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About Us » History & Archives » 2007: Steel Pier » Meet the Characters of Steel Pier » Couple No. 32
Couple No. 32
Dancers' Names: Luke Adams & Shelby Stevens
About Luke
A sixth generation lumberjack from Oregon, I had worked my way up to foreman at the logging camp. Even with the Depression on, work was steady and times were pretty good. One day we hired on a new cook, Shelby Stevens. She had a lot of, well, energy. And she had the savvy to direct a lot of that energy at the camp foreman. As I said, times were good. Until the fire. It wiped out the logging camp and a large area of the surrounding timber. A lot of the guys blamed Shelby, and I ended up saving her from both the fire and the other lumberjacks. After that Shelby left to try her luck in dance marathons. The fire and the Depression were too much for the logging company, so I joined the ranks of the unemployed. Shelby developed a good act and started making some money in the marathons. Grateful for her rescue, she wrote me and asked me to join her as a marathon partner and, if she hit it big, her manager. She also wouldn't mind having a man around as an escort - that way, other guys wouldn't bother her - unless, of course, she wanted them too. I don't mind - ours is more of a business partnership than a romantic one, and, like I said, she sure does have a lot of, uh, energy. Now I'm here in Atlantic City about to experience one of these marathons for the first time. The prospect of three squares a day and a bed to sleep in sounds good after my cross-country trek. It's more than I had before, and it's more than a lot of people have nowadays. Shelby says we don't have to win, just last long enough for her to get chosen for a spotlight performance - the cash she gets from the crowd after she does her number will keep us going. She hasn't hit it big yet, but with an act like hers, it won't be long. Catch her act in Atlantic City at the Steel Pier yourself, and see if you don't agree with me.
About Shelby
Shelby is the middle child of 12. In order to get attention she would do outrageous things, like run off and get married to a carnival barker at the age of 13. Her father found her at the next carnival stop and brought her back only so she could run off again at 16 with the Fuller brush salesman. That too ended in divorce, but did finely get her off the Iowa farm she grew up on and hated. Her third husband was a logger. After his untimely demise in a horrible log rolling incident the logging camp Forman let her stay on as the camp cook. That was until the fire. How could Shelby have known that leaving a can of bacon grease on the woodstove would cause such a flame? After leaving the logging camp she was the cook for a dance marathon in Chicago. She decided that she has just as much chance as anyone, maybe even more with her stamina, to try to win one of these competitions herself and claim that big prize money. The Atlantic City marathon is her third. Over the last 2 competition's she's put together an act that gets a lot of attention, of course. Her dance partner this time around is an old friend from the logging camp, Luke. It's his first competition, so he's in for the ride of his life!
The roles of Luke Adams and Shelby Stevens will be played by Gordon Bennett and Dawn Sargent.
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