Trivia Advent Calendar

[L Verge]

"Disco wasn't invented until the 1970's"

Sorry, but time for another history lesson. The modern Disco forum of strobe lights, blaring and funky music, and non-stop dancing is more or less a product of the late-1960s and 1970s. However, Gene was referring to the disco ball, and the earliest documented use of it in nightclub settings was in 1897 at Boston's Roughaus Hotel. It continued through the turn of the century and well into the 1950s in most entertainment places with dance bands and a dance floor. It was especially popular in the ragtime era and the speak-easys of the Roaring 20s. Many a wedding dance in the 30s and 40s was under a hotel's disco ball. Its history is even older than I!

Its popularity was restored in the 1970s because the "glitter ball" (one of its early names - along with mirror ball) worked well with the flashing lights of those dance floors. Staying Alive certainly helped sell the craze also.