Last year at this time, I posted some interesting history on the Philadelphia Mummers. This year, I scoured the Internet for old pictures and archival film footage. I’m sure a lot of the photographs and movies came from basements and attics that were cleaned out when their owners passed on. Here are the most interesting pictures I found
Mummers from Old Europe
Illustration from 1888
Men have traditionally dressed as women in the Mummers Parade, most notably in the Comic divisions. Since women were not allowed to be Mummers until the 1970′s, men had to take their parts. This is not unusual. Women were forbidden to act in Elizabethan England. The first Juliet was probably played by a young man. In Japanese Noh drama, men traditionally play female roles.
Newspaper Clipping 1904
Newspaper Clipping 1925
Newspaper Clipping 1907
1919 Newspaper Clipping
1933 Newspaper Clipping
Here are some more old pictures of the parade. I have tried to pinpoint the location of each picture. Not all of the buildings depicted (like the Arcade Building) are still standing. Others, like City Hall, the Masonic Temple and the Arch Street Methodist Church are still here.
But wait, there’s more!!!!
Click here for a whole page of links to some fascinating old video clips.
and click here for video and pictures of the South Philly Vikings Philadelphia Mummers Convention Center Performance
Fancy Brigade Finale for 2012
Ornamentodeux
I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures from my Flickr set. The originals and my comments are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41490666@N07/sets/72157625499597671
Fun and interesting stuff!
Thanks for the link. I didn’t realize that you had such an extensive collection. My bad. I am going to put the link in my sidebar in the hope that more people will go to your page, see all the images and read your commentary. You have made quite a contribution pulling the images and history together and more people need to see it.
Thanks again!
That’s sweet. Thank you!