To those of us who grew up with the open collar suburban outfit of Mickey Mouse, and who now live in a world in which Hello Kitty hand sanitizer and Hello Kitty Polaroid cameras are being marketed to us every day (saw each of those this week; look it up if you don’t believe me), the concept of animals getting dressed to go about their daily chores is hardly unusual.
And yet, in this inventory of antique postcards which resides with me, I see about twenty animals running errand au naturel to each one who dons long skirts or trousers. It’s as if the postcard artists preferred to establish that they COULD draw a recognizable bunny, so there.
Mind you, there are collars, and hair ribbons, and LOTS of hats. (When I get really inquisitive, I’ll look up this convention of storks wearing top hats when they deliver babies. In MY day, it was generally a delivery driver’s hat. But the dignity of honest labor has deteriorated in the day of robotics and AI, until even exotic dancers need to…where were we?) Anyway, we are looking at full outfits, even if it has a certain “Let’s play dress-up” vibe, like this cowboy (cowrooster.)
Or this old sea dog in his sailor’s uniform.
Consider this couple down on the farm. Both he and she wear perfectly everyday outfits (everyday for the mid-1930s) even if they do live in an open0air A-frame coop.
By the way, have we ever asked why there are so many postcard cartons about a jealous husband who is a rooster, of all peop…creatures?
It’s not as if the world of poultry is renowned for monogamy, and what’s good for the goose is…this discussion DOEs get rather involved.
Slightly more of the animals dressed for the day are women than men: presumably so you could concentrate on this picture of a dog reading a letter (or possibly a gossip magazine) during her chores without being puzzled or worried about whether a male character is sweeping up.
It could also have been that women’s clothes, with their long lines and punctuating frills were more fun to draw (especially if the artist is having a little trouble drawing a squirrel face.)
And easier to draw: no necessity for figuring out how a bear’s trousers would fit to get in the way of a simple cartoon showing a typical domestic disaster. No fuss and bother about wondering why Mr. Bear is supervising the laundry when he SHOULD be smoking a cigar while sitting in his easy chair.
It could be argued that this joke is funnier if the monkey has clothes on, and if those clothes establish that we are being coyly threatened by an adolescent girl monkey. Knowing what clothing fits the picture is part of the artistic process.
The clothes here also conceal the fact that it isn’t really easy for a bloodhound to sit up on a stool this way, while the lack of shoes allows us to see clearly that the young lady is struggling to express her feelings as she writes.
Deciding what clothes fit the scenario continues to be a key element in postcard design. We have here a teddy bear couple enjoying a sunset in late autumn, dressed for the weather. Meanwhile, their kitten (who is nearly as big as they are) wears no clothing at all. THAT would have been silly.
