--- title: Princeton Hoofers: LIFE Goes to a Charleston Dance Contest, 1949 description: Photos from a 'foot-shaking, hair-mussing Charleston contest' at Princeton University in 1949 in which even the Princeton tiger took part. canonical: https://time.com/3878488/princeton-hoofers-photos-from-a-dance-contest-1949/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-12-11T17:14:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:48.519Z og:title: Princeton Hoofers: LIFE Goes to a Charleston Dance Contest, 1949 og:description: Photos from a 'foot-shaking, hair-mussing Charleston contest' at Princeton University in 1949 in which even the Princeton tiger took part. og:url: https://time.com/3878488/princeton-hoofers-photos-from-a-dance-contest-1949/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt654a27219e69cc89/69884af33c163981d3457533/131210-princeton-tiger-1949-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Princeton Charleston Contest, 1949 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Princeton Hoofers: LIFE Goes to a Charleston Dance Contest, 1949 twitter:description: Photos from a 'foot-shaking, hair-mussing Charleston contest' at Princeton University in 1949 in which even the Princeton tiger took part. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt654a27219e69cc89/69884af33c163981d3457533/131210-princeton-tiger-1949-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Princeton Hoofers: LIFE Goes to a Charleston Dance Contest, 1949 by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Dec 11, 2013 5:14 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. "The tiger and the lady finally hit it right. Bent at the waist and knees, they Charleston in graceless perfection. Barbara borrowed authentic dress from sister-in-law's mother. Ed rented phony tiger hide from New York Costume Company. He performs in it during halves at Princeton football games, Charlestoned at game the next day." Caption from LIFE. "The tiger and the lady finally hit it right. Bent at the waist and knees, they Charleston in graceless perfection. Barbara borrowed authentic dress from sister-in-law's mother. Ed rented phony tiger hide from New York Costume Company. He performs in it during halves at Princeton football games, Charlestoned at game the next day."Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Dec 11, 2013 5:14 PM UTC A November 1949 issue of LIFE featured a wonderfully animated addition to the magazine’s long-running “LIFE Goes to a \[fill in the blank here\]” franchise, in which the magazine’s photographers chronicled everything from a [black magic “hex party”](http://life.time.com/curiosities/putting-a-hex-on-hitler-life-goes-to-a-black-magic-party-in-1941/#1) — convened in order to cast spells on Adolf Hitler — to [a snail-watching society in England](http://life.time.com/curiosities/life-visits-an-english-snail-watching-society/#1). The 1949 article in question, meanwhile, featured . . . well, let’s let LIFE set the scene: --- > “” --- Pettit, it turns out, went on to win the contest (with another partner, not with Tiger Ed). Ivy Leaguers, it seems, weren’t like other collegians back in the day. The more things change . . .  Caption from LIFE. "Easy step is tried first. Barbara twists one foot and steps back on other in a basic step. Tiger shags and trucks in step more reminiscent of jitterbugging than Charleston." Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Gallant tiger, Freshman Ed Craig, bows to kiss hand and stare at feet of Flapper Barbara Pettit preliminary to practicing Charleston steps. They had never met before." Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "The tiger and the lady finally hit it right. Bent at the waist and knees, they Charleston in graceless perfection. Barbara borrowed authentic dress from sister-in-law's mother. Ed rented phony tiger hide from New York Costume Company. He performs in it during halves at Princeton football games, Charlestoned at game the next day." Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Tiger falls down, out of breath and steaming inside his 30-lb. costume. He is unable to master the rubber-legged technique of the fundamental Charleston steps." Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "During contest judged by Irene Castle (center background), Mike Mooney dances with partner to tune he wrote, 'The Charleston Rag.'" Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Winners of competition were Barbara Pettit and partner Dick Warren, a Princeton junior. Both have mastered the Charleston within the last year." Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Princeton Charleston dance contest, 1949 Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Princeton Charleston dance contest, 1949 Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Princeton Charleston dance contest, 1949 Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Expert instruction is given by Barbara and dancing partner Dick Warren, who teach the tiger how to place and cross his hands on knees. He is beginning to learn." Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3878488/princeton-hoofers-photos-from-a-dance-contest-1949/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3878488/princeton-hoofers-photos-from-a-dance-contest-1949/"},"headline":"Princeton Hoofers: LIFE Goes to a Charleston Dance Contest, 1949","datePublished":"2013-12-11T17:14:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:48.519Z","description":"Photos from 'a furious foot-shaking, hair-mussing Charleston contest' at Princeton University in 1949 -- a contest in which even the famous Princeton tiger took part.","url":"https://time.com/3878488/princeton-hoofers-photos-from-a-dance-contest-1949/","keywords":["animals","New Jersey","College","dance","princeton","Charleston","1949"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt654a27219e69cc89/69884af33c163981d3457533/131210-princeton-tiger-1949-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt654a27219e69cc89/69884af33c163981d3457533/131210-princeton-tiger-1949-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Princeton Charleston Contest, 1949","caption":"Princeton Charleston dance contest, 1949","creditText":"Martha Holmes—Time & LIfe Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3878488/princeton-hoofers-photos-from-a-dance-contest-1949/","name":"Princeton Hoofers: LIFE Goes to a Charleston Dance Contest, 1949"}}]}] ```