Dancing, Depravity and All That Jazz: The Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 Author(s): Jim Smyth

Source: History Ireland, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 51-54 Published by: Wordwell Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27724071 . Accessed: 16/06/2013 10:00
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Dancing, and

Depravity all that

Jazz The Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 by Jim Smyth

A protracted war of independence and a bitter civil war left the new Irish Free State with economic and social prob /m
lems of enormous were ravaged, proportions the economy ill-health and were infrastructure endemic and and

unemployment

the wounds of the civil war were far from healed. But the agenda of perhaps the most powerful organised force in the - the Catholic Church - ivas country noticeably different

In the Lenten pastorals of 1924 the their preoccupations bishops made clear: unmistakably
The in their Lenten Irish bishops pas torals refer to the existence of many Chief among women's dress, indecent these may fashions, dancing, cinema drink, be

adding mobility
of the

condemned by The Times in i 898 as an ominous dimension of to the 'organised terrorism

streets', the motor car was

car

and

travel with quietest

and girls can now bus, boys to dances, distances great in the the result that a dance country by parish may from now be

abuses. mentioned immodest theatrical exhibitions, strikes

seen as an instrument of seduction in males. the hands of unscrupulous in his pastoral let Cardinal MacRory ter of 1931 stressed the danger of too much mobility:
Even make the present a difference. travelling By bicycle, facilities motor

attended tance.

unsuitables

a dis

and performances evil literature, lock-outs.

and

The clergy were not against danc - as ing in principle long as the were of Irish (confined, dances to the modest ceili dances course, not and less and the wilder restrained set dances) and the
supervision was close.

A constant
Among
abuses,

obsession
one obsession

this litany of putative

Cardinal Logue in his pastoral of 1924 set the tone:

It is no of not That, small commendation that for they can long hours. is not their

remained constant and central the dan for the next decade: to the morals gers attributed of the young posed by unli censed dance halls and unsu pervised dancing of any sort. This popular rural pastime
became a classic terrain of fan

Irish dances be danced however, our

chief merit.
not part of condemn

And while
business

it is
to

any decent are not Irish dances of the that place educational under not and be

dance, to be put is their estab care. fashion They

and pseudo tasy projection knowledge, involving a potent brew of alleged sources of evil
and degradation: cars, dark

out due

in any

lishment They in London may

our the Paris.

and the ness, jazz music of illicit and unsuper prospect the vised dalliance between sexes. Just as the advent of the railways was treated with hor ror by a section of Victorian England, and the bicycle was

f. If

should
Ireland. make

be
Irish

the

fashion
do

in
not

dances

degenerates.

The Carrigan

Report

Cardinal MacRory by John Lavery. (Courtesy of the Ulster Museum)

During the latter half of the the demands of the twenties, for legislation on per bishops became more sonal morality HISTORY IRELAND Summer 1993 51

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that the vocal, an implicit admission church was unable to stem the rising which of tide they immorality the Free State claimed had engulfed after 1922. The focus of the campaign for legislative change was the amend ment of the Criminal Law Amendment Acts of 1880 and 1885 (Stead's Act) were to enacted which originally combat juvenile prostitution, protect minors and make brothel keeping an The fact that one in six hous offence. , es in London was a brothel during that period may have had something of this Act. to do with the passing was the The government response committee (called after its Carrigan in 1931, which reported chairman) having heard a large number of wit nesses in private. None of this evi in the press and dence was published the final report was never published. its brief The committee interpreted as nothing less than an inquiry into the moral state of the country:
Under had social of the the terms of our the which to conserve reference we

as one must be regarded Illegitimacy causes of the species of the principal and vice of which the state of crime takes penal which ine. in the cognisance and preventative we were appointed branch legislation to exam of

sion,

and

of

the

restrictions enforced are

found in of

necessary other many upon are the of

and

countries, abuses the

law by the occasions in their effect

baneful

community cause of the girls, the

and generally ruin of hundreds many of cities are

young in

of whom streets

found

London, and towns

The misuse

of motor

cars

the report did not spell it Although out, the implication was clear: young unmarried mothers were forced into

and other Liverpool in England. The dance and halls, the picture

'commercialised' houses of sorts, by

luring causes for alleged girls, are the chief of morals. looseness the present

opportunities of motor the misuse

afforded cars for

Social conditions
Social conditions were hardly con of morality to the standards ducive demanded by the clergy. The census of 1926 found that 800,000 people were condi living in overcrowded tions - defined as more than two to a room -more than 25% of the popula the tion. Infant mortality among Dublin working classes was 25.6 per to 7.7 per 1,000 births as compared 1,000 among the middle classes. The rate was 30.7 per 1,000 illegitimacy as a whole, for the country births consider this showed figure although able regional variations. The fact that the ages of 80% of all males between as were 25 and 30 were unmarried, in the same age 62% of all females some led have group, might to query why the illegiti observers macy figures were so low but this line of inquiry did not seem to occur to a link To postulate the commission. and social social conditions between not to mention personal problems, behaviour, would have been ideologi for a clergy and mid cally impossible infused with the ethos of dle class The lack of con Victorian morality. cern on the part of the hierarchy for in the plight of the poor is explicable
the context of a clerical near-monop

to consider morality state for the

secular

of aspect is the concern and and looked safe well upon

guard

of being it as our duty lect sufficient authentic us dard

protection its citizens. We in the

information

to col first place from such enable the stan

sources

as would whether

to determine of social

exposed laws of sion are

morality to evils, which Saorstat

is at present the existing suppres

the

for the

of public and prevention vice, to check, and, should inadequate to inadequate, they be in our opinion how best consider they can be made

Eamonn de Valera -gave his blessing to the anti-jazz campaign. as a result of their fallen prostitution state, and, indeed, could constitute an occasion of sin for others during in Poor Law institutions: confinement fact that 'it is an objectionable unmarried mothers of first-born chil be maintained dren cannot apart from other inmates (the decent poor and sick)'. The report then moves on to the reasons for the alleged rise in illegitimacy and lays the blame clear ly at the door of the dance halls:
The testimony that of social in recent of all witnesses, cleri

effectual.

The
start

report makes
that its conclusions

it clear
were

from the
unani

even mous and that this unanimity to those giving evidence stretched before the committee:
No witness dissented appearing from the before view us has

every by nearly moral condition become abuses, in their be the gravely widespread

witness of the

expressed that the country has

menaced and

by modern pernicious cannot which the laws of

cal, lay and official,

unanimity standard place

is striking in its
in the has It is taken to be

consequences, unless revised so as are

degeneration conduct years. and

counteracted state

and

consistent them.

attributed
parental during which the

primarily
control

to the loss of
responsibility

ly enforced

to combat

The committee, having established the dreadful moral state of the coun to uncover the try, then proceeded
causes. The conclusion arrived at

a period has not

of general upheaval, since been recovered conditions. This

revival

of settled

is due largely to the introduction of

new phases of popular amusement,

was that illegitimacy measure to blame: 52 HISTORY

was

in large

which
Saorstat

being
in the

carried
absence

out
of

in the
supervi

such as they oly of welfare services, were, through the network of charita These ble organisations. organisa but tions were not only inadequate To and repressive. also punitive even or the allude to, stress, desper ate plight of the poor would not only expose the minimal nature of church of but raise the spectre provision This is a far cry state intervention. as church from current policy, sub in successive budget expressed for greater which missions, argues state intervention. The 1931 Carrigan that the Report was an admission were to control unable their clergy area of sex flock in the all-important ual morality and that the state would

IRELAND Summer

1993

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wmmmmm?

J?A

^ggj?Lito WV*t?
jut,

. *&-~t?W0&W^:'*%"f'f'.

Dancing on the road at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow in the late 1920s.

(Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

have before

to

measures punitive out of hand. things got take

The problem
The duced
demand

of illegitimacy
evidence pro to support the
legisla

factual only in the report

for more

since the latter notion is of morality entirely subjective. What does stand out in the Irish case, however, is the clear relationship between the level of emigration and the figures on ille falls - as it gitimacy. As emigration did between 1926 and 1933 - the level of illegitimate births rises. The lowest level reached after independence was in the fifties when emigration was at its highest since the Famine.

The

civil servants were particularly to link of the attempt scathing immorality with the existence of unli censed dance halls:
This some ence. have section way The of from the the report terms might with wanders of refer

committee itself

equally housing, or any have had and

concerned

education, other an matter indirect

unemployment which might effect Their

on prostitution suggestions to a suppression

repressive

tion related to the claim that the level risen of births had illegitimate since the foundation of the sharply Saorstat. Figures based upon total annual births showed a 29% increase between 1912 and 1927. But as total
annual births show considerable vari

The response of the state

Copies of the Carrigan Report were printed up in the normal way but it was decided that the contents could if made public. prove embarrassing of Justice officials were Department
dismissive of it, as a memorandum

immorality. amount almost public In its dancing. conclusion,

of

the

memo

comes

out
sion

firmly against
as a means of

increased
enforcing

repres
morali

ation (emigration being an important factor in the Irish case) the figures were not comparable from year to that the most year. It is now accepted is to measure accurate method birth rate per 1,000 among single and wid
owed ulation women who are the This actual shows concerned. pop an

ty:
On taken the whole with are the reserve: report, their should recommen increase and for peo concern be

now

in the State Paper Office shows:

these statements are exagger reverend case con ordi the in

Unless

dations penalties, remove

ated (as they might easily have been

owing to the anxiety of the a strong to present gentlemen to the committee), the obvious clusion nary this dy to be drawn of is that decency have the and failed reme It is a view should

to invariably create offences, safeguards main

existing

ple charged: seems to be

their

to secure

convictions.

picture of a fluctuating ambiguous rate, only slightly higher in 1927 than in 1872. But figures on illegitimacy are notoriously difficult to interpret in terms of their sociological signifi cance. It is clear that in times of war figures tend to rise, but no conclu
sions can be drawn on the relation

feelings influence of country is by way

religion and that

clearly of conditions be given

of police undesirable that in the

the only action. such

Saorstat

wide

circulation.

ship between

these

figures and levels

Action on the report was slow. It in August had been submitted 1931 and the Departmental memorandum is dated October 1932, indicating that the Cosgrave government, which had in shown some courage previously was the face of episcopal pressure, not prepared to move swiftly on the HISTORY IRELAND Summer 1993 53

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matter,

particularly

as

a general

elec

tion was due the following year. The election was won by Fianna Fail and headed the new government, by
Eamonn de Valera, was soon to show

The anti-jazz

campaign

Cardinal McRory was

I heartily Leitrim League night about in jazz jazz wish executive its campaign

read out:
to of the the Co.

than pliant when itself to be more faced with the demands of the bish for Justice, ops. The new Minister however, agreed with his officials that the report should not be pub serious doubts lished and expressed >as to the picture of the country pre it to the sented when he submitted of Executive Council (the equivalent Instead of immediate the cabinet).
action, set up an all-party to make committee recommendations. was

for con the pressure Meanwhile on the dance halls was straints intense. The Gaelic League becoming
re-launched its anti-jazz campaign in

success

Gaelic

dancing. dancing that

all against I know nothing

in 1934 with a statement very much tune with the sentiments of the bish ops:
It is this Gaelic crush...its ing the in music and verse determined is denationalis are to that the to

I that except they are suggestive all but and demoralising: jazz apart, on are dances objectionable night in country dis and many grounds understand tricts source and and of small scandal towns and are ruin, a fruitful

is League influence that its

spiritual

references

things foreign to Irishmen: that it is

present day instrument of social

To how many poor temporal. have innocent young they not girls an occasion dis of irreparable been sorrow? and grace lifelong

The secret;
was were tions.

met committee its membership

revealed, recommenda senate went nor its The

in

never

The campaign was given in official state blessing a letter from Eamonn de
Valera: __ -ad . I sincerely the efforts Gaeilge to forms na hope in that

to

the great lengths when Criminal Law Amendment Bill was being debated some two years later to the avoid discussing report or the conclusions commit of the all-party tee. Indeed, when reading it is the senate record, often difficult to identify the subject so dense are the cir being discussed
cumlocutions.

of Conradh your

wag SUN~b\ Jzn

W. t4 -.zi < ,

county national be ing will and within able hours

restore of danc

successful, the which reason have

degradation That Ireland. re-launching the paign,

is all was of reason

too the the

plain, reason anti-jazz it received

even

always in ed with for the cam the

been

associ?t

Irish entertainment.

for In December 1932, the Minister Justice met with the bishops who put their case for legislation as proposed dis in the report. The problems the usual litany of cussed embraced dance halls, the clerical obsessions: motor of consent, age prostitution, on the cars and immoral behaviour The government public highway.
obviously took the 'motor car scan

The 1935 Act

that decided It was eventually dance halls should be the subject of was which separate legislation, in 1935 without debate in the passed Dail. The act was draconian, making to hold it practically impossible of the the sanction dances without trinity of clergy, police and judiciary. With its passing, the hierarchy could for the rest content that its proposals of control morality personal legal serious modification, had, without into law. But like been transformed many laws in Ireland itwas probably honoured more in the breach than in
the observance. Enforcement seems

blessing
approval

of
of the

the church
state.

and

the

The

League

was
who

quick
were seen

to condemn
as fashion. behav The

politicians ing in an

'anti-national'

dal' seriously but faced insurmount in drafting legislation. able difficulties a middle Not only was car ownership class privilege but it was impossible
to restrict the use of cars or even leg

Secretary of the League, attacking the Radio of jazz on broadcasting Eireann, had this to say about the minister responsible:
Our Minister of Finance is selling for has a soul

buried cal dends grammes. a the week. soul

in jazz and of of the

the musi the jazz divi pro of

nation

islate for the behaviour of individuals within a vehicle. The ingenious solu
tion was to define a motor car as

sponsored He is jazzing

every

night

street in the paragraph dealing with in the bill: soliciting and importuning in this section street word The (shall) include a motor car, carriage or other vehicle'. the This allowed police to treat a car as a public place as to the and use their discretion nature of behaviour within. The Alice in-Wonderland nature of this logic led the irrepressible Dr Mahaffey, whose liberal speech witty and pertinently es enliven an otherwise dull senate that a wheelbar record, to suggest row was a street and therefore could be used for an immoral purpose! 54 HISTORY IRELAND Summer 1993

of County Councils number resolutions jazz condemning adopted and District and all-night dancing Justices took up the refrain talking of the dangers of 'nigger music' and the of unrestricted all-night 'orgy In January 1934 a large dances'. took place in Mohill, demonstration County Leitrim. Itwas made up most ly of young people and the press esti at 3,000, with the attendance mated inscribed five bands and banners A

to have been patchy and the overall effect is hard to assess. Jim Smyth is a lecturer in sociology Queen's University, Belfast. Further reading: the Catholic T. Inglis, Moral Monopoly: Church in modern Irish society (Dublin 1987). J.H.Whyte, Church and State in modern Ireland (Dublin 1984).
T. Brown, Ireland: a social and cultural

at

with DOWNWITH JAZZ and OUT

WITH PAGANISM. Support came and state. A letter church from from

history 1922-79 (London

1985).

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