Until States Intervened, Dance Marathons Were Earlier Era's 'Survivor'

Looks back in American history to the phenomenon of dance marathons. View that dance marathons were the progenitor of reality television programs, like "Survivor"; Similarities drawn between dance marathons and Roman gladiator matches; Other events that became popular in the 1920s -- a decade that author Westbrook Pegler called "the era of wonderful nonsense"; Modifications made to dance marathons enabling the events to last weeks and months; Impact of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and depression-era economics on dance marathons; Claims of dance-marathon critics; Efforts of state legislatures to outlaw dance marathons.