The life of Arthur Murray Teichman
Arthur Murray Teichman is the founder of a chain of dance schools that has garnered the reputation of being the best in the world over. Murray had a very interesting life, first starting out on dancing as a way of earning self esteem and confidence, he has then turned his craft in to multi-million dollar business that has become a household name.
Arthur Murray Teichman was an American who became a household name with the chain of dance schools and that has been in operation for most of the 20th century. Arthur Murray Teichman was once an introverted, nervous teenager. He views social dancing as a way to improve his self-image and his schools embodies this principle. The schools of Arthur Murray Teichman are staffed by well trained instructor who teaches easy methods due to dancing being one of the required skills for all social events.
Born on April 4, 1895, in New York City Arthur Murray Teichman, Murray was a weak child, and grew into a shy teenager who was embarrassed by his family’s lack of financial security so he pursued dancing as way of increasing hi popularity among women and realized he had a gift for it after asking a female friend to teach him how to dance. He gained the habit of crashing into parties looking for female guests with no partners just for practice. He was taking drafting courses a private college before he quit both his job and studies when he won waltz dance contest on 1912. At G. Hepburn Wilson Dance Studios, he pursued a career as a dance instructor and taught the young generation the classic and latest dance crazes.
He also spent time as training with the dance school by Vernon and Irene Castle. Both were major celebrities by the time that Murray enrolled at Castle House, their school on Long Island. Arthur Murray Teichman met Baroness de Kuttleson, a well-known dance instructor in her time, and went with her to Asheville, North Carolina, a popular resort for the wealthy. It was the baroness who suggested he drop the “Teichman” in his name. Their partnership was brief due to the baroness charging 50 dollars but only paying 5 dollars to Arthur Murray Teichman. He headed to Atlanta where he held dance classes students of all ages and was featured in a Forbes magazine article titled “This College Student Earns $15,000 a Year.”
The first studio of Arthur Murray Teichman was located on Atlanta; He named his company the Arthur Murray Correspondence School of Dancing. The endeavor proved so profitable that he had moved back to New York City by 1923, opened an office, and hired a sizable staff to keep up with the demand. He married schoolteacher from New Jersey, Kathryn Kohnfelder and moved to Mount Vernon, an affluent Westchester County suburb of New York City. Murray started a franchise, the first such studio opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and by 1946, when he formally incorporated the franchise school business, there were 72 studios in operation that produced total revenues of $20 million annually.
Arthur Murray Teichman he died of pneumonia on March 3, 1991, in Honolulu. Kathryn Murray died eight years later. One of their twin daughters, Jane, married the doctor who invented the Heimlich maneuver to prevent choking deaths. Arthur Murray Teichman will forever be a name associated with success in both business and dance.