Babes in Toyland - 1903 Jill

One of the comical characters in Babes in Toyland was Jill, from the nursery rhyme Jack & Jill. She and her brother Jack were both members of the Piper family, along with Red Riding Hood, Bo-Peep, Tommy Tucker, etc., but Jill played a larger part in the plot of the show than most of her siblings. 

This is her first act costume, presenting her as a tomboyish character. Caroline Siedle makes use of bold stripes again, in the flaring skirt of brown and white. The golden tan apron and yellow bows on the braids tie in to the same warm color scheme as Jane, Alan and Floretta. A costume sketch in the collection of the New York Public Library shows a first act design for Contrary Mary, wearing what I think of as her running away dress. It shows a sage green and yellow striped skirt with a green overdress and red cape, with accents in gold & red. These costumes would all work together and compliment each other very nicely, particularly in a warm autumnal setting.

It’s interesting to note that the gold accents in Jill’s design have a very noticeable blue undertone; it almost looks as though Siedle may have originally intended them to be blue, and then changed to gold as the color concept came together. There are a number of indications of changes made when this sketch was drawn, like the profile of the skirt and positioning of the arms.

Notes on the back say "Miss Daly" and "Sketch No. 24". Jill was played by Nellie Daly, who was an acrobatic dancer and performed in vaudeville together with her husband, Charles Guyer. He portrayed her love interest, Grumio, in the show. 

 

There's a rather indecipherable note saying "with(?) trimmed velvet ribbon treated(?) after with patina(?) & tears", and a sketch of a bonnet with "full ruffle edge with white lace" and "blue lace white lace". At the bottom is a note "brown russet shoe", which refers to Jill’s shoes for this costume. It's hard to say who the bonnet was for; it certainly doesn’t seem to be intended for this outfit!

Later in the show, Jill has a different outfit consisting of a large green dress and fancy bonnet. This is a sharp contrast to her previous costume, with a tightly cinched waist and full ruffled skirt; I’m not entirely sure if it was used in Act 2, or 3, or possibly both. The third act seems to have been predominantly green and blue tones; Jill is trying to escape Toyland disguised as a lady’s maid, so it seems as though this dress may be a fit for that scenario.

The back of this board also has a sketch for a bonnet, but it’s easily identified as the bonnet worn with this dress. This time there are no notes, other than “Miss Daly”and “Sketch no 44”.

The rather poor newspaper photo on the right shows another actress, Maud Campbell, playing the role at a later date and wearing this costume.