Vintage Vice Versa

Women in disguise for Halloween? Or just for an amusing photo? Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Twentieth Century Studio, 263 North Eighth Street, Philadelphia, Pa."

A trick or treat photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard with no writing or information on the verso. Presumably these guys were dressed for success at Halloween or some other occasion that called for fine feminine fashions.

An in disguise / in costume photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This may appear to be a Halloween-time scene at first glance, but this real photo postcard of women dressed in men's clothing was actually taken during the month of June, judging by the calendar on the wall behind them. Although the calendar is partially hidden behind the women, I believe it's a bank calendar ("The ----- National Bank"), and it's possible that the location printed on it is Liberal, Kansas. Since June 4 falls on a Friday as shown on the calendar, I'm guessing that the year is 1915 (other possibilities are 1909, 1920, and 1926). The square for Saturday, June 12, seems to be specially marked, so perhaps they're getting ready for a party or some other frivolity on that date. For an interesting comparison, take a look at the trick or treat photo-- Boys' Night Out --that I posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park about this same time last year:

A real photo postcard showing the women who participated in an all-female mock wedding, date and location unknown.

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park demonstrating the quality of being vice versa .* A real photo postcard of a couple amusingly posed on a piano bench with the woman wearing men's clothes and vice versa. I was able to identify the sheet music on the left side of the piano as " Flower Song (Blumenlied) ," Beaux Arts Edition, by Gusatv Lange, ca. 1907. An issue of The Etude , a music magazine, is barely visible on the piano between the woman and man (I couldn't determine the date, but it may be one of the issues from 1907 or 1908 judging by the typeface used for the title and its position at the top of the cover). The framed print hanging on the wall at upper right appears to be a copy of a lithograph entitled "2 Spirited Horses," one version of which was published by Jos. Hoover & Sons, Philadelphia, in 1908 (it's also similar to a Currier & Ives lithograph "Horses in a Thunderstorm," but the the horses in that print are facing to the right instead of the left). *The full description of the theme: "Vice versa"--"A lady and a gentleman dressing in clothes of the opposite sex are vice versa." This definition comes from a letter in a 1923 newspaper regarding a fancy dress/costume competition, and as the judge ruled in 1923, “the dress of each is complete without the aid of the other." Your photo can be of an individual or a couple.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of gotta dance!—dancing of any type . This is an unused real photo postcard showing a couple dancing outside in the yard with an accordionist providing the music and another fellow watching the proceedings (see the full version of the card, which simply has white space on either side of the image). A number of houses and a water tower are visible in the distance beyond the fence, but there's no name on the tower or any other clues to identify the town. Finally, am I reading too much into things, or could the female dancer actually be a man dressed as a woman? If so, is it possible that the other dancer is a woman dressed as a man?

A photographer captured a scene of outdoor dancing and music making in this real photo postcard. For more information, see the cropped version of this image.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of tricks or treats! (any kind of Halloween photo, including costumes, masks, jack-o'-lanterns, decorations, ghosts, skeletons, haunted houses, or anything spooky, scary, or frightening; no limit—post as many Halloween photos as you'd like!) . Handwritten caption in green ink, lower right-hand corner: "Jack - Hallow-Eve - 1933." A real photo postcard showing "Jack" -- usually a man's name -- dressed as a woman for Halloween in 1933. The photo was previously pasted in an album and has remnants of paper and glue on the other side. The photographic paper used for the postcard backing has an Azo stamp box (squares in all four corners, in use from 1924 to 1949).