Man in Sailor Shirt & A Fellow in Drag? Tintype

"George, she has MANHANDS!"

-Seinfeld

And why hasn't anyone commented on the rat on upper left, about to attack jacket-man's shoulder?

 

Spring, I also thought the jacket was unusual for a seaman. I also thought the background just too dilapidated for a formal pic at that day and time. If they just put up a quick staging for taking pics on a merchant marine ship, they certainly could have found something a mite better. That railing is badly rusted with rust or peeled paint hanging from it. There is also peeling paint on the walls. That "rat" is a peeled paint or paint splatter. I have included a close up of it.



I'm not sure where you are seeing the "unknown insignia on person's right cuff." Is it what I have circled in yellow in the following pic? I myself can't tell what it is. To me it could be scratches, damage, on the pic.



In the above close-up, the cuff looks partial rolled up. I agree the hands of the "woman" do look like man's hands, but there is hardly a pic from back then that hands didn't look out of proportion. The shoulders of that person do look narrow like a woman's rather then a man's.



The whole picture is odd:
1. Background
2. Man's clothing: possibly a smoking jacket (jacket could be velvet of corduroy) and possibly blue jeans
3. Man's casual stance as opposed to the "woman's" prim and proper posture.
4. The identical caps

Those hats could very well be of a fraternity, but believe I've seen similar in pics of early 1900s fishermen. They do resemble Greece/Breton caps. Do you know if this pic is US? This could possibly be a French or Greece fishing trawler??
http://asiancajuns.com/2009/09/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/495466396480155281/
French Breton Caps:
http://www.theyachtshop.co.uk/items...head-wear/hat-breton-cap-gc-h50003-detail.htm
http://www.dorsetgifts.com/hats.html

Here is Robert Louis Stevenson in a similar jacket.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jwmhmtjsL...Q/s400/Robert_Louis_Stevenson_Knox_Series.jpg

--- Susan

 

Here are a few close ups of legs, and the lady as requested

Hope that helps!

I just noticed that the "woman's" Knees are far away from where her hands rest on her legs. She looks to be pretty darn tall.

 

The thumb looks very manly but the face could go either way.

Do you think these could be carnival or sideshow people? His ears and his/her height could have been the attraction.

 

Possibly? But I'm not sure!

 

Looks like a man to me including the hair cut, I know that's not uncommon now but was a manly hair common then? Im sure some did but to me looks like a man and looks like he/she could be very tall.....

 

Eh, I'm seeing a tall boyish-faced young woman without any cosmetics, a rather nice complexion, if perhaps freckled, and hair pulled back with short curled bangs; her breasts appear to be properly located, with the blouse ballooning a bit below them. Along with her fairly casual attire, looks like maybe she is wearing fingerless gloves, perhaps she'd been doing something athletic?

Lack of sleep can make you do weird things, like putting Kardashian hair on an old tintype face...



~Cheryl

 

Maybe true, but all speculation, without the female clothes she looks like a boy including her nose but some women do....look male-ish and vise versa

 

Well, everything said about the pic is speculation, its origin is unknown and perception always varies by the individual - to my eye, she is built like a woman and seems quite comfortable in well-fitting female clothing, personally, can't really see any reason to think her to be male (not even a tell-tale Adams apple, though the neck is shadowed).

~Cheryl

 

And of course...then there's this............

C'mon everyone ......sing along !

I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola [LP version: Coca-Cola]
See-oh-el-aye cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola
El-oh-el-aye Lola la-la-la-la Lola

Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola

Well we drank champagne and danced all night
Under electric candlelight
She picked me up and sat me on her knee
And said dear boy won't you come home with me
Well I'm not the world's most passionate guy
But when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
I pushed her away
I walked to the door
I fell to the floor
I got down on my knees
Then I looked at her and she at me

Well that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola

Well I left home just a week before
And I'd never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said dear boy I'm gonna make you a man

Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola
La-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola
Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola

 

So silly Kimownonwonwona
Interesting and a hard call, I go back and forth, her shoulders do look smaller in comparison to the fella next to her, the eyes make me wonder....also men dressing like women then would have been more scandalous years ago?

 

What a curious photo - I also thought 'man' at first, but the more I look the more feminine the face becomes, especially the eyes. Are they fingerless gloves she's wearing?

 

Believe me, I have some photos of my ancestors that would be questionable if I didn't know who they were. Some women were 'plain' as they used to say.

 

"Plain" translates to "homely" in these parts.

 

I'm sure she had a wonderful personality though.

 

It's a man and woman; her hair is just pulled back and pinned up, and she's slender. No makeup can lead to the butch look; I'll bet she looked totally different with her hair loose and cap off. These days she'd be a model. The guy's shirt is a lace-up; they pop up in menswear every few years. It was common in athletic shirts in the 19th century if I remember right.

 

Oho...penny drops. Dollars to donuts she's in golfing clothes.

 

Good thought -- I hadn't thought of that.

 

What she's wearing would have been pretty relaxed/casual for the time, especially in that print fabric. Add in the hat and some copies of some golfing prints I've seen recently and...bingo.