Figure 1.--We do not fully understand this ad from the French Petit Bateau company, but it appears to be for underwear. The caps are presumably to chow that they are French children and the strap shoes to underscore that they azre younger children. So presumzbly it is the underwear that is being advertised. |
We have little information on 1937 at this time. We do note an advertisement for underwear from the Petit Bateau children's wear company. The reader providing this ad was not posityive about the date, but thought it was 1937.
Petit Bateau was a French company producing children clothes. It would be translated "Little Boat". The bottom line of the ad reads, "Cu;lotte 'Petit Bateau' pour bien habiller les enfants." I think that translates as, "Petit Bateau short pants for dressing children well." Petit Bateau "underwear is the most important French Brand . It was a widely recognized brand since the early 1900s. It is very highly regarded and the company's underwear garments served as basic styles copied by other companies and became standard styles. Since 1936 , practically all French children living in cities wore " culotte Petit Bateau ". The Petit Bateau underwear were for both boys and girls even in 1900.
This ad was sent to us by a HBC reader who thought it appeared in a 1937 magazine. Unfottunately he does not know what magazine it was from or the date of the magazine. A French reader tells us that it was not from a 1937 magazine and could in fact have appeared in the 1920s. He writes, "Notice the label placed at the side of the underpant, all underwear Ptit Bateau have one . This label seen on this ad is from the 1920s. Since 1936 this label is placed in the inside back. Another clue in dating the image is the color ad. Color ads were not common in the early 20th century.
We do not fully understand this ad from the French Petit Bateau company, but it appears to be for underwear. The caps are presumably to show that they are French children and the strap shoes to underscore that they are younger children. So presumably it is the underwear that is being advertised.
There seems to be a little jingle involved. The title is " Marinette dans son répertoire". That would translate as " Marionette into her repertoire " but I am unsure just what that means. Perhaps something like, marionette (puppet) begins to sing. The subtitle is "Sur l'aire de .... 'Papa les Petiits Bateaux'". I think this means that the company jingle is sung to the tune of the song titled "Daddy the small boats". We can not read the first line under the music bar. The rest of the text reads, "Maman les P'tits Bateaux, Sent les cul;ottes qu'on préfére, Les P'tits Bagteaux, ma mére, Sant les culottes qu'il me faut". A French reader explains, "
The name Marinette is a kindly dininutive of sailor. This girl
pet name sounds the water the wind and by the way the cleaness.
To tuch the children, wich had much attention after World War I,
The ad used a popular children's song, very widely known by French children at the time, " Maman les petits bateaux qui vont sur l'eau ect..." But the brand company changed the words with:
'Maman les P'tits Bateaux
sont les culottes que l'on préfère
Les Petits Bateaux ma mère
Sont les culottes qu'il me faut' This means, 'Mummy the small boats
are the underpants we prefer, Mother ! the Petits bateaux
are the underpants I need."
Other text in the ad reads, "Culotte Petit Bateau pour bien habiller les enfants ". That means, "Underpant Petit Bateau for well dressed the children."
The advertidsement here is the children's underwear depicted in the ad. There appear to be somewhat different styles shown here for the boy and girl. I don't see any information about the underwear garments in the ad, except the jingle suggesting that the company's underwear was popular with children.
"culotte" can have various meanings in French. The same is true of similar English words like knickers, pants, and shorts. Culotte can mean: breeches, shorts or even underpants (normally women's the term for mens/boys briefs being "un slip"). Specifically short
trousers would be "culotte courtes" ( or "le short" in modern usage).
So here culotte would be referring to young childrens' underpants.
A French reader tells us, "Until 1935 these new sort of underpant were called, "Culotte baby ( baby underpant ) from 1 till 11-12 years old or Cache-couche ( diaper-cover) from 1 till 18 years old
or Culotte from 1 untill 14-18 years old. The top was called :
Gilet for a boy or Brassière ( for the baby model from 1 till 8 years old ).
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