On December 13, 1940 — a Friday, no less — LIFE magazine attended a gathering spread across 13 tables in Room 13 of the Merchants & Manufacturers Club of Chicago. (Yes, each table sat 13 people).
The result? The odd and endearing article, “Life Goes to a Friday-the-13th Party,” published a few weeks later in the magazine. Now, in light of January 2012’s very own Friday the 13th, LIFE.com resurrects that feature, and celebrates some old-school businessmen unafraid to step on a crack.
Pictured: Members exit the bash by walking under a ladder. Despite so thoroughly thumbing their noses at bad luck, LIFE noted that the membership not only woke up the next day, but did so “without hangovers.”
(see more — Chicago’s Anti-Superstition Society, 1940)
