The Prince and the Pauper (U.S., 1937)


Figure 1.--Twins Billy and Bobby Mauch are seen here in their roles as the prince anmd the pauper.

The curly headed Mauch twins (Billy and Bobby) play the boys in this Mark Twain classic. They seem to be about 13 or so. They play their parts competently. The story is set around the decision of a mistreated orphan and British prince Edward Tudor to trade places. Afterwards they are mistaken for each other and throw the kingdom into turmoil. Both boys learn valuable lessons from each other's lives. The pauper Tom, and the King after they trade clothes, appear in rags with bare legs. In court clothes the boys wear tights, including white tights that the newly corinated King wears at the end of the movie. The costming seems reasonably accurate for time period, but HBC does not have a lot of information on these early periods.

Cast

The star of the show was Erol Flynn, then at the peak of his career. The cast also included Claude Rains.

The curly headed Mauch twins (Billy and Bobby) play the boys in this Mark Twain classic. They seem to be about 13 or so. They play their parts competently. We know little about their film careers, but they did appear in other movies--usually separaetly. There were not that many twin films. An any rate as twins, they came perfectly made for the role as two look-alike boys.

Plot

The story is set around the decision of a mistreated orphan and British prince Edward Tudor to trade places. Afterwards they are mistaken for each other and throw the kingdom into turmoil. Both boys learn valuable lessons from each other's lives. Except that there really was a boy-king, Edward VI, there was little relationship between the Twain tale and actual history. Of course the Twain story had to be recast to provide a prominent role for Erol Flynn and his swashbuckling sword exploits.

Costuming

The pauper Tom, and the King after they trade clothes, appear in rags with bare legs. In court clothes the boys wear tights, including white tights that the newly corinated King wears at the end of the movie. The costming seems reasonably accurate for time period, but HBC does not have a lot of information on the 16th century and other early periods early periods.

Remakes

There have been several subsequent remakes of this populat Twain story, both British and American.

Edward VI

Twain's fictional account uses the boy king Edward VI as the English monarch that the story is about. There is no indication, however, that any such events actually took place. Edward as king was not well served by his advisers, but for the most part they were genuinely interested in his wellfare. Some were relativs. All were protestants and were aware that the next claiant to the throne was his Catholic half sister Mary, unless Edward fathered a successor which of course he nerver did.








Christopher Wagner






Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main movie page]
[Return to the Main Prince and Pauper page]
[Return to the Main alphabetical Pm-Pz movie page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Satellite sites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: March 22, 2002
Last updated: March 23, 2002