That's what it's called among Harvard and Yale students, alumni, and associated parties: The Game. The annual November football game between the two famous universities is one of the oldest rivalries in collegiate sports, having been played one hundred and thirty-three times, beginning in 1875; the next meeting is Saturday. It has so much lingering cultural significance that it has its own Wikipedia page.
So, naturally, it also has its own cotillon (dance game) figure, published in St. Louis dancing master Jacob Mahler's Original Cotillion Figures (St. Louis, 1900) back when The Game was a mere quarter-century old. Mahler attributed "Yale and Harvard Contest" to H. K. Lackland, also of St. Louis. Interestingly, and unlike other football-related figures I've seen, it doesn't include any actual football. I can't even be certain it's meant to be associated with The Game, as opposed to the more general rivalry between the schools. But in November, anything associated with the rivalry becomes part of the Game-related fuss.
Before I describe "Yale and Harvard Contest", let me look at a pair of figures which definitely do involve football (of some kind), both taken from H. Layton Walker's Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures (Two Step Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York, 1912):
Football Figure
Two large wickets are to be used, about four times the size of the average croquet wicket, to be placed at either end of the ball-room. They are decorated with wreaths of flowers and between them is a football. The couples dancing are divided into equal lines and the object is to put the ball through the opposites' wicket. This is a very lively figure and creates a good deal of amusement.
This figure could actually represent either American football or European football, which is now known as soccer in America, but back then was just called football. There's not enough detail above to tell which game is intended, but the general idea of goal-scoring is clear: get the ball through the wicket.
The second figure is much clearer:
U. of M. Football Figure
Two captains are selected and they choose their elevens -- the elevens line up ready to play. The ball goes in play. The ball is rapidly carried one way and another. A touchdown is scored. Those present will be in a continuous uproar, and judging from the enthusiasm displayed, you will imagine a champion game is being played. There will be another touchdown. (Play five minute halves). Winners gather in the middle of the floor and give the U. of M. yell. Give winners a little leather football, while the loosers [sic] sit down and mop their brows.
"U. of M." is most likely the University of Michigan.
This is more what I expect from a football figure: a miniature game of (one hopes) touch football. (Tackling in formal dress doesn't seem like a great idea, though given the things they came up with for cotillions, I can't completely rule it out.) There's no actual dancing mentioned; it could be intended just an amusing interval at a party. It's also not obvious that both ladies and gentlemen take part; the captains could easily choose all-male "elevens" or even all-female. But one could adapt it to include dancing: have the winners, after giving the "U. of M. yell" and receiving their little football favors, go and select partners to dance with. The losers sit down as instructed.
"Yale and Harvard Contest", by contrast, is more about the experience of watching The Game rather than playing in it. And by that, I mean drinking. The tailgate parties for The Game are notoriously lavish to this day, and the general idea seems to have existed, at least as a stereotype, back in 1900 as well. Instead of playing a little light football in the ballroom, the "Yale and Harvard Contest" involves going and getting alcohol!
Some props are required: Large Yale and Harvard flags (one of each) and eight champagne bottles. No word on whether they are actually full of champagne. Small flags for favors are also needed.
Traditional Harvard and Yale "cheering flags" can be seen on the cover of the 1903 program for The Game, at left (click to enlarge). More examples can be seen on the fascinating Game-weekend menus from 1909 and 1913 discussed here. There are a couple of photos of actual cheering flags here. I'd expect the two large flags to be at least this size and the favor-flags to be miniatures, but from a generous hostess, the favors could be actual cheering flags and the large ones quite a big bigger.
The music for the figure should be two-steps, specifically "College Songs", of which there were a great abundance, including ones specific to Harvard and Yale.
The setup is as follows:
- the leader of the cotillion divides the guests into equal teams and chooses a captain for each
- Yale gentlemen and Harvard gentlemen are at opposite upper corners of the room with their captains in front
- Yale ladies and Harvard ladies are in the lower corners on the same side of the balroom
- Four champagne bottles are placed in a row front of each team captain, about ten feet apart in a straight line (I believe this means a line down the side of the ballroom)
To start the figure, the leader signals (a whistle would be appropriate here!) and the captains of each team run to fetch the bottles from the other side, one by one, in order, bringing each back to the rest of their team. Apparently the rest of the gentlemen and all of the ladies just cheer. The winning team is the one whose captain manages to bring back all four bottles first. They receive first choice of ladies as partners for the two-step; the "loosers" [sic, yes, same mistake again] take the remaining ladies. The distribution of favors is not mentioned, just their existence. They could be distributed at the end or given to the gentlemen of each team to give to their ladies, and/or vice-versa.
More than a century later, one can't know exactly what Lackland was thinking, but I find it hilarious that despite the fame of The Game as sport, which was much more significant in 1900 than it is now, what he chose to design his figure around was the quest for alcohol. Presumably the stereotype of the hard-drinking college student would have been recognized and appreciated by those present, and possibly even by the students in question!
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