Les deux gosses, 1910

Three postcards (nos. 2, 3 and 4) from a series of unknown length recounting episodes adapted from the melodramatic novel Les Deux gosses (Jules Rouff et Cie., 1880) by the popular author and playwright Pierre Decourcelle (1856-1926). The "two kids" of the title are Fanfan, the son of a diplomat carted off and raised by a married pair of petty criminals, and Claudinet, the ragged natural son of the couple. Decourcelle subsequently adapted the novel as a drama; in an 1896 production at the Theatre de l'Ambigu in Paris, the characters of the two boys were cast as trouser roles for young actresses, with Fanfan played by Mlle. Melo and Claudinet by Mlle. Reye. In the postcard series, the models for the two boys likewise are male impersonators.