Brooklyn Today for Feb. 21
Good morning. Today is the 52nd day of the year. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle for Feb. 21, 1902, carried an article about the “shocking goings-on” at a stag party given by a group of voluntary firefighters in Jamaica, Queens. “For months,” the Eagle said, “it has been the only topic discussed in the town.” One local resident wrote the mayor about “the apparel, or lack of it,” worn by the female performers. The party was held in the headquarters of the Excelsior Volunteer Hose Company No. 3 in Jamaica.
Apparently, one person in the audience almost fainted when the female performers sang:
“We are show girls three,
“We dance, we sing, do we,
“We are very mischievous,
“If you can believe us,
“We are naughty as girls can be!”
A deputy fire chief assured the mayor that the girls were clothed, although they did wear “short dresses.”