The Ballroom King Expands

For 25 years, U.S. dance-band managers have waltzed attendance on a stubby voluble Chicagoan named William Karzas. An engagement at Karzas' famed "wonder ballrooms"—the Trianon on Chicago's South Side and the Aragon on the North Side—means big money (an average of $4,000 a week), and often the making of a new band.*

Last week band managers waltzed round Bill Karzas more furiously than ever. Cracked one: "Everybody in the business is making love to the guy." Reason: Bill Karzas, branching out of Chicago for the first time, had just plunked down $1,500,000 to...