“Google enhanced?” Nope. “Wikipedia enhanced because it’s quick and easy to find and tells all that I thought was needed for my point?” Guilty, but I also come at this as older than you (the earliest photos of my grandfather, born in 1884, show him in dresses), a fan of domestic history, and mentally stuck in the late 19th and early 20th. When I’m not stuck in the 14th, though I’m still not a zombie. Shit, I think I have (somewhere) a shot of my dad (1920) in one, though it might be a christening gown.
Breeching generally took place between two and eight. The Kid is in that range. “The Yellow kid had a lot of agency and seemed well old enough to be toilet trained.” I agree, and breeching would have probably taken place before a child entered school, but he is a character in a cartoon and the dress/nightshirt/long sweater left a lot of space for his snarky dialogue. Was he Asian? With that sassy mouth and in that neighborhood? Not likely for very long.
This thread seems to be a semi-zombie, but I feel that it’s worth noting that the shirt is yellow. The skin is not yellow. Asian people (even if they were actually yellow in color - which they aren’t) do not wear predominately yellow clothing, nor do they turn their clothing yellow by proximity.
If you see someone in a yellow shirt, unless you are in Asia or a heavily Asian neighborhood, they are probably not Asian. More importantly, the color of their shirt is not a viable way of determining their ancestry.
The second is my own search. It strains credibility to say that boys under 8 were in frocks until 100 years ago or so.
I cannot imagine life on a farm as a boy in a dress for one thing. Children were in school from earlier than 8. Are there classroom photos with all dresses on the boys?
Ernest Hemingway is a famous person who is pictured in a dress as an infant, and we all may remember. This picture is EH aged 5 though. No frock. Can anyone provide a cite for EH over the age of 4 in a dress?
I meant the thread’s a zombie, not you. You’re A OK.
Toilet training up to aged 8? One possibility is that the kid not being breeched was absurd (in 1895), and it would be taken as a part of the “joke” by the contemp audience.
I also thought The Yellow Kid was supposed to be Chinese. It wasn’t until later that I found out his name was Mickey Dugan, and that he was supposed to be Irish. But that was way before the article in the OP. I would expect the writer of the original article to know that considering his background.
Can you imagine the peer pressure on a little new york street kid though? I’m thinking the joke (of being overage for a frock) was built in to the strip but we don’t have the context now.
How about Outcault’s other hit, Buster Brown. As one of Wikipedia’s references says, “Making its first appearance in 1902, Buster Brown was Richard F. Outcault’s follow-up to his breakthrough strip, Hogan’s Alley, starring the Yellow Kid. Instead of terrorizing the mean streets of a New York City slum, as the Kid did, Buster and Tige raised hell on Park Avenue. Imagine Calvin & Hobbes, only with Hobbes prone to biting and Calvin dressed in a Little Lord Fauntleroy getup that was as liable to get him beat up a century ago as it would be now.”
Wait a sec, that sounds familiar. (scrolling through the references) Sho’ nuff, I’m a freakin’ AUTHORITY! Bow before me!
