1904, republished from the Coffeyville Daily Journal in The Tulsa Chief (later the Oklahoma Critic), "A New Game at Parsons"
Now watch the good old dames of Parsons get on their ear and dance. Invitations have been issued by a society lady there for a "dress euchre" party. "Dress euchre" is played like "strip poker." After each hand the player removes an article of clothing. The one who has the most clothes on at the end of the game gets the booby prize. It would seem that the only drawback to this game for society ladies would be that a game could not last long. A new game would have to be begun every four or five hands.
The revel which resulted in Minnie Blough's death was mild in character compared to some of the "entertainments" that go on in the cafés of this city. The chorus girls of one of the last comic-opera companies which visited Los Angeles introduced the young bloods to a new fascinating game called "strip poker." The introductory game took place in one of the private rooms of the Bisbee Inn. The cards are held by the young men. The girls sit by to watch. At the end of every hand, all the girls whose young men have lost, proceed to remove one article of wearing apparel. The game continues until — well, for a long time.
Last night Earl Cobell extended a reception to a bunch of his stag friends at his spacious suburban home at "Choice Acres". The guests were taken to the scene of festivities in a musical spring wagon, behind snow white horses driven by a coachman in overalls. Earl met his guests at the door and invited them to come in and take off their coats or any other articles of clothing that might interfere with solid comfort. It was not long until the gang was employed in such gentle pastimes as nosey and strip-poker and boxing contests. A luncheon was served of articles which vibrate in harmony with the masculine stomach — such delicacies as orange punch, meat sandwiches with mustard, brick cheese, onions, good coffee and cigars. In the language of Heck "everything was all satisfactory."
One of the most unique athletic programs given in Tacoma for a long time, and which should furnish rare fun for the spectators, is scheduled for the smoker given tonight by company A, Second infantry regiment, N. G. W., at the company drill hall, South Twelfth and A streets. The feature of the evening will doubtless be the barrel boxing match between Corporal Vogter and Corporal Botsford. In this event the boxers will stand in a barrel and fight at each other until one is knocked down, barrel and all. Every time the barrel falls the round is ended. The equipment race is another event which will prove amusing. This race is modeled somewhat on the fashion of "strip poker." The contestants, fully equipped, will run one length of the hall and lay down their guns, come back and take off their belts, return and shed their blouses; come back again and get rid of their leggings. Then they will go back the last time and with their rifles they will shoot at a target.
[...] A real rainstorm in act two (you could see the water hopping up when it struck the flooring) and a game of "strip poker," with a rather broad ending, were amusing. Then there was a rather risque bit of dialogue which Broadway seemed to like, and songs, chief among which were "I Wonder Whose[sic – meaning Who's] Kissing Her Now," "If All Moons Were Honeymoons," "Don't Choose a College Girl" and "Here's to the Last Girl."
Announcement is made that this will be the final week of the engagement of "The Goddess of Liberty" at the Walnut, where the merry musical comedy has been the magnet for the past several weeks. To the lover of clean musical shows, this attraction makes a strong appeal. It does not depend on salacious features for success, but rather upon the bright catchy music with which it is plentifully supplied and the sparkle of the dialogue and swiftly moving situations. Moreover, it contains a story of more than ordinary quality, well and interestingly told, interspersed by song numbers which quickly find response in the audience. One of the sensational features is the barefoot chorus, while the spectacular thunderstorm, during which a tree is struck by lightning and real water comes down in torrents, is an effect of originality and novelty. The "strip poker game" in the third act makes one forget all that has been done before. Joseph Howard, Stella Tracey and the other members of the company do excellent work in making the performance smooth and attractive.
One of the little boys of the city came home the other evening, and when he came home he told his parents that he had been at the home of a neighbor. When asked what he had been doing, he stated that he, the neighbor and his two boys had been playing "strip poker." The little boy went on to explain that every time one of the players lost a hand he was compelled to remove some article of clothing. "How did you fare?" the boy was asked. "Oh, I was just learning and when the game broke up I had on nothing but my collar."
The horrible story is afloat that two married couples in Atchison recently played a game of "strip poker." It is said that when the game ended one of the women didn't have anything on except her underwear. The story is undoubted untrue, as the persons implicated in the story are well-thought of in Atchison.
1914, The Fort Wayne Sentinel, "Van Wert Lads in Danger of Prison: Eight of Them Caught in Armory Into Which They Had Broken and the Penalty is Serious"
The raid was made in approved fashion the three entrances by which the boys might have made their escape being guarded, while Officer Miller and Captain Morrison went into the building, where they found the boys engaged in the highly elevating game of "strip" poker, in which the loser was forced to take off some portion of his wearing apparel.
1915, The Index Vol. XLV, a junior annual of the Massachusetts Agricultural College
Robert Earley Patterson, "Pat" Dorchester Center 75 Pleasant Street; Microbiology; Catholic Club; Sophomore Baseball Team; 1915 Track Board; 1915 Index Board. Will "Pat" play strip poker again? Ask him and see. If there is another fire down town "Pat" will surely try to make good a second time. Besides a fire-fighter, "Pat" is a microbe-fighter, and will some day become famous in his work on bacteria and disease.
These are only incidentals to a good story, however, the opening curtain discloses an act quite out of keeping with the rest of the play. Bored by the "morning after" of a Greenwich village party, a gathering at the novelist's room decided to play strip poker. Before they are finished, one understands the author's need of regeneration. The second act discloses a very different atmosphere, the novelist going back to Nature — on a Southern plantation.
1921, The New York Theaters (Washington Post), "The Demi-Virgin"
Well, it was arrested not long ago in Pittsburgh, charged with nearly all the mischiefs, from "strip poker" to rapine; but as Dulcinea observes, no jury will convict a pretty woman, and it was released.
The second scene of the prologue was designed to raise the minds of the audience to a more exalted pitch. A detachment of beautiful young ladies, attired in conventionalized French uniforms whose trousers ended shortly below the hips, marched briskly on the stage and acted as a guard of honor for beautiful tableaux representing the various Allied countries. The different nations were represented by other beautiful young ladies. Fortunately they were labeled. Without the labels one would have had trouble in knowing whether they represented France, Italy or a game of strip poker.
If Santa Fe is a City of the Dead, then the Pueblo de Nuestra Reina de Los Angeles is a gal who is sitting in a game of strip poker with a busted flush and bluffing.
1933, Record of the United States House of Representatives
The first question to be decided, much discussed in the committee, is whether the House should express itself at all on the matter. During the hearings one of the principal objections to any resolution touching the money question, or any question, was summed up by Will Rogers when he said "this country never lost a war or won a conference". Stated another way, these objectors looked upon these international conferences as a game of strip poker, from which Uncle Sam comes home in a barrel. As they view it, the cards are stacked against us before the game starts, and, further, that we are only novices pitted against the masters of the game.
1939, The Index Vol. LXIX, a junior annual of the Massachusetts Agricultural College
Meanwhile, his life continued as aimlessly as when he came in September a brand-new sophomore: a succession of bull sessions, "vie" parties, strip poker games, hell-raising at night then sleeping through lecture after lecture the next day, and scribbling his quizzes so that neither he nor the instructor could read them. Four profs warned him that he was flunking his courses. His dad threatened to cut off his allowance. But he grinned and replied: "Now I'm holding up the true tradition of a sophomore!"
1944, Record of the United States House of Representatives
Rupert Hughes, quoted by Norris Poulson of California: Those are a few of the trump cards of the New Deal. They were the first cards discarded. And they have never been played. Uncle Sam sat down to what he supposed was a game of contract bridge and he lost his shirt before he discovered that he was in a game of strip poker with everything wild except the Joker.
But save for these two, and setting aside for the moment Mr. Bevin's efforts in the political strip-poker sessions of the Big Five, Ministers have tended, during the recess, to slide out of sight.
NUDISTS — They couldn’t very well play strip-poker (or perhaps they have!)
1955, Record of the United States House of Representatives
But it is said the President has exhausted his authority to give away our American markets. He seems to be in the position of a man playing strip poker who has lost everything but his under-shirt and must have a pair of shorts and possibly a pair of socks that he may gamble some more with the welfare of the small manufacturing enterprises of our country. If Mr. Eisenhower, himself, were doing the trading, possibly he might save our undershirts and shorts and socks but can we expect that much of the kibitzers from the State Department who are playing the game for him?
1959, Record of the United States Senate
Mr. Yarborough: I commend the senator from West Virginia for the careful study he has given to this question. I know he will be impressed by the question asked by the junior senator from Pennsylvania about Hannibal's plight. I certainly hope we will not be cut as short on manpower as Hannibal was on elephants, and that our heads will not be carried to Moscow as his was to Rome. I think that should be a warning to us not to reduce our Armed Forces now. As I heard the speech of the senator from West Virginia — and it is obvious that much study was put into it — it seemed to me that, boiled down, the senator from West Virginia was saying to the President of the United States: "If you go to this conference to play strip poker with the Russians, keep your gun on, and don't let them take your shirt and pants and boots off and send you home in your sock feet."
1987, Record of the United States House of Representatives
Mr. Lott: Mr. Speaker, if all this makes my colleagues and the viewing public a little cynical about how our laws are made, welcome to the club. I have a feeling that you ain't seen nothing yet. The new House rule seems to be that the dealer not only sets the rules, but is assured the pot on every hand. All the other players are mere dummies in this game of Democratic strip poker. I urge my colleagues to vote "no" on this rule before you are stripped of all your rights as legislators.
1988, Débats du Sénat du Canada / Debates of the Senate of Canada: official report, Hansard (1955-1987/88)
Happily, we have seven years of negotiations ahead of us. Honourable senators, whether there is a trade deal or not, we cannot avoid negotiating endlessly with the Americans. We shall do so to the end of time. The only salvation for the country is to ensure that we do not have at the head of our negotiations our current Prime Minister, who seems to think that any sacrifice is worthwhile in order to make a deal. It is very easy to make a deal if you give away everything. We are going to play strip poker with the Americans, and we should not have as Prime Minister the kind of strip poker player who gives away his shirt before the cards are dealt.
