"By 1920 there were at least five types of places for dancing open to the public. There were dances sponsored by social-work agencies, particularly those concerned with juvenile behavior. Some municipalities, in fact, established their own dancehalls where, under close supervision, young people could dance free or for a small charge. These, of course, tended to draw almost wholly adolescents. Second, there were club dances, lodge dances, 'charity balls,' and the like, sponsored by ethnic groups, police or firemen, athletic clubs, fraternal-societies, and similar organizations, open to the public for a token 'membership fee.' These dances had been traditionally part of city life since" the earlier nineteenth century, chiefly at the lower and lower-middle class economic and social level. The 'fireman's ball,' since the days of volunteer firefighters, had always meant rowdyism, deservedly or not. Third, there was public...