For the first time in Naval Academy history, there will be no classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. To mark the occasion, this post features some Thanksgiving menus and hop cards from the archives. The rivalry between Army and Navy on the football gridiron often took place on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, or the following Saturday. For many decades, the academy held a dance, or hop, on Wednesday evening to kick-off the holiday. For a history of Thanksgiving at the academy, please see our post from November 25, 2020.
Image from the 1919 Thanksgiving Hop card.
The dances for the 1919 Thanksgiving Hop. Number 19, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," is a song that Irving Berlin composed for the 1919 Ziegfeld Follies. Another 1919 Ziegfeld Follies song that Eddie Cantor recorded is number 11, "Everybody Wants a Key to My Cellar," which is about Prohibition. Also note "Take Me to the Land of Jazz" followed by "Take Your Girlie to the Movies." Most hop cards merely list the type of dance.
In 1922, the Army-Navy game was played on November 25, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
The 1926 Army-Navy game was held at Soldier Field in Chicago, where the two teams played to a 21-21 tie in front of 110,000 spectators.
Thanksgiving Day 1941 fell on November 20 and the Army-Navy game was played on November 29 in Philadelphia. Navy came away with the victory, winning 14-0. On December 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
Back cover of the 1955 Thanksgiving Hop card.
Happy Thanksgiving and BEAT ARMY!
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