Clown Costume worn by the comedian Harry Tate (1872-1940) (Ronald Macdonald Hutchinson). Cream silk satin ground decorated with a pattern of grapes and vines and embellished with beads and sequins. ca. 1890

Clown Costume worn by the comedian Harry Tate (1872-1940) (Ronald Macdonald Hutchinson). ca. 1890.

Knee length, one piece suit of cream silk satin. The suit has long sleeves which are very full at the shoulder and a high round upright pleated cotton collar. Two crescent shaped rolls of padding have been used to add shaping at the proper right and proper left shoulders of the suit, one sits at the top interior edge of the sleeveheads, the other being positioned inside the top edge of the sleeve itself.

The suit fastens right over left with a series of 4 industrial strength press studs at the proper left shoulder and 3 large hooks at the collar. A zip has been added at the proper left side seam, but this appears to be a later modification.

The upper part of the suit fits fairly closely to the body, whilst the base flares out from the waist to extend into full ‘shorts’ which reach to a point slightly above the knee. The interior of these ‘shorts’ is faced with six parallel bands of pleated ‘frills’ of stiff cream lined. The same cream linen has been used to line the interior of the upper part of the suit.

The front and rear of the suit are decorated with a meandering pattern of grapes and vine leaves. The base pattern appears to have been painted or drawn onto the surface of the fabric, this has then been outlined with beading. The grapes are a vivid magenta outlined with sequins and decorated with cut glass beads in the same tone. Their leaves are edged in gold glass bugle [?] beads with highlights in green ink and decorated with additional cut glass gold beads.

This costume was worn by the comedian Harry Tate (1872-1940) (Ronald Macdonald Hutchinson). The shaping at the sleeves and collar indicate that it may have been designed in ca.1890 as it follows the fashionable silhouette of female dress from this period, but the addition of the zip at the proper left side seam indicates that the garment was modified at a later date.

Clown Costume worn by the comedian Harry Tate (1872- 1940). The suit is cut in one piece and the cream silk satin ground decorated with a pattern of grapes and vines and embellished with beads and sequins. Whilst no date has been assigned to the garment the shaping at the sleeveheads and the neckline of the garment indicate that it may have originally been created in circa 1890 as they mimic the line of female dress from this period.

Harry Tate (1872-1940), born Ronald McDonald Hutchison, assumed his stage name from the company Henry Tate & Sons, Sugar Refiners, for whom he worked before becoming a professional performer. He first appeared under it at the Oxford Music-Hall on 13 April 1895 when his early act consisted of sketches in which he mimicked music-hall stars of the day, using clip-on paper costumes to allow as many as forty-two changes in one act. He went on to develop various sketches based on middle-class leisure pursuits such as fishing, golfing and gardening which he performed with a small company.

S.3470-2013