Don Armstrong - early years in Florida
1. Don & Laverne Armstrong
2. Don Armstrong portrait
3. Don Armstrong's band
4. Don Armstrong - Danceland promo
5. Don Armstrong - parade float
This series of photographs shows caller Don Armstrong in the years after WW II, when he was based in Florida. This time marked the dramatic rise in the popularity of square dance in the US.
Don comments, in an interview: "Those dances were probably in their peak from 1948 through 1956. If you didn't getto my dance hall by ten minutes to eight you didn't get in. I had the only real band and dance where there was a lot of variety. We did squares, contras, mixers, couple dances, free dances (polkas, waltzes, schottisches, hambos), anything anybody wanted we played. The program was always full of variety, variety of dance, variety of music. When we'd just finished a contra and we were going to play a polka, down would go the fiddle and up would come the accordion, down would go the banjo and up would come a saxophone. And it was a completely different sound. It was very popular, it was the place to go on a Saturday night. It was weekly in St Petersburg in Florida."
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: One Night Stand - Don Armstrong |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Beginners Square Dance - plan for ten lessons (Don Armstrong) |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Trail of the Lonesome Pine (clip) - Don Armstrong |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Square Dance Workbooks 1, 2, and 3 - Don Armstrong |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Fast tempos - Texas, 1954 |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Bill Bailey - Don Armstrong |
| Item: Don Armstrong interview - 1994 | is related to | This Item |
Citation
Dublin Core
Title
Subject
Description
2. Don Armstrong portrait
3. Don Armstrong's band
4. Don Armstrong - Danceland promo
5. Don Armstrong - parade float
This series of photographs shows caller Don Armstrong in the years after WW II, when he was based in Florida. This time marked the dramatic rise in the popularity of square dance in the US.
Don comments, in an interview: "Those dances were probably in their peak from 1948 through 1956. If you didn't getto my dance hall by ten minutes to eight you didn't get in. I had the only real band and dance where there was a lot of variety. We did squares, contras, mixers, couple dances, free dances (polkas, waltzes, schottisches, hambos), anything anybody wanted we played. The program was always full of variety, variety of dance, variety of music. When we'd just finished a contra and we were going to play a polka, down would go the fiddle and up would come the accordion, down would go the banjo and up would come a saxophone. And it was a completely different sound. It was very popular, it was the place to go on a Saturday night. It was weekly in St Petersburg in Florida."