photograph courtesy special collections, university of memphis libraries
Born in Memphis in 1918, Marjorie Duckett began to teach dancing with her mother, Doris, as early as the 1930s, initially working out of their home on South Bellevue. In the mid-1940s, she opened the Marjorie Duckett School of Dance at 1648 Union, and a few years later moved her school down the street to 1562 Union. The photo here shows her in 1943, dancing with a sailor the newspapers identified as Jimmy Stroud, who years later would open the Memphis Union Mission.
Duckett’s school building was a rambling old house. The dancing school was on the ground floor, and Marjorie lived with her parents upstairs. She eventually married a successful dentist, Dr. Arthur Binford, and moved with him to a nice home in Central Gardens, while continuing to teach until her retirement in 1969. Even then, she remained active in the world of dance, serving as president of the Southern Association of Dance Masters, an organization that she co-founded in 1960.
The music came to an end in 1999, when Duckett passed away at age 82. She is buried alongside her husband in Memorial Park. I’m sure she would be pleased that SADM remains active today, with members representing 14 states.
After her school closed, the building on Union was demolished and replaced with a Bonanza Sirloin Pit. That too eventually came down; the site is today home to the Mattress Firm and Domino’s Pizza.
