1905 Mary with the umbrella. Postcard. Private Collection.
First of all, this isn’t Mary, more like Marc in a skirt and wig. This postcard got me in stitches. Wrong Mary is, on so many levels! The picture is only half of it, the text is priceless. The umbrella looks quite threatening too.
Photographer: Robert McCrum. 1905.
1890s duo. Tintype. Private Collection.
Here’s that little bowtie/tie combo I first found here.
In fact this tintype reminds me a lot of the other. They’d get along quite fine with the other pair! Both gents here have their hair parted in the middle too, they’re not wearing waistcoats either and they wear the same laced up shoes and look similar overall…
Here on the other hand, these two are not shy stacking legs!
1890’s 1/6th plate tintype. Private Collection.
The photographer caught them a bit blurry, but there’s enough here to imagine what these two were like.
They’re posing exactly the same with their beer bottle in one hand and cigar in the other. The young man on the left is wearing a striped black shirt with the white collar and a loud plaid tie he looks to have creatively tied like a small bowtie by the neck! And he’s not wearing the typical waistcoat either, choosing to let his tie do the talking.
And his friend with the black and white striped turtleneck under the coat. They both look unconventional; artists perhaps, or just on the fringe…Maybe a couple. For example, from what I read of Victorian and Edwardian New York, working class men who advertised their homosexuality accessorized with unconventionally loud patterns or colors -checkerboard waistcoats, red ties,etc… I wish I could see these two in color because what looks like black on a tintype could have been any loud color like red or purple.
They both parted their hair in the middle too instead of the typical side part. Whoever they were, what a pair!
This photo was taken in 1927 and is of Welsh actor Ivor Novello (real name David Ivor Davies) in the Alfred Hitchcock film “The Lodger” loosely based on Jack the Ripper. Ivor plays the role of a suspected serial killer who goes around London killing blonde chorus girls. My cup of tea.
His character’s a bad boy so in the category he goes!
The actor was multi-talented and was a famous singer and composer too. He was also openly gay. A shot of Ivor with his face uncovered after the cut.
Bowlers And High Collars 