Figure 1.-Here we have a child in a fancy pierrot costume for a studio portrait apparently made by Hauchard at Lens. The child is unidentified, but may have been taken in Los Angeles. We believe the portrait dates to the 1920s.
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Figure 1.-Here we have a child in a fancy pierrot costume for a studio portrait apparently made by Hauchard at Lens. The child is unidentified, but may have been taken in Los Angeles. We believe the portrait dates to the 1920s. |
We do not note clowns to be one of the popular play costumes offered by the mailorder companies. We do note quite a few formal portraits of clowns or pierrots as they were called in Europe. We note these portraits in America, but they seem even more popular in Europe. We are not sure about the gender connotations, but believe that they were popular with boys and girls. I am not sure here but we rather think that clown costumes were not as popular for play costumes as other costumes. We do see them at fancy costume parties for affluent children. We also notice them for trick-or-treat on Holloween. This is, however, only a off-hand opinion. We would be interested in reader opinions here.
We do not note clowns to be one of the popular play costumes offered by the mailorder companies. I am not sure here but we rather think that clown costumes were not as popular for play costumes as other costumes. We do see them at fancy costume parties for affluent children. We also notice them for trick-or-treat on Holloween. This is, however, only a off-hand opinion. We would be interested in reader opinions here.
We do note quite a few formal portraits of perreots as they were called in Europe. We note these portraits in America, but they seem even more popular in Europe. Photographs of children in regular clown costumes seem more kikely to be family snapshots.
We are not sure about the gender connotations, but believe that they were popular with boys and girls.
Our knowledge of clown costumes is limited. One type was the French pierreot style seen here (figure 1). The pierrot was a male character in French pantomines. They have white faces and loose baggy white costumes. More popular in America was the sad sack type clown commonly seen in cicuses. The most famous was Emmitt Kelly (1898-1979) and his character "Weary Willie" are credited for creating the sad sack character. The sad sack was also popularized on the "Howdy-Doody" TV show by Clarabell.'
A British reader writes, "Pierrots are very much a French thing. In the U.K. we have clowns exactly like you do in the U.S. We know they CAN be Pierrots, but we never refer to them as such, unless it is a typical white-faced clown with a tear drawn on, beret and white ruffled bell-bottomed suit. This is the sort of clown costume that was worn in Britain up to the Victorian age, most notably by the famous Gimaldi, but nowadays you will only see a Pierrot in this country on a tacky 1970s art print!"
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