It Beats Swallowing Goldfish

I've mentioned many times before that, when I first got into roleplaying games, I sought out newspaper and magazine articles that talked about the then-novel hobby. Thanks to the Internet, I've been able to locate evidence of some of the articles I remember from my youth, such as this one from the January 27, 1980 issue of Parade. For those who don't know, Parade is a supplement inserted into the Sunday edition of certain American newspapers. When I was a kid growing up in Maryland, Parade appeared first in The News American paper and, later, in The Baltimore Sun.

Quite the cover, isn't it? Take a look at the first page of the article on the inside of Parade. Why these cosplayers/LARPers appear at all is a good question, since the accompanying article makes no reference to them. I can only assume that this was done to attract the eyes of readers. Based on my recollections, many articles like this included incongruous photographs since, at the time, I suppose very few people understood what "roleplaying" actually entailed. The mistaken notion that wearing a costume was part of the hobby is an old one, going back to at least as far as early reports of the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert in 1979, if not further. 
In this case, it's especially frustrating, because the article itself is pretty good and includes some quotes from J. Eric Holmes about roleplaying and D&D that are both positive and illuminating for outsiders. From the vantage point of 2022, it's often difficult to remember that roleplaying wasn't just seen as a weird hobby for weird people, it was well nigh incomprehensible to many people, hence the appearance of so many articles like this one. That that's no longer the case is thanks in no small part to the success of Dungeons & Dragons, a game whose appearance and popularity really did change the world forever.