Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has been following this blog. Today I reached 100 followers. My vintage magazines blog and In Search of Space blog are less well read, so if you have time maybe cast your eye their way to see if there's anything of interest.
I am a bit early posting this week as I have a couple of days of work as our leave year comes to an end next week. Today has been spent catching up on a few maintenance activities on my web site, which were long overdue and hopefully my site is better for having carried them out. In particular I have played around with the image sizes and code on a couple of my postcard pages, and now they seem to load much quicker than before, so fingers-crossed people will not get bored waiting for the images to load. Bear with me though please as I've only updated a handful of the more regularly visited pages for now to see what the impact is. I have also added a batch of vintage railway magazines which I've had sitting around on my desk for a few months. Again this is work in progress, with about the same number still to add. Tomorrow will see us forming our annual, advanced party on the Christmas shopping front in Winchester, so no time for PC work then, hence my early posting this week. Phew!
So, on to this week's Sepia Saturday and staying reasonably on theme. I have always been intrigued by postcards of people or groups of people which have no text or annotation to say who they are or what they are doing. I can only assume they were produced for a very small audience who knew exactly what they were. One such vintage postcard I picked up a week or two back is the one I've included below. I assume this is some sort of school play, or perhaps some childhood amateur dramatic society, but really I have no idea as there's no clue on the postcard, and no date either. I know there are some super-sleuths out there, so maybe someone has an idea?
Vintage postcard of children in oriental costumes
As usual 100's of vintage postcards can be found on my (hopefully speeded-up) website
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I wish the image could be enlarged. I think it may be a production of "The Mikado" as I have a photo of my grandmother and her sister in nearly identical costumes to these and that's what they were doing. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteInteresting postcard. The costumes are amazing and it was for a play, I can bet who sewed the costumes. :)
ReplyDeleteI too have been wondering about the loading speed on my blog. Congrats on tackling this!
I am with Kat, these costumes and in particular the parasols, look very Japanese.
ReplyDeleteIt looks interesting, but I wish it were displayed in a larger size.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting group - I'd love to know what they'd been up to...
ReplyDeleteLooks like The Mikado to me as well.
ReplyDeleteI have a similar one of my grandmother, too. About 1913 in Bremerton, WA. All she told me was that it was a first grade play - I don't think she remembered much about the play itself. But the costumes were pretty great! I've posted my photo here https://picasaweb.google.com/112207903936882100089/KitsapCounty#5768402313085279810
ReplyDeleteIt could well be the Mikado, although there tend to be only three little girls and a fearsome lady called Katisha. Most of the cast are men, the 'Gentlemen of Japan' in one of the songs. There was certainly a vogue for all things oriental around that time and an alternative could be a 'pageant' of some kind.
ReplyDeleteI agree Japanese theme, which may have been pre WWII because about that time and shortly after, there would have been no love for the Japanese. According to some antique experts whom I contacted about a chair we inherited which was Japanese produced for wealthy Londoners in the late 1800's and brought to the US by my late uncle's grandfather same era, there was a fascination with Japan at that time. So perhaps this card is also late 1800's early 1900. Congrats on 100 followers; I too have blog work to do
ReplyDeleteNo clues from me - but I think it is a wonderful photograph.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! Possibly Japanese theme! But are they all from Japan, I think not! It's a lovely photo at any rate!
ReplyDeleteSorry I can't help you on the postcard. It's rather interesting though.
ReplyDeleteChildren playing the school girls in G&S's Mikado makes most sense. Gilbert wrote a children's book about it and it may have been adapted for a school production. Britain had more contact with Chinese culture, but these costumes have a Japanese look. Perhaps English children at a Japanese exhibition during the 1905-1914 era?
ReplyDeleteLots of interesting theories about this lovely postcard. I have nothing to add, sorry to say, except well-done!
ReplyDeleteI also think it's some sort of a school program. Very cute photo.
ReplyDeleteNancy