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- Also found in Books, Graphic Novels, and Other Works of Literature, Adaptations, Retellngs, and Old Tales in New Light, and Safe For All Ages
(Original post date: 12/2/16)
I have my late maternal grandparents to thank for this one (May they rest in peace). When my little sister and I were kids, Grandma and Grandpa would often record various cartoons and movies on VHS tapes for us to watch and enjoy at our leisure. On one of these tapes were the some of the BBC animated T.V. adaptions of the works of Beatrix Potter, better known collectively as the anthology series, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends. As I was a very poor reader as a child, this proved an apt introduction to Potter’s beloved characters: Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-Duck, the list goes on. Now, we all know the age-old “the book is better than the movie” argument, but I feel that my memories and experiences with the T.V. episodes really helped me to understand and thereby better enjoy the original books when I got older and when I eventually bought the complete collection later on. This particular story quickly became a favorite of mine—and not only because it just so happens to have been the personal favorite of Beatrix Potter herself. ;)
In 18th century Gloucester, England, an elderly tailor has just been commissioned by the mayor to make a handsome cherry-red coat for him to wear on his wedding day on Christmas morning. As he measures and snips diligently, the dedicated tailor dreams of the beauty of his finished work as well as the opportunity of making his fortune. But after he rescues some mice that had been trapped in his kitchen, his scheming cat, Simpkin, gets revenge by hiding the precious twisted silk needed to complete the coat. Worse still, the tailor’s failing health leaves him bed-ridden with the coat’s pieces left unsewn. But the grateful mice refuse to let the work of their human friend be in vain, and are determined to finish what he has begun in time for the mayor’s wedding.
Many of Potter’s stories began as gifts within letters to loved ones: this one went to the daughter of her former governess, Freda Moore, “because you are fond of fairy tales, and have been ill”. The inspiration for the tale came from an incident involving a real-life Gloucester tailor named John Pritchard (1877-1934). While making a coat for the new mayor, he came into his shop one day to find the coat unexpectedly completed except for a single buttonhole, attached to which was a tiny note with only three words: “No more twist”. Though his young assistants had actually done the work, Pritchard inspired and encouraged the local legend that fairies were responsible. If that wasn’t enchanting enough, Potter went a step further by setting the story at Christmas time and making her tailor’s helpers a group of clever mice.
Potter’s particular style of illustration is undoubtedly a prime reason her books are so distinctive and instantly recognizable even today. An exquisite mix of water-colors and pencil sketches, her animal characters are so realistically rendered as to appear less like cartoon characters on paper and more like authentic animals posing for portraits, even when they are wearing clothes and performing human-like acts. And this is no exception, from the curtsying female mice in elegant dresses and bonnets, to the bowing males in dapper waistcoats and cocked hats, to Simpkin in his long coat and thick boots as he trudges on his hind legs through the snow.
One especially fascinating trait about the tailor is that his habitual thinking aloud is almost mantra-like, his words possessing a subtle rhythm as considers and calculates. Moreover—though this could be pure speculation on my part—the likelihood that all the materials he lists off will be unfamiliar to children (especially today’s children) can make him seem almost wizardly, like he’s gathering and adding mysterious ingredients for a great spell. More to the point, I think it serves to make the readers feel the same enthusiasm, wonder, and even pressure, that the tailor is feeling; he is not merely manufacturing a purchased product for a VIP customer, he is creating a one-of-a-kind work of art, a gift to be given and admired by all on the most joyous day of the year:
“[The tailor] cut his coats without waste, according to his embroidered cloth; they were very small ends and snippets that lay about upon the table—‘Too narrow breadths for nought—except waistcoats for mice,’ [. . .] ‘No breadth at all, and cut on the cross; it is no breadth at all; tippets for mice and ribbons for mobs! for mice!’ said the Tailor of Gloucester.”
[. . .]
“I shall make my fortune—to be cut bias—the Mayor of Gloucester is to be married on Christmas Day in the morning, and he hath ordered a coat and an embroidered waistcoat—to be lined with yellow taffeta—and the taffeta sufficeth; there is no more left over in snippets than well serve to make tippets for mice—” (p. 39-42)
TAILOR:
- . . . And a cream-colored satin waistcoat trimmed with gauze and green worsted chenille . . .
- The waistcoat is cut out from peach-colored-satin. One-and-twenty buttonholes of cherry-colored silk . . .
On that note, perhaps the most enjoyable part text-wise is all the nursery rhymes that Potter peppers the latter half of the story with. She sets up the scene with a wonderful piece of folklore, after which readers are treated to some of the lovely traditional rhymes common in Potter’s time:
“But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there are very few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that say).
[. . .]
From all the roofs and gables and old wooden houses in Gloucester came a thousand merry voices singing the old Christmas rhymes—all the old songs that ever I heard of, and some that I don’t know, like Whittington’s bells.
First and loudest the cocks cried out—‘Dame, get up, and bake your pies!’
[. . .]
[The bats] said something mysterious that sounded like--
‘Buz, quoth the blue fly; hum, quoth
the bee;
Buz and hum they cry, and so do we!’
[. . .]
There was a snippeting of scissors, and snappeting of thread; and little mouse voices sang loudly and gaily--
‘Four-and-twenty tailors
Went to catch a snail,
The best man amongst them
Durst not touch her tail;
She put out her horns
Like a little kyloe cow,
Run, tailors, run! or she’ll
Have you all e’en now!’
Then without a pause the little mouse voices went on again--
‘Sieve my lady’s oatmeal,
Grind my lady’s flour,
Put it in a chestnut,
Let it stand an hour—’ (p. 47-48)
The BBC adaption adds some scenes that weren’t in the book, but they don’t take away any of the magic of the original; in fact, I think they enhance it. The T.V. episode, like the others in the series, opens with a live-action Beatrix Potter (played by Niamh Cusack) just before she sits down to write her letter and thereby begin the story proper, though instead of being in her countryside home in the Lake District (where the real-life Potter lived), here she is celebrating the holidays in a large house in the city. Though it has nothing to do with narrative itself, the scene where Potter watches a group of children singing carols outside her door is simply adorable, from the smallest boy trying unsuccessfully to sing and an older girl reaching over to flip over his song book which had apparently been upside down, to the hands of all the little carolers eagerly grabbing at the plate of treats offered by Potter’s maid, Daisy.
There is also a subplot involving a mouse tailor who’s trying to make a coat of his own. In the book, there is a single picture of what appears to be him trying to fit a vest on another mouse, but here he is a far more developed character. Part of why he’s so endearing is his almost childish excitement—and that of his family of younger mice—by the prospect of the creation of both coats. He similarly enjoys imitating his human counterpart, making snipping motions with his fingers as the human tailor uses scissors, or tapping his face thoughtfully with his spectacles, among other mannerisms.
YOUNG MALE MOUSE: (Excitedly holds up bits of yellow silk in both hands.) Look what I’ve got!
MOUSE TAILOR: (As he is given the silk.) Oh, my! Oh, how beautiful! By my whiskers, I cannot remember when we last had silk of such quality on these--
YOUNG FEMALE MOUSE: (Grabs another piece of yellow silk.) And look at this!
OLDER FEMALE MOUSE: (Enticingly holding up a piece of red silk.) And look. Look at this!
MOUSE TAILOR: Ah!
[. . .]
YOUNG MALE MOUSE: (To the mouse tailor.) [The human tailor] says the lining will be yellow taffeta!
MOUSE TAILOR: (Proudly.) Oh, my! Yellow taffeta! Just what I would have chosen myself! But has he commenced cutting yet? (Watches in admiration as the human tailor begins cutting.) Oh! Masterly! Masterly!
YOUNG MALE MOUSE: (Happily mimicking.) Masterly! Masterly!
And speaking of characters that shine, I am still especially impressed by how effortlessly Simpkin shifts from mewing, growling cat to silken-voiced scoundrel, while still maintaining a very human intelligence throughout both semblances. Now, I don’t know this for a fact, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Simpkin’s voice actor actually did all his animal noises as well as his speaking and singing parts, as they sound very similar both in tone and in feeling:
“But Simpkin hid a little parcel privately in the tea-pot, and spit and growled at the tailor; and if Simpkin had been able to talk, he would have asked—‘WHERE IS MY MOUSE?’
[. . .]
Whenever the tailor talked in his sleep, Simpkins said ‘Miaw-ger-r-w-s-s-ch!” and made strange horrid noises, as cats do at night.”
[. . .]
“‘Oh, dilly, dilly, dilly!’ sighed Simpkin. . . . ‘Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle! All the cats in Gloucestor—except me,’ said Simpkin.” (p. 45-47)
___________
SIMPKIN: (Singing.) Oh, what shall we have for supper, Mrs. Bond? There’s geese in the larder and ducks in the pond. (Speaking glumly.) But my master’s cupboard is as empty as Old Mother Hubbard’s.
The other humanized animals are fun, too, but I’d be criminally remiss if I didn’t give a nod to what is my all-time favorite of these, not to mention by far one of the most memorable scenes in the whole episode. I mean, a bunch of rats gorging themselves upon the contents of a fully stocked wine cellar, their voices blissfully slurred as they laugh and sing and dance to loud nonsense tunes: how can one not crack a smile at such a sight?
RATS: (Singing.)
There was a frog lived in the well, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A merry mouse in the mill, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
There was a frog lived in the well, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A merry mouse in the mill, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
The frog he would a wooing ride, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A sword and buckler by his side, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
The frog he would a wooing ride, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A sword and buckler by his side, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
When he was on his high horse set, kitty alone, kitty alone!
His boots they shone as black as jet, cock-me-cary kitty alone, kitty alone!
When he was on his high horse set, kitty alone, kitty alone!
His boots they shone as black as jet, cock-me-cary kitty alone, kitty alone!
I know I said in my Holly Claus episode that The Nutcracker is my favorite classic holiday tale, but this one comes in close for very similar reasons. I don’t have children myself, but stories like The Tailor of Gloucester sometimes make me wish that I did, so that we could read it aloud or watch it together, immersing them and the child in me in a simpler time, when the gifts we would give were more natural or hand-made with the utmost care and the most loving of intentions. Once again, this is the time of year when we learn and re-learn that even when we least expect it—when we ourselves are “worn to a ravelling” or are left with “no more twist”—the good deeds we perform, even the smallest ones, may not go—nor should they go—unrewarded.
Credits: All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
All book excerpts are from Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales (2002 centenary edition; published by Penguin Group).
Main Theme:
”Mono No Aware (Opening)” – Amethystium
All other music and sound clips are from the BBC series The World of Peter Rabbit, episode 5: The Tailor of Gloucestor (produced by TVC London, Frederick Warne & Co, BBC, Pony Canyon, and Fuji Television).
Songs:
Excerpt from “Songs from Gloucestor” (Beatrix Potter Music Collection)
“Sussex Carol” – St. Albans Cathedral Choir (Ending Credits theme)
Watch the original preview and episode videos here!
Listen to the episode here!
The Tailor of Gloucester on Wikipedia
Beatrix Potter on Wikipedia
Beatrix Potter's Official Website
The Tailor of Gloucester's UK Website
The Official Beatrix Potter Store
The Tailor of Gloucester on Goodreads
The Tailor of Gloucester on IMDb
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends on IMDb
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester Book on Amazon
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales on Amazon
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends on Amazon
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester Book at Barnes & Noble
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales at Barnes & Noble
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends at Barnes & Noble
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester Book on eBay
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends on eBay
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(Original post date: 12/2/16)
I have my late maternal grandparents to thank for this one (May they rest in peace). When my little sister and I were kids, Grandma and Grandpa would often record various cartoons and movies on VHS tapes for us to watch and enjoy at our leisure. On one of these tapes were the some of the BBC animated T.V. adaptions of the works of Beatrix Potter, better known collectively as the anthology series, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends. As I was a very poor reader as a child, this proved an apt introduction to Potter’s beloved characters: Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-Duck, the list goes on. Now, we all know the age-old “the book is better than the movie” argument, but I feel that my memories and experiences with the T.V. episodes really helped me to understand and thereby better enjoy the original books when I got older and when I eventually bought the complete collection later on. This particular story quickly became a favorite of mine—and not only because it just so happens to have been the personal favorite of Beatrix Potter herself. ;)
In 18th century Gloucester, England, an elderly tailor has just been commissioned by the mayor to make a handsome cherry-red coat for him to wear on his wedding day on Christmas morning. As he measures and snips diligently, the dedicated tailor dreams of the beauty of his finished work as well as the opportunity of making his fortune. But after he rescues some mice that had been trapped in his kitchen, his scheming cat, Simpkin, gets revenge by hiding the precious twisted silk needed to complete the coat. Worse still, the tailor’s failing health leaves him bed-ridden with the coat’s pieces left unsewn. But the grateful mice refuse to let the work of their human friend be in vain, and are determined to finish what he has begun in time for the mayor’s wedding.
Many of Potter’s stories began as gifts within letters to loved ones: this one went to the daughter of her former governess, Freda Moore, “because you are fond of fairy tales, and have been ill”. The inspiration for the tale came from an incident involving a real-life Gloucester tailor named John Pritchard (1877-1934). While making a coat for the new mayor, he came into his shop one day to find the coat unexpectedly completed except for a single buttonhole, attached to which was a tiny note with only three words: “No more twist”. Though his young assistants had actually done the work, Pritchard inspired and encouraged the local legend that fairies were responsible. If that wasn’t enchanting enough, Potter went a step further by setting the story at Christmas time and making her tailor’s helpers a group of clever mice.
Potter’s particular style of illustration is undoubtedly a prime reason her books are so distinctive and instantly recognizable even today. An exquisite mix of water-colors and pencil sketches, her animal characters are so realistically rendered as to appear less like cartoon characters on paper and more like authentic animals posing for portraits, even when they are wearing clothes and performing human-like acts. And this is no exception, from the curtsying female mice in elegant dresses and bonnets, to the bowing males in dapper waistcoats and cocked hats, to Simpkin in his long coat and thick boots as he trudges on his hind legs through the snow.
One especially fascinating trait about the tailor is that his habitual thinking aloud is almost mantra-like, his words possessing a subtle rhythm as considers and calculates. Moreover—though this could be pure speculation on my part—the likelihood that all the materials he lists off will be unfamiliar to children (especially today’s children) can make him seem almost wizardly, like he’s gathering and adding mysterious ingredients for a great spell. More to the point, I think it serves to make the readers feel the same enthusiasm, wonder, and even pressure, that the tailor is feeling; he is not merely manufacturing a purchased product for a VIP customer, he is creating a one-of-a-kind work of art, a gift to be given and admired by all on the most joyous day of the year:
“[The tailor] cut his coats without waste, according to his embroidered cloth; they were very small ends and snippets that lay about upon the table—‘Too narrow breadths for nought—except waistcoats for mice,’ [. . .] ‘No breadth at all, and cut on the cross; it is no breadth at all; tippets for mice and ribbons for mobs! for mice!’ said the Tailor of Gloucester.”
[. . .]
“I shall make my fortune—to be cut bias—the Mayor of Gloucester is to be married on Christmas Day in the morning, and he hath ordered a coat and an embroidered waistcoat—to be lined with yellow taffeta—and the taffeta sufficeth; there is no more left over in snippets than well serve to make tippets for mice—” (p. 39-42)
TAILOR:
- . . . And a cream-colored satin waistcoat trimmed with gauze and green worsted chenille . . .
- The waistcoat is cut out from peach-colored-satin. One-and-twenty buttonholes of cherry-colored silk . . .
On that note, perhaps the most enjoyable part text-wise is all the nursery rhymes that Potter peppers the latter half of the story with. She sets up the scene with a wonderful piece of folklore, after which readers are treated to some of the lovely traditional rhymes common in Potter’s time:
“But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there are very few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that say).
[. . .]
From all the roofs and gables and old wooden houses in Gloucester came a thousand merry voices singing the old Christmas rhymes—all the old songs that ever I heard of, and some that I don’t know, like Whittington’s bells.
First and loudest the cocks cried out—‘Dame, get up, and bake your pies!’
[. . .]
[The bats] said something mysterious that sounded like--
‘Buz, quoth the blue fly; hum, quoth
the bee;
Buz and hum they cry, and so do we!’
[. . .]
There was a snippeting of scissors, and snappeting of thread; and little mouse voices sang loudly and gaily--
‘Four-and-twenty tailors
Went to catch a snail,
The best man amongst them
Durst not touch her tail;
She put out her horns
Like a little kyloe cow,
Run, tailors, run! or she’ll
Have you all e’en now!’
Then without a pause the little mouse voices went on again--
‘Sieve my lady’s oatmeal,
Grind my lady’s flour,
Put it in a chestnut,
Let it stand an hour—’ (p. 47-48)
The BBC adaption adds some scenes that weren’t in the book, but they don’t take away any of the magic of the original; in fact, I think they enhance it. The T.V. episode, like the others in the series, opens with a live-action Beatrix Potter (played by Niamh Cusack) just before she sits down to write her letter and thereby begin the story proper, though instead of being in her countryside home in the Lake District (where the real-life Potter lived), here she is celebrating the holidays in a large house in the city. Though it has nothing to do with narrative itself, the scene where Potter watches a group of children singing carols outside her door is simply adorable, from the smallest boy trying unsuccessfully to sing and an older girl reaching over to flip over his song book which had apparently been upside down, to the hands of all the little carolers eagerly grabbing at the plate of treats offered by Potter’s maid, Daisy.
There is also a subplot involving a mouse tailor who’s trying to make a coat of his own. In the book, there is a single picture of what appears to be him trying to fit a vest on another mouse, but here he is a far more developed character. Part of why he’s so endearing is his almost childish excitement—and that of his family of younger mice—by the prospect of the creation of both coats. He similarly enjoys imitating his human counterpart, making snipping motions with his fingers as the human tailor uses scissors, or tapping his face thoughtfully with his spectacles, among other mannerisms.
YOUNG MALE MOUSE: (Excitedly holds up bits of yellow silk in both hands.) Look what I’ve got!
MOUSE TAILOR: (As he is given the silk.) Oh, my! Oh, how beautiful! By my whiskers, I cannot remember when we last had silk of such quality on these--
YOUNG FEMALE MOUSE: (Grabs another piece of yellow silk.) And look at this!
OLDER FEMALE MOUSE: (Enticingly holding up a piece of red silk.) And look. Look at this!
MOUSE TAILOR: Ah!
[. . .]
YOUNG MALE MOUSE: (To the mouse tailor.) [The human tailor] says the lining will be yellow taffeta!
MOUSE TAILOR: (Proudly.) Oh, my! Yellow taffeta! Just what I would have chosen myself! But has he commenced cutting yet? (Watches in admiration as the human tailor begins cutting.) Oh! Masterly! Masterly!
YOUNG MALE MOUSE: (Happily mimicking.) Masterly! Masterly!
And speaking of characters that shine, I am still especially impressed by how effortlessly Simpkin shifts from mewing, growling cat to silken-voiced scoundrel, while still maintaining a very human intelligence throughout both semblances. Now, I don’t know this for a fact, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Simpkin’s voice actor actually did all his animal noises as well as his speaking and singing parts, as they sound very similar both in tone and in feeling:
“But Simpkin hid a little parcel privately in the tea-pot, and spit and growled at the tailor; and if Simpkin had been able to talk, he would have asked—‘WHERE IS MY MOUSE?’
[. . .]
Whenever the tailor talked in his sleep, Simpkins said ‘Miaw-ger-r-w-s-s-ch!” and made strange horrid noises, as cats do at night.”
[. . .]
“‘Oh, dilly, dilly, dilly!’ sighed Simpkin. . . . ‘Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle! All the cats in Gloucestor—except me,’ said Simpkin.” (p. 45-47)
___________
SIMPKIN: (Singing.) Oh, what shall we have for supper, Mrs. Bond? There’s geese in the larder and ducks in the pond. (Speaking glumly.) But my master’s cupboard is as empty as Old Mother Hubbard’s.
The other humanized animals are fun, too, but I’d be criminally remiss if I didn’t give a nod to what is my all-time favorite of these, not to mention by far one of the most memorable scenes in the whole episode. I mean, a bunch of rats gorging themselves upon the contents of a fully stocked wine cellar, their voices blissfully slurred as they laugh and sing and dance to loud nonsense tunes: how can one not crack a smile at such a sight?
RATS: (Singing.)
There was a frog lived in the well, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A merry mouse in the mill, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
There was a frog lived in the well, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A merry mouse in the mill, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
The frog he would a wooing ride, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A sword and buckler by his side, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
The frog he would a wooing ride, kitty alone, kitty alone!
A sword and buckler by his side, cock-me-cary, kitty alone, kitty alone!
When he was on his high horse set, kitty alone, kitty alone!
His boots they shone as black as jet, cock-me-cary kitty alone, kitty alone!
When he was on his high horse set, kitty alone, kitty alone!
His boots they shone as black as jet, cock-me-cary kitty alone, kitty alone!
I know I said in my Holly Claus episode that The Nutcracker is my favorite classic holiday tale, but this one comes in close for very similar reasons. I don’t have children myself, but stories like The Tailor of Gloucester sometimes make me wish that I did, so that we could read it aloud or watch it together, immersing them and the child in me in a simpler time, when the gifts we would give were more natural or hand-made with the utmost care and the most loving of intentions. Once again, this is the time of year when we learn and re-learn that even when we least expect it—when we ourselves are “worn to a ravelling” or are left with “no more twist”—the good deeds we perform, even the smallest ones, may not go—nor should they go—unrewarded.
Credits: All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
All book excerpts are from Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales (2002 centenary edition; published by Penguin Group).
Main Theme:
”Mono No Aware (Opening)” – Amethystium
All other music and sound clips are from the BBC series The World of Peter Rabbit, episode 5: The Tailor of Gloucestor (produced by TVC London, Frederick Warne & Co, BBC, Pony Canyon, and Fuji Television).
Songs:
Excerpt from “Songs from Gloucestor” (Beatrix Potter Music Collection)
“Sussex Carol” – St. Albans Cathedral Choir (Ending Credits theme)
Watch the original preview and episode videos here!
Listen to the episode here!
The Tailor of Gloucester on Wikipedia
Beatrix Potter on Wikipedia
Beatrix Potter's Official Website
The Tailor of Gloucester's UK Website
The Official Beatrix Potter Store
The Tailor of Gloucester on Goodreads
The Tailor of Gloucester on IMDb
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends on IMDb
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester Book on Amazon
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales on Amazon
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends on Amazon
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester Book at Barnes & Noble
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales at Barnes & Noble
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends at Barnes & Noble
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester Book on eBay
Buy The Tailor of Gloucester in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends on eBay
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