The Hidden History of the Smock Frock by Alison Toplis

Author:Alison Toplis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc

Those who wanted to get on in life abandoned smocks for cheap ready-made jackets and suits, leaving the garment to elderly men and, on stage, as visual shorthand for a simple bumbling fool.15

The rustic was one of a set of formulaic characters such as the Cockney, the Irishman and the costermonger, which formed the basis of music-hall entertainment. By the late nineteenth century, these characters were based on perceptions of everyday life and the attitudes of the (urban) man in the street, with the country bumpkin representing the supposed differences between town and country, highlighted for comic and dramatic effect.16 For such a caricature to work, ‘rustics’ needed to be a distinct group both in appearance and lifestyle, so that the urban working-class music-hall audiences could scorn and ridicule their peculiarities.17 Thus in 1873, Mr W. Bailey performed comic songs dressed as an ‘agricultural labourer’ in a smock frock, such as ‘Loading the Hay’ at the Canterbury Music Hall in Lambeth, London.18

A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock was also a hugely successful play throughout the 1850s and, taking around 50 minutes to perform, was soon popular with amateur dramatic companies too.19 Originally developed for the Lyceum Theatre under the management of Madame Vestris and Charles Matthews, William Brough was the ‘house author’ in the vaudeville department and his ‘droll farce’ was received favourably after its premier at the theatre on 13 December 1852.20 John Buttercup, a milkman, was the ‘phenomenon’ mentioned in the play’s title. His costume specifications were a white smock frock, cord breeches, gaiters and thick hob-nailed boots, the actor being directed to speak with a strong Somersetshire dialect. The plot revolved around Buttercup returning a lost pocketbook, complete with 50 pounds, for which he is offered a reward that he will not take, even when the reward is upped to 2 sovereigns. Sowerby, the gentleman who had lost the pocketbook, exclaims: ‘Is it possible, that beneath that lowly garb I have at length discovered the phenomenon – an honest man!’ Flattery will not corrupt Buttercup so Sowerby employs him to speak the truth about his household as ‘few are fools enough to do it’. Not unexpectedly, everything starts to go wrong as Buttercup accuses the housekeeper of fixing the accounts and his unvarnished frankness about Sowerby’s appearance, with his ignorance of social airs and graces, is hurtful. As Sowerby cannot get rid of Buttercup for seven years, eventually a plot is hatched to teach him to lie, Sowerby concluding that ‘Innocent flattery and pleasant fiction serve as oil to make the wheels [of society] run easy’. Buttercup ends the play by asking the audience to collude in liking it.21 For middle-class and urban viewers, ‘low’ rustic life was where passions were seen in their purest form, without polite conventions concealing feelings and distorting relationships. Similar themes were expressed in contemporary genre paintings, depicting ‘homely joys’, strong, natural feelings, unchecked by the artificial refinements of ‘society’, the antidote to aristocratic disdain and complex social mores.22

The title of the play even appeared to enter popular language.

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