my own place, and started to make my own way. This was during World War II, and times were still hard for a single lady. But I went to beauty school, and became a beautician, and by 1946 I was working in the elegant shop of Mr.Gunn, in Hyde Park, on the south side of Chicago.

← A little old brown dog

Working in Chicago →