Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
A tap dancing class in the gymnasium at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa. Photo by Jack Delano, 1942. View full size.
Perfect for tapping but could you imagine them doing this today? The school boards and alumni would have a fit. The floor would have to be redone! They might even have to sand it down to get any little divots out! I feel the old days should be new again! Bring back tapping. Wonderful Dance style. Much better then have that crap they have today!
We had to take tap class in the gym, too, at Governor Mifflin Junior High School in Shillington, Pennsylvania...and IN THE 1970s, no less!!!
I'll bet the shoes were leftover from this 1942 class, though...they were all thrown together in a giant cardboard box, and when we left the locker room (in our attractive one-piece gymsuits), we had to dig around hoping to come up with a left and right tap shoe in relatively-close sizes!
Thanks to my friend, Debbie Fletcher, for helping me get through junior high P.E. with lots of side-splitting laughs...
Kristy in Texas
Nine points out of ten for this wonderful Jack Delano photo.
Exposure and sharpness are right on the nail, composition is fascinating, except that I would have liked the teacher's right shoe, the forearm in the left and the hair in the top of the image not to be cut off.
Dave, if you have the full image with borders, would you care to post it?
[Dave doesn't because he didn't post this picture. Ken will be happy to oblige, though. Click to enlarge.]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5