Dancing Fools

‘NO DANCING,” says the sign above the stage at Manny’s Car Wash, the legendary blues bar at Third Avenue and 88th Street. Directly below this admonition, guitarist Hiram Bullock and bassist Will Lee are jumping up and down onstage like V-8 pistons.

But the sign is not a joke, like the ones at some bars that read: “Beware Pickpockets and Loose Women.” It is a command, based on a 1926 law that forbids revelers to dance in bars and restaurants that lack cabaret licenses. The dancing needn’t be elaborate, Rockettes-style musical numbers. A pair of patrons twirling to a love song can get a bar fined—or worse.

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Deroy Murdock

Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor and political commentor.

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‘NO DANCING,” says the sign above the stage at Manny’s Car Wash, the legendary blues bar at Third Avenue and 88th Street. Directly below this admonition, guitarist Hiram Bullock and bassist Will Lee are jumping up and down onstage like V-8 pistons.

But the sign is not a joke, like the ones at some bars that read: “Beware Pickpockets and Loose Women.” It is a command, based on a 1926 law that forbids revelers to dance in bars and restaurants that lack cabaret licenses. The dancing needn’t be elaborate, Rockettes-style musical numbers. A pair of patrons twirling to a love song can get a bar fined—or worse.