Dame costume, printed cotton, worn by Will Judge ca. 1920s.

Dame costume consisting of a jacket and skirt of printed cotton trimmed with braid and white collar:

Long sleeved, round necked jacket of cotton printed with a minute all-over stylized flower pattern in dark brown and chestnut on an off-white ground. The back falls into a shallow point which is boned to the waist. Down the front edges and around the hem and cuffs is brown flat braid. Around the neck is a white cotton collar embroidered with whitework flowers. Fixed at either side are ties to fasten at the back. The jacket opens down the front and fastens with hooks and eyes. The jacket is built onto an inner white cotton garment, fixed to the back but free at the front, buttoning down the front.
Ankle length gathered skirt of cotton printed with a minute all-over stylized flower pattern in dark brown and chestnut on an off-white ground. Over the skirt is an overskirt of the same fabric, caught up to thigh level and held with deep pink rosettes, edged with dark striped ribbon and centered with a dark brown velvet-covered button. The overskirt is trimmed at the hem with a line of brown flat braid. The skirt fastens at the back waist with a button.

Given by Patric Judge in memory of his grandfather Will Judge (1883-1960).

Will Judge (1883-1960), billed as The Norfolk Comedian, was a well-known comedy- variety and pantomime artist for thirty years in the first half of the 20th century. Although he performed all over the British Isles, occasionally in London, he was best known in East Anglia and the North of England; at this period, before the spread of radio and the invention of television, comedians were often 'local' and humour in the North could be very different from that in the South (for example, Max Miller was never as popular in the North of England, while Jimmy Learmouth was most popular in his native Lancashire). He played Dame in pantomime and married Gertrude Orchard, who played Principal Boy. His Dame characters, while obviously exaggerated, inclined towards the 'elegant' or homely rather than the grotesque. Such costumes were not 'designed' in the formal sense, but rather evolved in the making; the making, too, could be domestic rather than professional at a period when most girls were taught to sew.

Will Judge (1883-1960), The Norfolk Comedian, was as his title indicates, a well-known performer in East Anglia in the early 20th century, performing in variety and as a pantomime dame. In the days before radio and television, comedians were often famous within a fairly restricted area and humour, too, showed many local variations - there were many comedians famous in the north of England who never performed in the south, and vice versa.
This jacket and skirt was worn by Judge as a pantomime dame. It is made of a patterned cotton that is typical of the late 19th century. From his costumes, it is clear that Judge's dames were elegant or homely rather than grotesque caricatures. Most dames had their own costumes and wore them in many different pantomimes. Such costumes were not 'designed' in the formal sense, but rather evolved in the making and it was probably the work of a member of Judge's family rather than a professional costume maker.

S.105:1 to 2-2004