Figure 1.--Mr. de Rham had a long history of teaching American children manners and how to dance. He is one of those teachers that makes an impression on children. Many remember the experience with him well into adult life.

Mr. De Rham was the ramrod-stiff figure that taught dancing to the children of the cream of New York society. Little boys and girls in their best dark blue suits and party frocks were ushered into his class to learn the social graces and in the process how to dance. Squirming little boys in new Eton suits were taught to sit still. Giggly little girls in white party frocks and Mary Janes wre taught how to sit correctly. These lessons during the 1950s were departed to children with names like Astor, Baker, Chrysler, Ford, Hearst, Whitney, and many others whose parents stood at the pinicle of American industrial life. He is an intenerit dancing master, moving New Port to Palm, to teach the soms and daughters of the rich and famous. He is such an engaging figure that HBC felt that he should dealt with in some detail. Mr. de Rham is from the old school. He is a dancing master extrondiare, noving from country club to another, holding his classes in some of the mpst prestigious social clubs in America. He sees himself as a voice crying in the wilderness for a return to the era of courtly manners. He mourns the passing of the private ballroom and the days when there were widely held standards of correct behavior. He tells of the days long past even in the 1950s when a scandalized ma�itre'd would ask a awkward dance to leave the floor. He is a curious combination of the soft-spoken Howard on The Andy Griffith Show and a gruff drill seargent. He has a sixth sence that any gifted teacher has of knowing which students can handle criticism and which need more gentle trearment.

Childhood

William de Rham was born in Newport in 1901 at the dawn of the new century. He has lived almost his entire life at the same Newport Park Avenue apartent. He had two brothers and an adeventusome sister who at the age of 12 was once put off a Newport Beach because she refused to wear stockings. The young William was prohobited to watch the Turkey Trott, a popular fad dance. "You must turn your head away," his mother told him. "It's vulgar."

Career Beginnings

DeRham for a short time he attended the renowed Dodworth's New York dancing Academy. Dodworth has founded thde Academy in 1835 and ran it for 50 years. De Rham was recognized as the most proficient waltz dancer in New York. He was less successful in attempts at other careers.

De Rham's career as a dancing master began with Zazu Pitts. She asked de Rham to find a rhumba teacher for her teenage daughter. When he couldn't find a suitable Cuban teacher, he decided to teach her himself. He soon had other students.

Mairrage

After a unsuccesfull mairrage, a new wife Vera Chapin. She was a former ballerina and ex-Powers model. She had been teaching at Miss Fergusson's Dancing Class at Boston and then serving as de Rham's assistant before their mairrage. To the children in de Rham's classes, she was the softer friend at court so to speak. The wedding announcement was thus sad news. "Gosh," said one studeny, now there's two on his side. Mrs. de Rham and and pianist Buddy Koss on occasion conduct classes without Mr. de Rham, but they usdually work together.

Class Routien

Mr. De Rham was the ramrod-stiff figure that tought dancing to the children of the cream of New York society. Little boys and girls in their best dark blue suits and party frocks were ushered into his class to learn the social graces and in the process how to dance. Squirming little boys in new Eton suits were taught to sit still. Giggly little girls in white party frocks and Mary Janes wre taught how to sit correctly. These lessons during the 1950s were departed to children with names like Astor, Baker, Chrysler, Ford, Hearst, Whitney, and many others whose parents stood at the pinicle of American industrial life. He is an intenerit dancing master, moving New Port to Palm, to teach the soms and daughters of the rich and famous.

The Students' Parents

The parents, almost always mothers, have little roles in de Rham's classes. Occasionally they may help staff a mock receiving line. But basically they just sit the background and watch. Some don't like what they see. They as members of socially prominent families are used to receiving defference for them and their darling children by enployees. What makes de Rham a phenomenon is that he will have done of it. He rarely remembers even his "name" names.