Thursday, January 26 2012
Young GOP women take up cigars, spittoons, and endless rounds of poker to enjoy low-key 'smoker' on threshold of WWII
By Beth Stebner | Daily Mail Online (UK)
The Good Old Party in earlier times elicits images of a boys’ club, with men in suits spending their time shuffling cards and swapping the latest political stories in rooms engulfed in smoke and tobacco.
But one young group of Republican women in Milford, Connecticut asked why the casual get-together – called a smoker – was exclusively for menfolk.
And so, the Young Women’s Republican Club of Milford set to have a night like no other in May of 1941, indulging in traditionally male pastimes like
cigar smoking, poker playing, and wrestling. The night confused the majority of Milford’s male population.
Formal entertainment for the night included a striptease, a wrestling match, and several Vaudeville musical numbers.
The article, called Life Goes to a Women’s Smoker, originally appeared in a June 1941 issue of LIFE magazine and examined the then unfamiliar concept of women exploring the carefree social gathering.
Ms. Stebner's article continues at dailymail.co.uk....
