Bedfordtimesregister.com - The Way It Was #1,084: High school proms are a relatively new phenomenon

by John Straka

This is the time of year when high school kids make a big deal out of Prom Night. I graduated from high school in 1935 and have no experience at all with modern-day proms. I can only compare my memories with what I read in the papers about such events. Since newspapers tend to feature things that are out of the ordinary, my comparison may not be very accurate and my memories may not be complete, but I think it may be of interest to make the comparison anyway.

When I graduated in 1935 it was the Depression. The people who lived in our neighborhood were very poor or nearly so. Many families could not send their children to high school because they needed the money the boys and girls could earn just to pay for basic needs. My Dad worked only part time. I earned extra money delivering newspapers. I couldn't even afford to buy a 5-cent school newspaper. I had my first paper route in fifth grade.

I understand today's customs boost the cost of a prom date into amounts my parents would not believe.

I never went to a prom. I do not recall our class of '35 ever having one. We didn't have a yearbook, either. Too expensive! To this day I don't really know what a prom is, or why there seems to be so much controversy about it. News reports talk about who can or cannot attend, what they should wear, how they behave, what they do after the prom and how to deal with alcohol, drugs and other things best left to the imagination.

By comparison, a 1935 graduate didn't face any of those problems. If such things did exist, which I doubt very much, certainly no one talked about it. There were no drugs. Teenagers had no access to alcohol. You couldn't hire a limo if you wanted to. Very few boys drove a car, and girls just didn't do things that involved a stick shift, clutch and choke.

Back then I didn't know of any family with two cars. If the father had one (many fathers did not) he used it to go back and forth to work. My cousin Irene drove a car and she was an exception. I remember when she took me for a ride and that was a big deal.

The wife of our mayor also drove a car and when she got out on the road, the local police spread the word to "Look Out!" The gossip around town made her out to be a candidate for the title "World's Worst Driver."

Boys and girls didn't date as early as they do now, and lack of transportation was just one of the reasons why. Money was another. So was the lack of privacy. Without TV and the Internet, youngsters were less informed about dating. Most boys and girls had a lot less idle time for such things. Money surely was a factor in such things as a prom.

If a prom is supposed to be an elaborate dance, then a comparison of ballroom dancing then and now is appropriate. Long ago, when ballroom dancing was first introduced, it was considered immoral for a man and woman to embrace in public, even if they were husband and wife. As recently as the 1940s, dance halls had strict rules of dress and conduct. A gentleman would not be admitted to the Aragon Ballroom without a jacket and necktie. Women wore appropriate dresses, no slacks. If a couple was kind of "all over each other," a tap on the shoulder was the first and only warning. A second time and the offenders were escorted out the door.

I can only imagine what the kids do at a prom today. Low-cut gowns, dim lighting, slow dancing! Temptation!

When ballroom dancing was very popular there were many ballrooms and dance halls. Nearly every church had a dance hall. So did a lot of clubs and fraternal organizations. Every picnic grove had a dance hall, too. Dances were good fundraisers. Waltzes, fox trots and polkas were fun. Dance halls were where Bohemian Catholics like me got to meet and know others like me.

The same was true in other neighborhoods. People with the same background, customs and language tended to socialize together. German, Irish, Italian, Slovenian, whatever.

Maybe, just maybe, if I had the chance to go to a modern prom, I might want to see just how different the boys and girls of today are from those of 1935.