Hats and uniforms
are a common theme in my blog
and for good reason.
There are a lot of examples
of fancy headgear and resplendent costumes
in my photograph and postcard collection.
Many of them are pictures of female entertainers,
members of bands, orchestras, or music hall troupes.
The genre with the most variety
are the German/Austrian Damen Kapelle ~ Ladies Bands.
These small ensembles of brass bands, trumpeter corps, and salon orchestras
were made up, mainly, of female musicians
who were promoted in a bewildering large number of postcards.
Some of these troupes did not pose with instruments
but chose instead to show off their distinctive costumes
like they might appear on the stage of a music hall.
Today I present a collection
of these young Germanic women
from the golden age of European musical theater.
They liked to stand in a line.
This group of five young women dressed in the costume of a kind of military band call themselves Häcker's Damen-, Sport- u. Verwandlungs- Ensemble or Häcker's Ladies Sport, Transformation Ensemble. They are really only the drum section of a band as the quintet has only a bass drummer, triangle player, cymbal players, and snare drummer along with a stout drum major to lead them. The caption places their mailing address as in Dresden-North on Ludwigstrasse 2. They look like they made a good noise as they marched around the music hall stage. What exactly they did for "Sport and Transformation" is unknown.
The postcard was sent on 1 August 1910 to Fräulein Lydia Schmidt of Oberköditz, a village in Königsee, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, Thuringia. Lydia apparently received her mail at a porcelain factory nearby.
* * *
Herr Häcker either had more than one ensemble or more than five girls. In this next lineup the Damen Sport und Vewrrwandlungs Ensemble are outfitted with swords, shields, and a kind of fantasy Amazonian armor which offers little protection of their legs. I suppose the helmets and chain mail pullover might follow some ancient Germanic traditions but I suspect their style better resembles costumes from one of Richard Wagner's operas. I can't see any face that matches with any of the women in the other Häcker ensemble.
The back of the postcard is addressed but without a postmark or date. I expect it was printed in 1910, too, around the same time as the previous card. Did the Häcker ensemble girls sing? Dance? Play other musical instruments? I don't know, but they probably looked pretty shiny and sharp when marching around on stage.
* * *
There seems to have been no shortage of costumes and uniforms for German music hall acts of this type. Here a quartet of resolute women are dressed in masculine uniforms with white trousers and dark military-like tunics and hats. On their shoulders they carry fearsome axes. On the backdrop is a symbol of a pair of crossed tools with the slogan Glück auf! ~ Good luck!. The caption identifies them as Max Müller's Damen Ensemble wishing "Ein Herzlich - zum Gruss ~ a heartfelt greeting" from the Bergmann-Ensemble.
The crossed tools are a
Hammer and Pick, a heraldic symbol for miners or mining towns. In fact the word
Bergmann is German for miner. The symbol is also on their axe heads too. Looking closely the sharp pointy bit is covered by a tiny marble knob, presumably for safety. Hanging at their waist the women also carry a box with a rounded top. Since they are "miners" I believe these are the lamps used by mineworkers down in the mines. However I can't imagine that white trousers and gloves, along with tall hats with white feather plumes, were standard apparel for any coal miner, male or female.
This postcard was sent from Dresden on 18 December 1904.
* * *
Saluting was another common pose seen in many postcards of German ladies orchestras. Here a quintet of five women offer a kind of half-hearted raised hand that looks more like they are shading their eyes from the sun's glare. They wear matching feminine uniforms with long dark skirts, tight-waisted jackets, and floppy cloth caps pinned to their hair. Each has a small canteen slung over a shoulder, which I suspect contains a more invigorating refreshment than water.
The caption reads:
Gruss von den Marketenderinnen des Damen-Orchester P. Schultz. The word
Marketenderinnen is the German word for a sutler, also called a victualer. Since ancient times a
sutler was an important part of any military force as they were the civilian merchants who sold provisions to an army. They typically traveled with an army on a field campaign or to a remote military outpost where they sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent. But I don't think sutler women usually wore stylish uniforms like these.
This postcard was sent on 5 February 1905 from Halle, Germany, a major city in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The large circular stamp on the left corner is commemorating or advertising something, possibly a concert by this group for St. Lukas Halle.
* * *
This group of six women appear to be not so much saluting as scratching their heads. They wear identical dark skirts, capes, and pillbox hats sporting a single pointed feather. Their capes/shawls are attached with a musical lyre pin which is appropriate for their name: Erste Pertrianer Tamburitza-Kappel "SLAVIA", Direktion: A. Wuksan.
A Tamburitza or
Tamburica is a family of long-necked lutes traditionally played in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, especially Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (of which it is the national string instrument), Slovenia, and Hungary. Since nearly all of this region was once part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire until 1918, there were many ethnic ensembles that performed popular music on these string instruments. Most of the postcards of Tamburitza Ensembles from this era are usually a mix of men and women, all dressed in colorful folk costumes. Herr Wuksan's Slavia group are unusual for their more somber dress, though the black and white print may hide a more colorful fabric.
Their postcard has a postmark of 15 December 1909 from Leipzig, Germany. Stamped on the message side is a logo for the "Goldene Krone" Hotel und Konzerthaus, which presumably is where they were performing.
* * *
This line of five young women seem to be pointing at something in their eye rather than actually saluting. They wear a kind of 18th century military tunic along with short swords and tall metal shako hats. However I don't think their shapely white hosiery and lightweight slippers are regulation. According to the postcard caption they are: Hans Lämmermann's Damen, Variété, uund Burlesken Ensemble. This multi-function name suggests that the group performed several kinds of acts, maybe singing and dancing, possibly playing some instrumental music too. But judging from their costumes I'd expect they strutted onto the stage rather than high kicked ala a French can-can. This postcard was never mailed but has a simple handwritten note of their name and a location of Chemnitz in Saxony, eastern Germany.
* * *
This quartet of ladies are dressed similarly but have longer cavalry swords and fancier imperial Prussian helmets topped with golden eagles. They are not saluting but instead look like they are conducting a band. They are The Brustons Damen-Gesangs-Ensemble. Using the English article word "the" suggests they might be a British group imitating a German fashion. Again we can assume they sang—Gesangen and doubtless marched onto the stage, but surely they did not ride horses with such leggings and pretty slippers.
This postcard has a postmark of 8 April 1905 from München~Munich, Germany.
* * *
My last example of ladies of the German music hall stage are more of a platoon as they are dressed in uniforms of the Imperial German Army. Kind of. These eight women wear the German soldier's standard field tunic of 1914-1918 complete with haversack, rifle, bayonet, and spiked helmet or pickelhaube. But instead of practical wool trousers they wear a forerunner of yoga pants with matching white leather mid-heel boots. Probably not the best choice for marching off to battle. The postcard caption calls them Unsere Feldgrauen 8 Germanias ~ Our Field Grey 8 Germanias.
On the back of the postcard is printed their name with a date and place: 8 Germanias, März 1918, Cöln a Rh. which place them on March 1918 in Cologne, Germany which is on the Rhine River.
The postmark is dated 5 April 1918 which happens to be the day when British forces prevailed over a major German advance at Ancre, France, ending the first stage of the final German Spring Offensive, also known as
Operation Michael.
This operation began on 21 March 1918 and was the start of an attempt by the Germans to push through British and French forces before the main American forces arrived in France. Despite advancing more than 65 km (40 mi) into French territory and capturing over 75,000 British soldiers, 1,300 artillery pieces, and 200 tanks, the German offensive was finally stopped by the British at its most western point in France. It cost the German army 250,000 casualties while the Allies sustained around 255,000 casualties which included 177,739 British, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand soldiers killed, wounded and missing. The numbers are beyond any comprehension as the remains of thousands of fallen soldiers have never been recovered or accounted for. The full
German spring offensive of 1918, also known as the
Kaiserschlacht or the
"Kaiser's Battle" would not end until 18 July 1918. The final casualty numbers would be a staggering three time greater.
This medley of women in hats and uniforms
is just a fraction of my postcard collection
of German/Austrian female music ensembles.
Readers who would like to see more
should check out these earlier stories:
where nice nurses are numerous.
