"Nobody seems to know just where this fad originated... [But] it works this way. [Promoters] descend on a town like, say, Newark, New Jersey. They hire a dance hall, preferably in an amusement park. They hang up a first prize of $2,000, with graded prizes down to $50 - about $5,000 in all. That begins the ballyhoo. Entry blanks are open to everybody, including juveniles who must have the written consent of parents. Doctors examine all applicants to find if they're fit for the grueling grind. When passed, they team up with anybody of the opposite sex who's willing. Then time is hired on the local broadcasting station; three jazz bands are assigned eight-hour shifts, and the fun begins."
"If you visit a zoo, you will find many things that resemble a marathon dance, and if you visit a marathon dance you will find many things that resemble a zoo. The swaying bear, the ambient wolf, the peripatetic lynx, to say nothing of the gibbering chimpanzee, are gluttons for motion, yet even these have sense enough to surrender to nature in replenishing sleep. We've had rocking-chair marathons, talking marathons, roller-skating marathons and pie-eating marathons. All are equally silly, all are equally sad; but the dance marathon, more than any other, reveals human nature at its worst. It's a bug that bites participants and spectators alike,"
- from Amazon:
