Face it, chum, being a wallflower is going to get you zip, zowie, nothin’! You’re going to be somewhere with plenty of girls, but you’ll be too afraid to approach them! Why? Because you dance like Jerry Lewis falling out of an airplane! You gotta learn ta dance!
At least that was the general consensus 60 years ago…
This advertisement which I had never seen before I cracked open an ancient comic my buddy Bill scored for me from a flea market promised that anybody could learn any dance FAST through the use of GIANT FLOOR CHARTS. All you needed was a dollar (plus 50¢ shipping and handling) and in one hour, you could be ruling the dance floor and impressing everyone with your smooth moves! Throw in another buck and receive BOTH the American-style and Latin-American Courses! SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!
The dance chart ad appeared in Konga no. 12 published by Charlton in 1963. It’s a stripped comic meaning that the guy at the newsstand tore the title from the book and returned it to the company distributing the comic as proof that it did not sell, and the newsstand would receive credit. The comic was supposed to be thrown out, but that didn’t stop sellers from offering the damaged comic for a penny. They weren’t supposed to, but they did it anyway. Back then, all of that pocket change added up and selling an inventory of comics, candy, magazines and newspapers was a viable business. Little businesses like that counted on those pennies.
I love stripped comics because I can enjoy them as the trash entertainment they were meant to be. It’s not a priceless collectible that has to be handled with cotton gloves and tweezers. It’s broken in like an old pair of shoes, and I can just bask in the comic medium rather than a conservator.
LOL, ballroom dancing with the footprints on the floor!
All destroyed by the freeform nonsense that was to follow.