Hat for a girl's medieval-style pantomime costume, ca.1930.

This costume would probably have been worn in a parade of medieval characters during a pantomime, or possibly in the final 'walk-down' - the closing scene when the entire company dresses in wedding finery to celebrate the marriage of the principal girl and boy and take to their curtain-call. Children chorus members who also danced became a popular aspect of pantomime casts from the later part of the 19th century, but the hat suggests that this costume would not have been used by a dancing chorus girl.

The costume is not labelled but its pantomime association comes from its provenance. The donor's aunt, Mae Rogers was for many years the Wardrobe Supervisor for British theatrical impresario Prince Littler (1901-1973). She also designed and made costumes. Littler bought his first theatres in 1931 and by 1947 was chairman of Moss Empires and a director of the Howard and Wyndham theatres chain. Spectacular pantomimes were popular and lucrative productions at all his theatres. Mae Rogers was responsible for the costumes of upwards of six pantomime productions at a time, as well as for Prince Littler's touring companies of plays and musicals. She worked out of the Littler offices and West End theatres such as the Aldwych and the Lyceum, and having made and supervised the pantomime wardrobes would be called upon to tour the Littler circuit overseeing the productions. Prince Littler had productions running at the London Coliseum, and around the country - at the Royal Opera House, Leicester; the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester; Streatham Hill, Brighton Hippodrome, Golders Green Hippodrome, Bristol, Cardiff, and dozens of other venues. ;

The dress was originally trimmed with rows of silver sequins that would have sparkled beautifully on stage, but which suffered when the costume was washed after being given to the donor, who wore it as a child when playing at 'dreesing up'. Its design combines the traditional styles and techniques of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the new trends of the 1930s. The full skirt, gathered at the waist, departs from the sleek and slender shape which defined this era, a silhouette facilitated by bias cut fabrics which flowed around the figure and draped at the hem. Yet the neckline, full sleeves, and tie belt detail at the waist, are clearly linked to the revival of historical styles which occurred during this decade. The costumes for the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood exemplify the enthusiasm for faux medieval styles. The long, close fitting dresses worn by the heroine proved particularly suited to the bias cut silhouette, their waistlines defined, as with this costume, using plaited cord belts, and the sleeves often extending into long pointed cuffs. The full sleeves and square necklines of the dress are, however, more closely associated with the Renaissance styles also popular during the thirties, and which were to be revived again in the 1970s by the designer, Bill Gibb.