Costume design
Costume Design
1946 (designed)
1946 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This design is for a show-girl's costume in Hullabaloo, a revue produced by ENSA, or the Entertainments National Service Association, in 1947. Glamorous numbers with exotic dancers were a popular aspect of the light-hearted wartime revues frequently produced at the time at London's Windmill Theatre, in West End theatres, and around the country. Ronald Cobb was something of a specialist in witty designs for show-girls' costumes, and in the early 1950s produced even more elaborate designs for costumes at the London nightclubs Eve's and Murray's Cabaret Club.
The show was produced by John C. Mather, who devised his first show to entertain the Kinross Home Guards in his home town of Kinross, near Perth, Scotland, in 1941. He went on to become a producer for ENSA shows which travelled to garrison theatres in the United Kingdom and where British troops were stationed abroad.
The show was produced by John C. Mather, who devised his first show to entertain the Kinross Home Guards in his home town of Kinross, near Perth, Scotland, in 1941. He went on to become a producer for ENSA shows which travelled to garrison theatres in the United Kingdom and where British troops were stationed abroad.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Costume design (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on cartridge paper |
| Brief description | Costume design for Cancer the Crab in Hullaballoo produced by John C. Mather for ENSA, 1947. Signed and dated Ronald Cobb 47. Watercolour, pen and ink, bodycolour and and pencil on cartridge paper. Given by Rose-Mary McClory. |
| Physical description | Costume design for Cancer the Crab, one of 12 signs of the zodiac in Hullaballoo, of a dark-haired girl full-length, standing wearing black high-heeled shoes, black tights and long black gloves, black bikini-style briefs, a bare midriff, a transparent nylon bodice over which is worn a flowing train coming up from the mid point of the bodice above her navel, fanning out over both shoulders, trailing behind her to the floor, and an elaborate crab headdress with the pincers up in the air. Inscribed in pencil: ’12 SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC IN JOHN C.MATHER’S HULLABALLOO. No 7 Cancer the Crab’. Signed and date in paint: ‘RONALD COBB 47’ |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by Rose-Mary McClory |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This design is for a show-girl's costume in Hullabaloo, a revue produced by ENSA, or the Entertainments National Service Association, in 1947. Glamorous numbers with exotic dancers were a popular aspect of the light-hearted wartime revues frequently produced at the time at London's Windmill Theatre, in West End theatres, and around the country. Ronald Cobb was something of a specialist in witty designs for show-girls' costumes, and in the early 1950s produced even more elaborate designs for costumes at the London nightclubs Eve's and Murray's Cabaret Club. The show was produced by John C. Mather, who devised his first show to entertain the Kinross Home Guards in his home town of Kinross, near Perth, Scotland, in 1941. He went on to become a producer for ENSA shows which travelled to garrison theatres in the United Kingdom and where British troops were stationed abroad. |
| Associated objects |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.175-2007 |
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| Record created | November 7, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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