2-378-336 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Contestants in a dance marathon, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1930. The girl has fallen asleep. Dance marathons were popular competitions organised in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Contestants attempted to continue dancing for as long as posible in order to win prizes. A 1935 book about the contests, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, written by Horace McCoy, who worked as a bouncer at dance marathons, was made into a successful Academy Award-winning film in 1969.