(Marked NSFW due to the sensitive nature of this image and discussion)
Context: I recently found a box full of old postcards and photographs in a charity shop. Most of the contents I’ve dated to around 1940s and 50s and placed mostly in the UK (where I and the box are from) as well as a few contributions from the US and Canada.
Amongst the contents was the photo I’ve added in the comments, showing what appears to be a wedding party with every member’s face covered in dark/black paint. Unfortunately, there is no date or place information, just the photo.
I’ve looked into the history of face painting at weddings and generally, across the cultures, it is only done to the bride and usually light colours such as white, yellow, gold and silver.
I’ve looked into the history of minstrel shows and performance blackface and cannot find any indication that people used it for weddings.
I’ve also looked into the history of Morris Men and other blackface used more specifically in the UK and have found nothing wedding related either.
So, I’m left with nothing but questions: Is this a wedding at all? Is it a performance? Is this blackface? Where is this? What is going on and, perhaps more importantly, why?
Thank you so much in advance!
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https://preview.redd.it/l6zto5v4pnre1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=042ce4744ba5c26a1ee7fe565b2ff0af13740225
The image, for context.
A blackface wedding was an extension of the "mock wedding" tradition of entertainment, like the "womanless wedding" where all parts were played by men, or "Tom thumb weddings" where the parts were played by children. They gained popularity in the 1920s as a kind of burlesque act, often put on for fundraising or charity, or as a school play. Based on one account:
> Among the many features of this minstrel is "Whar’s De Groom?" This is a blackface wedding running 26 minutes, and constitutes the afterpiece of the show. No bride had as much bad luck at the altar as Miss Economy Endive (played by Mrs. S. Y. Riddle). She is left in the lurch by two different suitors. After an unsuccessful attempt to grab the best man, she seizes upon Officer Chipmunk (Shelly McRee Clay), and the knot is tied at last. However, before the Reverend Skidfoot begins reading the marriage ceremony (from a mail order catalog), the bride’s father, Folium Endive (M. H. Uzzell) and his best pal, Shoofly Tallow (JImmy McMurrain), arrive at the wedding slightly tipsy, having done their best to celebrate the great event. Their urge to sing "Sweet Adeline" is carried through and they laugh at their own antics until Mrs. Exodus Endive, the bride’s mother (Mrs. C. K. Thomason), comes upon the scene in a sputter and directs these two gentlemen to their proper places.
While it is hard to get an idea of the exact chronological and geographic spread of the practice, a survey of newspaper accounts show it seems more popular – or at least, more reported-on – in the U.S. South during the 1920s and 30s, although there are accounts of some being staged in the late 1950s, such as this one in Virginia in 1957.