Barad Twins (United States, 1931)


Figure 1.--Charles Stuart and Robert Gerald had their portrait was taken on their 5th birth day during February. The Winter date explains why the boys are wearing long stockings. The boys wear stripped shirts with sports collars, self-belted wool short pants, long stockings, and high-top shoes. The boys hold a stuffed dog and a black doll. Click on the image to see the writing on the back.

These twins had their portrait taken in 1931. They look like fraternal twins. Unfortunately the hand writing on back of the portrait is very poor. It looks like it could be Barad, but we are not sure. Another possibility is Braud, but we think Barad is more likely. HBC readers may have a better idea. We do know their Christian names. The boys are Charles Stuart and Robert Gerald. The portrait was taken on their 5th birthday during February. The Winter date explains why the boys are wearing long stockings. The boys wear stripped shirts with sports collars, self-belted wool short pants, long stockings, and high-top shoes. Note the self-belted shorts. This means that the belt was done in the same material as the pants and came with them when purchased. That was a very popular style in the United States during the 1930s and 40s. Long pants were also done with self-belts, but they were most common with shorts. The boys hold a stuffed dog and a black doll. I suspect that these are studio props. We do not know where the portrait was taken.

The reader tells us, "This portrait of the twins rang a nostalgic bell for me because these boys are dressed quite similarly to the way I was dressed as a little boy up to about age 8 or 9 years in Western Pennsylvania during the 1930s. A couple of points worth noting. The boys' blouses or "waists" (as they were called when they had waist buttons) are obviously constructed so that the short pants can button onto them. This is very clear from the fact that the belts made of self material are not holding up the short trousers but are only part of the decorative effect of the trousers. You can see that the waists support the trousers, not the belts, by the way the trousers hang. There seems to be a bit of space between the waists of the trousers and the hips. Boys' hips at this age are slender so that belts are not a reliable way of keeping trousers in place. Mothers used button-on trousers or suspender shorts to solve the problem of undeveloped hips. The button-on option was more popular in America than the suspender option which I note a lot in Europe. Note also the neat creases in the short trousers, creases just like those that adults would wear with long trousers. The long stockings seem to be tan or light brown (the preferred colors for long stockings during the 1930s, gradually replacing black, which had been the commonest color a decade or so earlier) and, being so smoothly held in place, are obviously worn with supporters, undoubtedly fastened to an underwaist with pin tubes for the safety pins of the boys' garters. Note too that the stockings are ribbed rather than being plain-knit--a style that mothers often chose for boys because ribbed stockings were sometimes considered more masculine and had a slightly more rugged look. Boys preferred ribbed stockings. One of HBC's Canadian pages makes this point in connection with children's long stockings. I also wore short trousers with long stockings like these boys in the 1930s, but I believe my shorts were a bit shorter--perhaps three or four inches higher above the knee than is the case with these two lads. But trouser length was probably a bit variable depending on how tall the boys were. It is true that the month in which this photograph was taken (February) is appropriate for long stockings, but my mother considered formality as well as warmth in dressing her male children in this fashion. Long stockings were considered dressier than socks. And this is a birthday picture--a dress-up occasion."






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Created: 8:05 PM 12/7/2005
Last edited: 3:59 PM 12/8/2005