WAR ON INDECENCY OF YOUNG WOMEN SWEEPS AMERICAN COLLEGES
Providence, Rhode Island (JFK+50) According to a front-page story in The Washington Times of February 6, 1921, a war on 'I don't give-a-dar-society girls'* was in progress.
This war was also directed at mothers "who allow their daughters to 'popularize indecency'...because everybody else is doing it."
William H. Hall, editor of the Brown Daily Herald, is quoted as saying...
"It is time for the men to act, since the girls and mothers won't."
E. Alden Minard, managing editor chimed in...
"I have heard one chap say he never saw so many garters...as he saw at Providence dances."
The PTA shamed Brown University president William Faunce** into ending dances at midnight. Meanwhile, the Kansas Agricultural School claimed "the reign of touch to touch dancing and jazz...is about over," and Michigan University canceled their Junior Hop.
The short skirt was subjected to "a reform attack" at the University of Missouri. "Toddling" and "the Shimmy"*** were barred at the state university in Minnesota while the dances were discredited at Chicago University.
In the introduction of the story, the Washington Times states...
"The 'free and easy' practices...are ascribed...to relaxation from war-time discipline and the increasing freedom of women."
*"Don't give-a-dar-society girls" young women who attended dances in short socks and knee dresses showing their garters when they did the 'camel walk,' a ragtime 'animal dance' with straight-up posture while walking the fox trot.
**William Herbert Perry Faunce (1859-1930) was born in Worcester, MA & served as pastor in Baptist churches in MA & NY. WHPF was the longest-serving president in Brown University's history from 1899 to 1929.
***The Toddle is a 'booty-shakin' dance with a mix of jazz & shimmy. The lyrics of Sinatra's "Chicago" refer to the city as a 'toddlin' town.' The "Shimmy" is a dance where the body is held still except for the shoulders which move quickly back & forth.
SOURCE
"Rah-Rahs War on Girls Who Don't Care a 'Rap'," The Washington Times, February 6, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
