The Heimlich maneuver hadn’t been discovered yet. The Heimlich maneuver, a technique of abdominal thrusts for stopping choking, first described in 1974 by Henry Judah Heimlich.
Maybe whoever set up the doubles was afraid of any other potential partner’s parents hitting THEM over the head if they put their kid on the same side of the net as Molly.
I taught all my kids how to rescue themselves from quicksand—which is a lot like dancing, really. One of them decided to try it. Got himself good and stuck and danced his way out like a pro. (Yes I was there to rescue him out if he failed.)
You may be over-analyzing this, but you bring up some good points. It may just be necessary to make Susie and Calvin be able to stand being in the same space to make the gags work. Only Bill knows :)
Mr. Schultz must have been short on time when he did this. Several of the cells are identical except for the musical notes; others are very similar. Still, amazing talent that can get so good a gag out of repetitive illustrations.
Somehow the innocent kid(s) always got the worst of a teacher’s wrath. I think the teachers were afraid of the real culprit.