Slowly but surely, I'm trying to cover all of the core repertoire of the one-step. The little jump-kick flourish that Vernon and Irene often dropped into their one-step is not really a critical or even common part of the dance. I'm not even sure anyone else ever danced it. But it's fun and distinctive and worth doing regardless. It's also dead easy!
I've never found an actual written description of this flourish, or even a name for it; "jump-kick" is just what I call it. But it's quite visible in the surviving film of the Castles dancing in The Whirl of Life (1915). There are also two reasonably reliable later sources: newsreel footage of Irene Castle dancing with a different partner (Vernon having died in 1918) at the 1939 World's Fair, and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing in their Castle biopic, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), for which Irene served as an advisor.
Here's the gentleman's version with counts. The number of preceding steps is arbitrary, though the last two counts of a four- or eight-bar phrase will be the most musical for this move.
123456 One-step along left, right, left, right, left, right
7 Jump in place from the right foot, bringing the left forward to land with weight on both feet
8 Hop on right, kick left backward (knee bends)
12 etc. One-step along left, right, etc.
The footage of Irene in 1939 matches what she and Vernon did in The Whirl of Life, though she and her partner don't close their feet as neatly on the jump. Instead, they land with his left foot forward and her right foot backward and kick from that position.
Now, let's look at what Fred Astaire did. He and Ginger dance the jump-kick twice on film. The first time, he has switched lead feet earlier in the one-step via a single quick polka skip, which is something Vernon did regularly as well. This leaves him stepping with his right foot on the first (strong) beat of each measure instead of with the left. He uses the jump-kick to switch his lead foot back to the left foot by simply changing which foot closes. Here's the same sequence rewritten with the changes in boldface:
123456 One-step along right, left, right, left, right, left
7 Jump in place from the left foot, bringing the right forward to land with weight on both feet
8 Hop on right, kick left backward (knee bends)
12 etc. One-step along left, right, etc.
Smooth!
The second time they perform it, Astaire again uses it for a switch from a right foot to a left foot lead, but they do the jump slightly differently, bringing the left foot back instead of the right forward:
123456 One-step along right, left, right, left, right, left
7 Jump in place from the right foot, bringing the left back to land with weight on both feet
8 Hop on right, kick left backward (knee bends)
12 etc. One-step along left, right, etc.
In the film, Astaire flows from this into a step out and traveling turn (pivots). I can't document this use of the jump-kick for the 1910s in the strictest sense, but it's just the sort of slick transition that the Castles were very good at.
Leading the jump-kick
As usual, the foot motion can't be led, so unless the lady knows the move, that part won't come off. But it can be led without disaster even if the lady doesn't know it. The two counts of the jump-kick will feel to the lady like "jump, jump", or possibly "jump, hop" if the gentleman puts in a bit of body lean to communicate that the second jump lands only on one foot. Jumping in place is one of the easiest moves to communicate, since the lady can't help but feel it. Repeat it a couple of times (after appropriate intervals of walking) and she'll at least be jumping, even if she doesn't know to kick! A quick tilt toward the gentleman's right will help ensure that she starts off again on the correct foot.
For a special bonus, here's a quick compilation video of the jump-kick:
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