attempted suicide soon after. Within the year Seattle banned dance marathons. Over time, the novelty of dance marathons wore off and by the late 1930s, many local authorities banned dance marathons. Professional performers began to join the dance marathons and competed against authentic amateurs. Notable people from the dance marathon craze Callum DeVillier and Vonny Kuchinski of Minneapolis took first prize in a marathon at Somerville, Massachusetts after dancing for five months in 1933. The couple won $1000. A headstone in the Showmen’s Rest section of Minneapolis’s Lakewood Cemetery reads: "DeVillier, World Champion Marathon Dancer 3,780 continuous hours." Vaudeville and Broadway star June Havoc began competing in dance marathons professionally at the age of 14. Havoc's longest dance marathon was reportedly 3,000 hours, or more than four months of staying on her feet and sleeping only in 15-minute intervals. Havoc also wrote the stage play Marathon '33 based on her experiences. Novelist and screenwriter Horace McCoy worked as a bouncer at several dance marathons. He used this experience to write They Shoot Horses Don't They? which was eventually adapted into a film of the same name. Singer Anita O'Day dropped out of school at age 14 to be a professional marathon dancer. Her marathon dance career ended two years later when a truant officer spotted her and sent her back to school. Her last big event was in Springfield, Illinois, where she and her partner danced for 97 days and came in second. Dance marathons for charity Today, over 250 colleges and high schools nationwide participate in dance marathons of some sort to raise money for children's hospitals. Some raise money under the Children's Miracle Network and with their help, while others are entirely student-run and operate to benefit partnered charities. Each year, students organize and host different types of dance marathon events in which participants stand on their feet for 12–46 hours straight. Some US student-run dance marathons include: Penn State Dance Marathon (THON) The Penn State Dance Marathon, commonly referred to as THON, is a 46-hour dance marathon which takes place every February at Pennsylvania State University to raise money to combat children's cancer. THON was started in 1973 by the university's Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils and in its first year raised more than $2,000. Today, it is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world which has raised over $157 million since 1977. In 2011, THON raised $9,563,016.09,