Vernon - William Vernon Blyth (1887-1918)
Irene - Irene Foote (1893-1969)

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Vernon originally trained to become a civil engineer but moved to New York from England in 1906 and started acting and dancing under the stage name Vernon Castle. He often starred in comedic roles as a dancer.

Irene was born in New York and studied dance before meeting Vernon at the New Rochelle Rowing Club in 1910. The two would later marry and start performing in dance shows abroad and in America.

They reached great fame and were trendsetters in social dances and fashion. They set a standard of respectability and class in dance and helped remove the stigma of vulgarity from close dancing by being a domestic pairing that danced. Irene is credited with introducing American women to the bob hairstyle and her elegant flowing gowns were often featured in magazines.

The duo was known for their progressiveness, traveling with a black orchestra (James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra, led by the ragtime pioneer James Reese Europe) and had an openly lesbian manager, Elisabeth Marbury.

The pair opened a dancing school in 1914 in New York called "Castle House", a nightclub called "Castles by the Sea, and a restaurant called "Sans Souci". They were busy teaching and performing at these venues. The same year they danced in Irving Berlin's first Broadway show, Watch Your Step featuring their take on the Foxtrot

Vernon later passed in a plane crash in 1918 after serving with distinction as a pilot in the British Royal Flying Corps during WWI. She would go on to perform solo on Broadway, vaudeville, and motion picture productions. She remarried 3x and became an animal rights activist