Figure 1.--This looks like a German school boy on his first day of school as he has a gift cone, an especially large one. Note he wears thecstreamer on his sailor cap to the side. This was a postcard, probably taken on the early 1920s.
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Figure 1.--This looks like a German school boy on his first day of school as he has a gift cone, an especially large one. Note he wears thecstreamer on his sailor cap to the side. This was a postcard, probably taken on the early 1920s. |
Most American and British boys wore their streamers to the back. We note some European boys wearing them to the side. We do not yet know how common this was. A Dutch reader tells us that wearing the streamers to the side was done on purpose. There is lettering on the cap and the streamers were moved to the side so that the lettering, usually a ship names can be read in the photograph. We think that this was done specificlly for the photogrph and that boys did not really commonly wear their caps like that. We say that because it would seem to be rather bothersome to have that streamer flopping at the side rather than out of the way at the back.
Most American and British boys wore their streamers to the back. We note some European boys wearing them to the side. We do not yet know how common this was. A Dutch reader tells us that wearing the streamers to the side was done on purpose. There is lettering on the cap and the streamers were moved to the side so that the lettering, usually a ship names can be read in the photograph. We are unsure about how common this was in other countries such as France, Germany, and Italy. We are not sure why the straners were never set to the side in America.
We think that this was done specificlly for the photograph and that boys did not really commonly wear their caps like that. We say that because it would seem to be rather bothersome to have that streamer flopping at the side rather than out of the way at the back. We are not positive about this, but believe it is the most likely explanation.
One reader wonders, "Might it not be the case that this little boy had just been fiddling with his cap during the tedious process of posing for a portrait in the photographer's studio, hence the position of the streamers." HBC believes that this would be a possibility if there were just a few such images. There are, however, numerous images with stramers set to the side. In addition, rember that both mum and the photographerhave their eyes on the subject and would quickly put anything in order that a figity boy misarranged.
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