Life, 1913-06-12 · page 27 of 44
Life — June 12, 1913 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is satirical commentary on the "thé dansant" (afternoon tea dance), a fashionable metropolitan social custom of the early 1900s. The cartoon, titled "Some Hoodoo Animals I Have Eaten," depicts a man surrounded by fantastical creatures while in bed—likely representing the digestive consequences of overindulgence at these events. The accompanying article mocks the thé dansant's social pretensions: men abandoning wives to dance with strangers, wives retaliating by dragging husbands home, and the "catch-as-catch-can style of dancing" causing injury. The satire culminates in dark humor: suggesting these dances be annexed to religious services, implying the activity leads to moral degradation—hence "morality will once more begin to count its victims." The piece ridicules both the fad itself and metropolitan society's breathless adoption of trendy amusements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SOME HOODOO ANIMALS I HAVE EATEN The The Dansant THE Thé Dansant is a new and pleasant and exhilarating addition to the metropolitan ex- istence. It begins at five in the afternoon and is sometimes continued af- fewter you get home by your very critical wife, who notices that your appetite for dinner is not what it should be. The Thé Dansant is a hole in the center of a room entirely surrounded by pousse cafés. At one end is a band of trained acrobats, who spend most of their time during the proceedings in inventing some new noise by beating on a set of armor which they have ac- quired at the hardware counter of a department store. Among these gentlemen may be noticed one or two who have fiddles and drums and other conventional musical instruments, but they are treated with sublime contempt by their confréres. The Thé Dansant offers an oppor- tunity to meet many interesting and beautiful strangers, whom you would not find within your own home cir- cle. Just as you are comfortably dancing, or rather walking, with your young and beautiful partner, do not be dis- concerted if your wife enters the room hastily and insists upon your going home with her. The probability is that she wants you to take part in a Thé Dansant of her own. Also, in your moments of repentance, do not con- sider that you have made a fool of yourself by taking part in an after- noon’s ceremonial which is intended to exercise the new and untried muscles of the human anatomy. The gentle- man neighbor you have revered for years may be sitting at the next table doing the same thing. té Dansant has not only added a new sensation, but has also given us i new noise. For this alone it is en- titled to the profound respect of every inmate of an American city. The catch-as-catch-can style of dancing, which it has introduced, has been of great benefit to the Accident Insurance Companies, who now collect immense premiums in the consciousness that their clients are rapidly becoming so agile as to minimize the danger of be- ing run over by an automobile or caught and clubbed into insensibility by a patriotic policeman. One thing more remains, and that is to annex the Thé Dansant to our re- ligious ceremonials. We shall then re- ceive an announcement of the young people's prayer meeting on Wednesday evening at eight o'clock, to be followed by tea and turkey trotting at nine. Thus, in the long run, the circle will be completed and morality will once more begin to count its victims. comicbooks.com