Ideas please about 20/30's bush clothing

Hi All,

In the Model A Ford Club of America there is a section of the regional and national meets where people show off their clothes for fun and to be judged-just like the cars. I have fun putting together outfits and getting dressed up and seeing all of the other people get dressed up. I have done a Chief Petty Officer from the Navy and a Matre de. Well, I have picked up a pair of riding/cavalry boots (there is a pic of them in the 'show us your shoes' thread under attire. I even have the Army green jodhpurs to match from 1932. One idea that I am mulling over is a forestry employee form the late 20's to early 30's.

Another idea that I have been thinking about is doing a safari themed outfit. Safari's were very big back in the 20' and 30's and it is a good excuse to try and find a period rifle to boot. So I need info and more importantly documentation as to what someone would wear on one of these excursions. I would like original but I am guessing that will be hard to find/expensive so I will stick with newer look alikes. I need the documentation so that I and the judges have something to go by. Pictures are best but a written description will suffice.

Part of the fun is watching the judges throw up their hands in surrender. If I don't win it is no big deal I just have fun with it and enjoy portraying something that is not a tux.

Thanks for your help,

Mike

Old black and white movies from the period are your best source. King Solomon's Mines is, of course, the classic or King Kong. If you can find a copy of Safari Style, (Burns and Beddow), the first chapter has some good vintage photos. There is a SoCal publishing company called Safari Press that has published a whole raft of books on the history of Safari and the photos out of some of them should be a gold mine.

As to your auto, a Dodge Power Wagon was a favorite of the time in E. Africa.

Firearms? That could be expensive. Someone on safari would either be very well off and carrying a double rifle in some caliber along the lines of a .450 NE or .450/400. Figure on spending about the same as you would for a medium sized car! Alternatively, the individual would be someone who was living in Africa, either as a civil servant or a landowner possibly growing coffee. That bwana would probably carry a bolt action on the M98 Mauser. The caliber choice is varied. Probably the most popular would have been, in no particular order, the .303, the.404, the.318 WR (one of my favorites!), the .416 (least likely) or the all-time great, the .375 H&H. Finding one of these in vintage make won't be cheap. Probably your best bet will be to attend either the Dallas Safari Club Convention in (I think) January or the Safari Club International Convention in Las Vegas in February. There will be a lot of gun dealers in either of those and some of them will be carrying older bolt guns from the Golden Age.

I'll be at the Las Vegas one on Friday and Saturday. If you decide to go, PM me and we'll meet up over a beer or something. Good luck.

An odd side light on the subject of rifles used by big game hunters. Canadian journalist Gordon Sinclair spent several months in India in the mid thirties (see his book Foot-loose in India).

He was surprised to find out that the Ross rifle was a favorite of the big game hunters and was often used for tiger shooting.

The Ross rifle was used by the Canadian infantry in WW1 and had a terrible reputation for being unreliable and jamming at the wrong time. But the big game hunters thought well of it.

They said the Ross rifle was too precisely made or fitted for trench warfare and got jammed up with dirt and mud but if it was kept clean it was a good rifle.

Thousands were used in Canada, both the civilian .280 model and the .303 military.

A sporterized .303 Ross is just the kind of rifle a Model A owner would use. These can be bought for under $100. Intact military models in good condition go for considerably more.

The .280 model is rather more powerful and more "up market". It used a high pressure cartridge more like the 7mm Remington Magnum of today.

There are tons of pictures from the Chapman Expeditions and the Teddy Roosevelt safaris from then. As far as rifles, there are tons of unloved "sportered" Mausers, Enfields and 1903s out there that are reasonably priced and would be perfect for your use.

I'm not sure how many Americans socioeconomically below TR ever got to Africa during that time period but anyone who might have would certainly have been carrying a sporterized '03. With careful shooting and military hardball ammunition, it would even take elephant. God forbid you should ever have to stop a charge with one, though. For that sort of work you really need a lot of frontal area. That's why .45-47 caliber was the standard.

And yes, it's perfectly believable that a Kenyan coffee planter or plantation manager would have been using a .303. That's what Patterson used on the Maneaters of Tsavo.

Stanley, where are Ross sporters going for $100? I see them more in the $1000 range. Was $100 just a typo? Are the sporters a straight pull, too?

1930artdeco, I don't think you need to worry about going with vintage for the safari look, since many contemporary articles are still made to the same patterns. You can get repro khaki breeches at What Price Glory, WWII Impressions, and other places without breaking the bank. A four pocket bush shirt, with either long or short sleeves, and a pith helmet of bush hat and Bob's your uncle. Just watch Mogambo! Meryl Streep pith helmet in Out of Africa was simply a US military pith helmet with a puggaree added and the chinstrap changed out for a leather one. They can be had for less then $30.



For your Model T, there are plenty of examples of classic camping on the web, which would be very similar to anything taken on safari. Just add canvas bedrolls, crates, oil lanterns, safari style chairs (check Cost Plus World Market for chairs; they regularly have their Bali chair on sale, which is very similar to a rorkhee chair), etc. Check out the Safari Museum website (http://safarimuseum.com/?page_id=268) on the travels of Osa and Martin Johnson for some great ideas of the type of gear to pack.

Here's a photo from Ann Axtell Morris' autobiography Digging in the Southwest, showing their Model T, Old Joe, loaded up for an archaeological expedition in Arizona.

"Stanley, where are Ross sporters going for $100? I see them more in the $1000 range. Was $100 just a typo? Are the sporters a straight pull, too?"

Jack I remembered Gordon Sinclair's remarks about the Ross rifle and did a bit of a web search before I posted to be sure I remembered correctly. This is where I got the info about the prices.

Further research revealed that the prices I posted were almost 10 years out of date. At that time there were plenty of modified Ross rifles on the market in Canada that had been bought on the surplus market and turned into hunting rifles. Run of the mill examples often went for $100 or so, while original military examples went for $900 - $1000.

Today the modified guns are $900 - $1000 and I saw an ad for an original Ross .280 hunting rifle at $2295.

Sorry for the bad information. It astonishes me that after 100 years these unloved weapons have suddenly become valuable.

.................................

I don't know much about them except what I read on the internet. It seems they began as a sporting rifle, which was turned into an infantry weapon for the Canadian government. They went through 3 versions before dropping it. It was also supplied to the US army in WW1. Various versions were made in Canada and the US.

All used the same straight pull bolt action. This was modified over time for added safety and reliability but all were basically the same design.

I saw one comment, that the Canadians learned to fire them so fast the Germans assumed they had machine guns.

Another, that snipers preferred them because they were so fast and accurate, and continued to use them after they were replaced as a front line weapon.

.......................Later.......................

This site has them from $795 to $1295. I don't know anything about it except the site turned up on a web search

http://www.gunsinternational.com/Ross-Rifles.cfm?cat_id=1348

I recommend that you stay away from Hollywood when looking to put together an authentic outfit. Instead, consult the period photos and writings of explorers and hunters.

Theodore Roosevelt - River of Doubt Expedition
Superb account of bush clothing and gear in "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" by Candice Millard, also "Through the Brazilian Wilderness" by T.R. himself


Col. Percy Fawcett, son Jack, and friend Raleigh Rimell
References: "Exploration Fawcett" by Fawcett, "Lost City of Z" by David Grann
Fawcett's well known outfit also included a Stetson hat and leather riding boots (same for son, Jack).




William Beebe, naturalist & explorer
Reference: "The Remarkable Life of William Beebe" by Carol Grant Gould
Beebe's gun was a side-by-side shotgun & rifle combination


Kazimierz Nowak in the jungle

What about Frank Buck of Bring Em Back Alive fame.







Frank Buck and Adolphe Menjou [1932]

RBH, that is perfect. That is the look-that and I already have the boots. So now I just have to find the rest of the outfit.
Mike

The following is a recommended pack list for Africa dating from 1910. Although the styles of some of the items would have changed a bit, the overall list would not have changed much by the 1930s.


Two suits - coat and breeches - gabardine or khaki.
One belt
Two knives - one hunting knife, one jack knife
Three pair cloth putties
Three flannel shirts
Six suits summer flannels, merino, long drawers (undergarments)
Three pair Abercrombie lightest shoes (one pair rubber soles)
Three colored silk handkerchiefs
Two face towels - two bath towels
Three khaki cartridge holders to put on shirts to hold big cartridges, one for each shirt
One pair long trousers to put on at night, khaki.
Two suits flannel pajamas
Eight pair socks (gray Jaeger socks, fine)
One light vest sweater
One Mackinaw coat
One rubber coat
One pair mosquito boots (Lawn and Adler, London). Soft leather top boots for evening wear in camp
Five leather pockets to hold cartridges to go on belt
Three whetstones
One helmet (Gyppy pattern Army and Navy stores)
Ond double terai hat, brown (Army and Navy stores)
One six or eight foot pocket tape of steel
One compass
One diary
Writing materials
Toilet articles
Zeiss glasses
Camera

Great list, Dinerman! What is the original source?

I assume the steel pocket tape must be for measuring trophies. It's interesting, though, what hunting items are mentioned, and which aren't. Bring cartridge loops, for example, but no rifle cleaning kit. I wonder if that reflects the expectations of what the guides would provide, e.g., a gentleman would not clean his own rifle.

I'd also be interested in some additional details, if the source provides them. What color "colored handkerchiefs"? And what are Abercrombie's lightest shoes? I would think that the rubber soled version must be a stalking shoe with a crepe sole like brothel creepers, but then again, I would think crepe would be specified. And are they talking shoes in the general sense when they really mean chukka boots?

Thanks for posting that, Dinerman!