Thursday, February 13, 2014

Hobble Skirt Cars on Broadway



This postcard shows a procession of hobble skirt cars on Broadway in New York City. the following information is from the back of the postcard:
The new surface cars now so numerous on Broadway were first introduced in 1914. The central portion of the cars is built close to the ground and the doors are in the center of the car, the steps being only about 6 inches from the ground.
This postcard was mailed in 1916. It has a picture that was used by more than one postcard publisher.  The picture can be dated 1914 from the sign advertising "Too Many Cooks" on the Kaiser Hof Bar/Cafe building on the right. "Too Many Cooks" was a comedy that opened Feb 24, 1914 and closed in September 1914.  Below is a review dated February 26, 1914.



Another sign on the building advertises the Shapiro Bernstein Co., an American music publishing company established in 1900 and still in existence.     

The hobble skirt cars would have made it easier for women wearing hobble skirts to enter, though by 1914 the hobble skirts had lost their popularity. Hobble skirts, that were narrow around the ankle and made movement difficult, were most popular around 1910-1913. The drawings below are from a 1910 New York Times article that called them "the latest freak in woman's fashions."






For More Vintage Images


http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2014/02/sepia-saturday-215-15-february-2014.html



21 comments:

  1. As if life wasn’t difficult enough being a woman that they had to create hobble skirts!

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  2. Great detail on that postcard. Nice post! :)

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  3. So technology followed fashion even in 1914. So glad those skirts became pase'. But having a 6 inch step into the street car didn't last, because by the 1950's they were much like buses, with 3 steps to climb, and I had pretty short legs then!

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  4. Very interesting study of the postcard, but what I like best is how my eye follows that pop of yellow so prominent in the streetcars but dotted here and there in the signs on the buildings and clothing in the crowd (probably women in hobble skirts!).

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  5. For a fraction of a second I thought you had found the theme pboto all coloured up ! Well chosen. But oh dear those hobble skirts. I wonder who first thought them up.

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  6. A wonderful postcard with so much detail in it and I enjoyed your account of the hobble skirts. .

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  7. Great postcard. Those old model trams/streetcars can be hard to get into for anyone with disabilities, let alone hobble skirts!

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  8. I love that the streetcars were named after an item of women's clothing! The trains here in France have doors that are half a metre off the floor and steep steps that makes getting in wearing a normal skirt a challenge!

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  9. A very colourful postcard. Which came first, rather like the chicken and the egg, the skirt or the streetcar?

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  10. I wonder if hobble skirts were any tighter than the straight skirts of later years. I guess the difference was that they ended around the knees and not the ankles.

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  11. Those are a lot of hobble skirt cars. Back then fashion also changed fast.

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  12. Oh so interesting. I had heard of hobble skirts but not hobble style street cars before...how accommodating to the ladies. And a lovely postcard as always.

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  13. They were ahead of their time on the design of those streetcars--always a challenge to get the step close to the ground. Lots of great detail on this card.

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  14. I love the comment "the latest freak in women's fashions" referring to the hobble skirts. How often, since the advent of clothing in the beginning of time, have fashions been utterly ridiculous - & not always for women, either!

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  15. I always wish that shaking a postcard view like this would scramble the people and set them in motion. Good detective work on the show sign. Reading the review I feel like I've seen this episode remade as a TV sitcom.

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  16. Wow, a stunning card, it looks as pristine as the day it was printed. The theatre review was a great find, a 5 roomed cottage on a stage would certainly be a challenge, I wonder if it had doors.

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  17. Love all the colors. Mistakenly, I always thought, it only got busy in cities later on in the century, but I am wrong, I see many people bustling about trying to run their errands or meet appointments, hobble skirt or not!

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  18. In the days when I used public transport - the late 1960's - mini skirts were all the rage. This not only made it easy for young ladies to climb to the top deck, it also provided plenty of interest for young men :) I don't think the hobble skirts would provide that level of fun.

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  19. Ah! Now I know why they are called hobble skirt cars. Thanks for that.

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  20. Great post. The postcard is lovely -- and all the things that your took from it to enliven your post -- just great and informative about that age -- from ladies skirts, to street cars to theater and buildings.

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  21. Excellent research! It's great when you put the postcard within the context of the time!

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