Sounds impossible? You will find that there will be at least fifteen Hawaiians, eight Santa Clauses, nine babies, five Mary Pickfords with newspapery curly hair, seven Topsys and eleven Charlie Chaplins! Several pairs of scissors are available, and the hats from the cloakroom may be used. A period of twenty minutes is given for dress-making, which means working at top speed. At the end of that time there is a Grand March past the judges, and after everyone has passed the reviewing stand, the line is halted at the back of the room. Then the first couple is announced by the leader, “Punch and Judy,” and they walk slowly up the room past the judges. The second couple is then announced, as is each couple, with not too great an interval between couples so that monotony may be avoided. Prizes are given the most hideous, the most beautiful, the best made and the poorest made costumes, judges being careful to choose the costume made by some well-known, good-natured person for this last prize. The prizes, which are presented with much ceremony, range from a paper of pins to a week-old newspaper.
The Hunting Ground.
If tables the size of an ordinary kitchen table are procurable, and are placed end to end, they make an admirable hunting ground. However, chairs can be used if they are arranged so that they cover about the same space that the tables would, the seats turned in. A man and a girl are placed at diagonally opposite corners of this territory, both are blindfolded, and at a signal must begin to go around this unknown country, their only guide being the table on which they must keep their hands. It is the business of the man to catch the girl, whose aim in life, however, is to frustrate his plans. As both are holding on to the edges of the tables, feeling their way around it, and both are moving as quietly as possible in order to hear any movement of the other, it is inevitable that the girl in her stealthy efforts to evade her pursuer will eventually walk straight into his groping hands! When she is caught another man and a girl are chosen, with perhaps one more couple to follow them. If the audience is given strict orders to keep absolutely quiet and to refrain from all laughter, it makes for a ridiculous situation!
Laughter!
Does it seem stupid to exact forfeits of people who were unfortunate in a game that demanded skill or speed or ingenuity? That all depends on the forfeit. Four or five men, who are the left-overs in a game which provides the chance to get a partner, can be made to pay a forfeit that is a real one! These left-overs are lined up in a row facing all the other guests. They are told that they are to be given a chance to vindicate themselves in a try-out of a particular talent. The first test is as to the musical quality of each one’s laugh. Each in turn laughs for the audience in as musical a tone as he can muster up. The audience votes for the best. Next, each in turn must laugh as long as he can without taking a breath. The next test is for shrillness; the next for the heartiest laugh, and the last for the most contagious laugh!
The Quizz.
Some five or six people are chosen for the class which is to be quizzed. The teacher has her back to the guests, and her class faces them. She has prepared a list of questions which she puts to different members of her class, pointing to one of them at a time. All other guests are to act as judges, and as a question is answered they call out either “Right” or “Wrong.” The faction that shouts the loudest gets a verdict. A scorekeeper keeps a bogus score of points made by each member of the class, and at the end the prize is given to the one who made the poorest showing, although all through the quizz much ado is made about how close the score is between different members of the class.
The questions in the quizz can be on any subject under the sun, and the more impossible the better, for every member of the class must give some answer to the question put to him. “I don’t know” is not allowed under any circumstances. The following set of questions is typical:
1. Where do we get kerosene?
2. Who is the best looking man (or woman) present?