McMahon and King, two actors made up as blackface minstrels, with King in drag. Photographic postcard, 191-.

She ain't a bit like the other girls, this little girl o'mine. McMahon & King

King looks over his shoulder, whilst McMahon in a top hat holds out his finger, pointing. Blackface minstrels (white actors with faces blackened to represent and mock Black people) were a form of entertainment in vaudeville shows in the US from the middle of the nineteenth century. By the end of that century such "minstrel shows" were a staple of entertainment all over Europe, particularly in English seaside towns, where minstrels entertained on pier and beach the length and breadth of the country. However, black-face combined with drag was a rarity. The caption says "She ain't a bit like the other girls…"

Part of James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled ‘Drag’.

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Item Information:

Identifier: sq87bt87k
Collection: James Gardiner 20th Century Drag Postcards
Institution: Wellcome Library
Date Issued: 1910 to 1919?
Genre: Photographs
Prints
Topic(s): Female impersonators
Minstrel music
Resource Type: Still Image
Analog Format: 1 photograph : photoprint ;
Language: English
Rights: Copyright undetermined
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