Figure 1.--This French-made post card was made in France about 1932. Notice the Dutch greeting. Some of the clothing is realistic, but we doubt if he really had snow ball fights in strap shoes. Clock on the image for more information about the company. Note that the painter has painted a glove on one hand and a glove on part of the other hand.

One French postcard company in 1932 was making cards woth a "M" in an oval logo. The cards were being exported to the Netherlands. We do not know, however, if the portraits for the cards were shot with special themes and clothing for the Netherlands. It did have a Dutch greeting. The cards employed rather fanciful hand painting as well as improbable scenes.

The Company

We lnow very little about this company. It does not seem to have been as large as some of the other French companies. We do know that the company in 1932 was making cards woth a "M" in an oval logo. The cards were being exported to the Netherlands. We do not know, however, if the portraits for the cards were shot with special themes and clothing for the Netherlands. It did have a Dutch greeting. With all the snow, the card does seem to have more of a Dutch than a French look about it. The cards employed rather fanciful hand painting as well as improbable scenes or garments. Note that the numbering system does not identify a certain card, but apparently a specific photograpic shoot.

Hand Coloring

Some of the hand coloring was done in improable colors. We know that the color of the boys sweater here was painted on and has no real relationship to the actual color of his sweater. Prove this by clicking on the image. The purple sweater and red trim does not look quite right for the 1930s, but the card was not rediculosly colored as was the case of some cards in the 1920s.

Improbable Costumes

Actually the costume shown here seems quite plauible in some ways. The boys cap and sweater certainly would have been wiorn during the winter.

White shorts

And many French and Dutch boys wore short pants all year round, including during snowy weather. What is improbable, however, is that he would have worn white shorts in the winter. These would have been much more common in the summer.

Strap shoes

Also improbable is that he would have been allowed to go ourside and play in what look to be new strap shoes. We believe that this style was a summer play style or a style for dressier occasions. Many of the children, both boys and girls, pictured in French post cards wear strap shoes. We believe, especially in the case of boys, that strap shoes were pictured much more commonly than the extent to which they were worn. This appears to have been part pf the practice as picturing the children to be sweet and innocent. We are unsure to what extent strap shoes were actually worn and by what age group. We do know that before World War II (1939-45) that sneakers were not yet common and boys commonly wore sandals of all styles--including closed toe styles. Strap shoes in fact were worn both as a dress shoe by younger children and a play shoe, although older boys more commonly wore the English "T"-bar style.

Comments

A Dutch reader who collects post cards reports, "The boy with the white shorts and snow balls is a very good example of the colouring of the cards I think. The yellow and the purple version are from the same outfit I think. Ttake a closer look at these two."

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Created: November 5, 2001
Last updated: November 9, 2001