Contents
This page is currently under construction and undergoing a rewrite.
What is a Tom Thumb Wedding?
Charles Sherwood Stratton
Early Tom Thumb Weddings
Jennie June
Lillie Putian
Other Productions
Modern Tom Thumb Weddings
Sources
What is a Tom Thumb Wedding?
Charles Sherwood Stratton
Early Tom Thumb Weddings
Jennie June
Lillie Putian
Other Productions
Modern Tom Thumb Weddings
Sources
What is a Tom Thumb Wedding?
A Tom Thumb wedding or miniature wedding is a pageant where children act out the marriage ceremony. They were popular in the early 1900s, inspired by the 1863 wedding of General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton) and Lavinia Warren. There were various scripts, with brides named Jennie June or Lillie Putian.
The concept of "miniature weddings" has been around for a long time.
In 1633, Richard Gibson and Anne Shepherd were married at the court of King Charles I. Gibson was a page of the king and painted miniature portraits; Anne was the page of Queen Henrietta Maria. Both bride and groom were three feet ten inches tall. At the time, most royalty had court dwarfs, and Charles I was particularly fond of them. The poet Edmund Waller described Richard and Anne’s union under the title “The Marriage of the Dwarfs,” painting a portrait of a couple designed for each other by Nature. The marriage seems to have been happy.
In 1710, Tsar Peter of Russia arranged the marriage of two little people. The bridegroom, Iakim Volkov, was three feet and two inches tall. For his own pleasure, Peter commanded that all little people within two hundred miles arrive at the capital to be in the parade and attend the ceremony. The account is uncomfortable to read. Peter arranged transportation; “one horse was seen carrying a dozen of them into the city at once, while the mob followed shouting, and laughing, from behind.” (The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure)
Some of them, anticipating the mockery they’d be subjected to, refused to come. Peter got them there anyway and punished them by forcing them to serve tables. Everything in the middle of the room was designed in perfect miniature—a show which the average-sized guests could watch from along the sides of the room. This wedding was a show to entertain Tsar Peter and his friends.
The concept of "miniature weddings" has been around for a long time.
In 1633, Richard Gibson and Anne Shepherd were married at the court of King Charles I. Gibson was a page of the king and painted miniature portraits; Anne was the page of Queen Henrietta Maria. Both bride and groom were three feet ten inches tall. At the time, most royalty had court dwarfs, and Charles I was particularly fond of them. The poet Edmund Waller described Richard and Anne’s union under the title “The Marriage of the Dwarfs,” painting a portrait of a couple designed for each other by Nature. The marriage seems to have been happy.
In 1710, Tsar Peter of Russia arranged the marriage of two little people. The bridegroom, Iakim Volkov, was three feet and two inches tall. For his own pleasure, Peter commanded that all little people within two hundred miles arrive at the capital to be in the parade and attend the ceremony. The account is uncomfortable to read. Peter arranged transportation; “one horse was seen carrying a dozen of them into the city at once, while the mob followed shouting, and laughing, from behind.” (The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure)
Some of them, anticipating the mockery they’d be subjected to, refused to come. Peter got them there anyway and punished them by forcing them to serve tables. Everything in the middle of the room was designed in perfect miniature—a show which the average-sized guests could watch from along the sides of the room. This wedding was a show to entertain Tsar Peter and his friends.
Charles Sherwood Stratton
Charles Sherwood Stratton, height 3’4”, was a proportional dwarf born in 1838 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He likely had some kind of pituitary disorder, but due to the limits of contemporary medical techniques, the exact cause for his condition remains unknown. He stopped growing when he was about two; he would grow only a little, later in life. He was five when P. T. Barnum discovered him and made him into a performer under the stage name General Tom Thumb. As an adult, he married a fellow performer, Lavinia Warren of Massachusetts, who stood 2'8".
The “Sketch of the Life,” a pamphlet released for the wedding, assures the reader that “Miss Warren is perfectly developed, she enjoys excellent health, and is entirely free from deformity and every drawback that would give pain to the spectator." This was a very important part of Barnum’s marketing approach for Tom Thumb, too, as little people were often seen as weak and sickly. However, it is also a reminder that the viewer’s comfort is more important than Lavinia’s.
The wedding was one of the moneymaking highlights of Barnum's career. Skeptics questioned whether it was a real marriage or a publicity stunt, but the public was already captivated. Barnum wove a whole narrative about a love triangle between Charles, Lavinia, and a third performer, Commodore Nutt. Lavinia’s younger sister Minnie served as maid of honor. The wedding distracted the headlines from the brutal reality of the Civil War. Barnum restrained himself from selling tickets to the actual wedding ceremony, but did sell wedding photos and, for the reception, five thousand tickets at $75 each. With today’s inflation, that would be about $1,374 each. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton took a three-year honeymoon tour throughout the world, including another reception hosted by President Lincoln.
Fairy-tale-like as the wedding was, it seems to have been distinctly lacking in reverence, as the exhaustive reporting of the New York Times reveals:
“By very many the sanctity of the occasion and the sacredness of the ceremonies were entirely ignored. As the little party toddled up the aisle, a sense of the ludicrous seemed to hit many a bump of fun, and irrepressible and unpleasantly audible giggles ran through the church.”
Both husband and wife were alternately sexualized, infantilized, or described as otherworldly beings like fairies. A children's book titled Tom Thumb’s Bridal Tour: A Fairy Story described the couple actually traveling into a fairytale realm and meeting fairytale characters, including the Tom Thumb of the fairytale. In the children’s book Toyland, by A. & E. O’Shaughnessy, the characters visit an exaggeratedly small island populated entirely by dwarfs, and in a perfectly tiny church witness the marriage of General Tom Thumb.
Not everyone was infatuated. An article appeared in the London-published Medical Times and Gazette, with the announcement that “The American papers contain the revolting announcement that a miserable little dwarf, under the name of General Tom Thumb, has been married to another dwarf.” They assert a belief that Tom Thumb actually died some years before “in poverty and neglected” and that such a marriage could take place “only in America.” It’s unclear what about the marriage is so fantastically unlikely – the two performers agreeable to marrying each other? The presence of a willing clergyman? The level of public interest?
Lavinia would have still been alive when the first Tom Thumb weddings, based on her own marriage, began to appear. It is unknown what she thought of them.
Other performers followed suit with widely publicized weddings.
Reuben Allen Steere (“Colonel Steere”) and Rebecca Ann Myers were married in 1880 in Rochester, New York. They and their wedding party were members of the Liliputian Opera Company. In response, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a scathing article denouncing what it called “Tom Thumb marriages.”
In 1884, Francis Joseph Flynn ("General Mite") wedded Millie Edwards, from England. During the ceremony, they stood atop a table before the large crowd. Colonel Nepts, a little person from Germany, served as best man, and there were two little girls as bridesmaids.
1892 had the “Fairy Wedding” of performer Admiral Dot (Leopold Kahn) and Lottie Swartwood. Their bridal party included Dot’s nephew and fellow performer Major Atom, and among the guests were Colonel and Mrs. Steere. In stark contrast to the older article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an article appearing in the Galveston Daily News gave a cutesy and affected version of events where the wedding party and guests are literal, magical fairies.
“Have you forgotten the fairy books of your childhood . . . where the queen of the fairies married the prince of Wonderland? Don't you remember how the tiny queen was arrayed for the wedding by two maids of honor in the perfumed heart of a lily bud, and how she was supposed to poise tremblingly for an instant on the swaying blossom before entrusting herself to the golden chariot drawn by white butterflies, which was to take her to her princely lover? And how you crept out and lay in the grass on starlight nights, pretending to be asleep, hoping to see another maiden radiant in bridal white of satiny petals, her veil of mist and her jewels of dewdrops more resplendent than any fine lady's diamonds?”
Only after this does it get to Lottie Swartwood (“the dear little bride,” “a sure enough fairy”), and her outfit (a silk gown with “a train at least half a yard longer than herself”) must then be dealt with before the article can get to any further specifics, such as dates and locations.
The Wichita Daily Eagle explains how they wanted “a truly wedding in grown-up style,” and sent out “a hundred wee cards,” including six to “other little people who came to bring fairy gifts and magic for the coming years.”
The New York Times remarked that “in their wedding garments they looked more like pretty little children than like a man and woman about to embark on the uncertain sea of matrimony."
The “Sketch of the Life,” a pamphlet released for the wedding, assures the reader that “Miss Warren is perfectly developed, she enjoys excellent health, and is entirely free from deformity and every drawback that would give pain to the spectator." This was a very important part of Barnum’s marketing approach for Tom Thumb, too, as little people were often seen as weak and sickly. However, it is also a reminder that the viewer’s comfort is more important than Lavinia’s.
The wedding was one of the moneymaking highlights of Barnum's career. Skeptics questioned whether it was a real marriage or a publicity stunt, but the public was already captivated. Barnum wove a whole narrative about a love triangle between Charles, Lavinia, and a third performer, Commodore Nutt. Lavinia’s younger sister Minnie served as maid of honor. The wedding distracted the headlines from the brutal reality of the Civil War. Barnum restrained himself from selling tickets to the actual wedding ceremony, but did sell wedding photos and, for the reception, five thousand tickets at $75 each. With today’s inflation, that would be about $1,374 each. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton took a three-year honeymoon tour throughout the world, including another reception hosted by President Lincoln.
Fairy-tale-like as the wedding was, it seems to have been distinctly lacking in reverence, as the exhaustive reporting of the New York Times reveals:
“By very many the sanctity of the occasion and the sacredness of the ceremonies were entirely ignored. As the little party toddled up the aisle, a sense of the ludicrous seemed to hit many a bump of fun, and irrepressible and unpleasantly audible giggles ran through the church.”
Both husband and wife were alternately sexualized, infantilized, or described as otherworldly beings like fairies. A children's book titled Tom Thumb’s Bridal Tour: A Fairy Story described the couple actually traveling into a fairytale realm and meeting fairytale characters, including the Tom Thumb of the fairytale. In the children’s book Toyland, by A. & E. O’Shaughnessy, the characters visit an exaggeratedly small island populated entirely by dwarfs, and in a perfectly tiny church witness the marriage of General Tom Thumb.
Not everyone was infatuated. An article appeared in the London-published Medical Times and Gazette, with the announcement that “The American papers contain the revolting announcement that a miserable little dwarf, under the name of General Tom Thumb, has been married to another dwarf.” They assert a belief that Tom Thumb actually died some years before “in poverty and neglected” and that such a marriage could take place “only in America.” It’s unclear what about the marriage is so fantastically unlikely – the two performers agreeable to marrying each other? The presence of a willing clergyman? The level of public interest?
Lavinia would have still been alive when the first Tom Thumb weddings, based on her own marriage, began to appear. It is unknown what she thought of them.
Other performers followed suit with widely publicized weddings.
Reuben Allen Steere (“Colonel Steere”) and Rebecca Ann Myers were married in 1880 in Rochester, New York. They and their wedding party were members of the Liliputian Opera Company. In response, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a scathing article denouncing what it called “Tom Thumb marriages.”
In 1884, Francis Joseph Flynn ("General Mite") wedded Millie Edwards, from England. During the ceremony, they stood atop a table before the large crowd. Colonel Nepts, a little person from Germany, served as best man, and there were two little girls as bridesmaids.
1892 had the “Fairy Wedding” of performer Admiral Dot (Leopold Kahn) and Lottie Swartwood. Their bridal party included Dot’s nephew and fellow performer Major Atom, and among the guests were Colonel and Mrs. Steere. In stark contrast to the older article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an article appearing in the Galveston Daily News gave a cutesy and affected version of events where the wedding party and guests are literal, magical fairies.
“Have you forgotten the fairy books of your childhood . . . where the queen of the fairies married the prince of Wonderland? Don't you remember how the tiny queen was arrayed for the wedding by two maids of honor in the perfumed heart of a lily bud, and how she was supposed to poise tremblingly for an instant on the swaying blossom before entrusting herself to the golden chariot drawn by white butterflies, which was to take her to her princely lover? And how you crept out and lay in the grass on starlight nights, pretending to be asleep, hoping to see another maiden radiant in bridal white of satiny petals, her veil of mist and her jewels of dewdrops more resplendent than any fine lady's diamonds?”
Only after this does it get to Lottie Swartwood (“the dear little bride,” “a sure enough fairy”), and her outfit (a silk gown with “a train at least half a yard longer than herself”) must then be dealt with before the article can get to any further specifics, such as dates and locations.
The Wichita Daily Eagle explains how they wanted “a truly wedding in grown-up style,” and sent out “a hundred wee cards,” including six to “other little people who came to bring fairy gifts and magic for the coming years.”
The New York Times remarked that “in their wedding garments they looked more like pretty little children than like a man and woman about to embark on the uncertain sea of matrimony."
Early Miniature Weddings
It is impossible to say who put on the first Tom Thumb wedding starring children, although there have been claimants to the title.
The absolute earliest mention I've found claims that a wedding was hosted by the First African Presbyterian Church’s Sunday School in 1891, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In June 1892, the Wyoming County Times reported the recent performance of a "Midget Wedding." Six-year-olds played General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren.
Hillcrest Church of Fort Vance, Pennsylvania held one in June 1894 and raised $131.20.
In January 1896, the Lutheran church of Tippecanoe, Ohio held a Tom Thumb wedding as a fundraiser.
In March 1896, the Chicago Tribune reported on a “Midgets' Wedding in Woodlawn: Children Take Part in Interesting and Odd Performance.”
Fairy Weddings were also common.
In the Bethesda Baptist Church of St. Paul, Minnesota, there was a “Children’s Fairy Wedding” in July 1892. It was “worked up and managed” by a Mrs. Barnett and was reportedly a success.
In 1894, a “Novelty Fair” by “Miss Jennie Grady’s school” featured a Fairy Wedding. The cast was made up of children ages four to six, starring a fairy queen and knights.
These are second-hand sources and brief accounts, but they point towards a tradition first coming to prominence in the 1890’s. It was not long before people would seek to write down and formalize scripts for this growing fad—and then, soon after, copyrights would follow.
The absolute earliest mention I've found claims that a wedding was hosted by the First African Presbyterian Church’s Sunday School in 1891, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In June 1892, the Wyoming County Times reported the recent performance of a "Midget Wedding." Six-year-olds played General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren.
Hillcrest Church of Fort Vance, Pennsylvania held one in June 1894 and raised $131.20.
In January 1896, the Lutheran church of Tippecanoe, Ohio held a Tom Thumb wedding as a fundraiser.
In March 1896, the Chicago Tribune reported on a “Midgets' Wedding in Woodlawn: Children Take Part in Interesting and Odd Performance.”
Fairy Weddings were also common.
In the Bethesda Baptist Church of St. Paul, Minnesota, there was a “Children’s Fairy Wedding” in July 1892. It was “worked up and managed” by a Mrs. Barnett and was reportedly a success.
In 1894, a “Novelty Fair” by “Miss Jennie Grady’s school” featured a Fairy Wedding. The cast was made up of children ages four to six, starring a fairy queen and knights.
These are second-hand sources and brief accounts, but they point towards a tradition first coming to prominence in the 1890’s. It was not long before people would seek to write down and formalize scripts for this growing fad—and then, soon after, copyrights would follow.
Jennie June: The Baker's Plays Edition
In 1898, Walter H. Baker & Co. of Boston, Massachusetts published “The Tom Thumb wedding and the Brownies’ Flirtation: two entertainments for children." The Brownies’ Flirtation was by Lucy Jenkins, but no author was given for the Tom Thumb Wedding. It is, however, explained to be “as originally performed at the Union Tabernacle Church, Philadelphia, PA.” (I find it interesting that they cite the original source as Pennsylvania, given the two early versions in at First African and Hillcrest.)
The Script
Although Tom Thumb is given as the name of the groom, the bride is not Lavinia, but Jennie June. It’s possible that June is a reference to the tradition of June weddings; there were also paper dolls, songs, and a well-known women’s writer named Jennie June, and an 1853 poem by Benjamin Franklin Tailor, titled “Jenny June” or “The Beautiful River.”
In a twilight like that, Jenny June for a bride,
Oh ! what more of the world could one wish for beside.
The script directs that “there should be a minister, bride and groom, maid of honor, groomsman, father and mother, bridesmaids, ushers, guests, and flower girls,” and there is even a chart of where people should stand.
There was room for individual casts to work their own magic. The cast might be full of celebrities, or cartoon and nursery rhyme characters. In one production in the 1920’s, Minnie Warren was be the maid of honor and Commodore Nutt the groomsman; however, Reverend Tie-em-up officiated, Bo Peep and Miss Muffet were bridesmaids, and guests had names like Mr. and Mrs. Simon Says, or Mr. and Mrs. Barney Google or the Katzenjammer Kids (characters from comic strips).
Another production had some of the same guests, but featured the Fairy Queen and President Coolidge in attendance, and a “rejected suitor” named Percival Doolittle (rather than Commodore Nutt).
The vows are, like the original 1621 Tom Thumb and the hyperbolic General Tom Thumb, very much a parody.
“I, Tom Thumb, take thee, Jennie June, to be my lawful partner from this day forward, for better, but not worse, for richer, but not poorer, so long as your cooking does not give me the dyspepsia, and my mother –in-law does not visit oftener than once in a quarter, and then not to remain all night; so long as all bills for millinery shall be paid out of spending money furnished by your beloved father.”
It continues on in this fashion, and ends with not “I do” but with “Sure enough.”
In the reprint of their play, Bakers’ Plays briefly mentions its competitors, including another “Jennie June Wedding.” Wherever the name came from, it wasn’t copyrighted.
To underline this, in 1934, Donald V. Hock published a short play, “Tom Thumb’s First Wedding Anniversary,” with Jennie June as the young wife. Could the name have been traditional to the pageant even before the script was published?
However, the main contender in the world of miniature wedding scripts seems to have been Lillian Putian Midget or simply Miss Midget – the copyrighted property of C. A. Rose and Co., of Kansas City, Missouri.
The Script
Although Tom Thumb is given as the name of the groom, the bride is not Lavinia, but Jennie June. It’s possible that June is a reference to the tradition of June weddings; there were also paper dolls, songs, and a well-known women’s writer named Jennie June, and an 1853 poem by Benjamin Franklin Tailor, titled “Jenny June” or “The Beautiful River.”
In a twilight like that, Jenny June for a bride,
Oh ! what more of the world could one wish for beside.
The script directs that “there should be a minister, bride and groom, maid of honor, groomsman, father and mother, bridesmaids, ushers, guests, and flower girls,” and there is even a chart of where people should stand.
There was room for individual casts to work their own magic. The cast might be full of celebrities, or cartoon and nursery rhyme characters. In one production in the 1920’s, Minnie Warren was be the maid of honor and Commodore Nutt the groomsman; however, Reverend Tie-em-up officiated, Bo Peep and Miss Muffet were bridesmaids, and guests had names like Mr. and Mrs. Simon Says, or Mr. and Mrs. Barney Google or the Katzenjammer Kids (characters from comic strips).
Another production had some of the same guests, but featured the Fairy Queen and President Coolidge in attendance, and a “rejected suitor” named Percival Doolittle (rather than Commodore Nutt).
The vows are, like the original 1621 Tom Thumb and the hyperbolic General Tom Thumb, very much a parody.
“I, Tom Thumb, take thee, Jennie June, to be my lawful partner from this day forward, for better, but not worse, for richer, but not poorer, so long as your cooking does not give me the dyspepsia, and my mother –in-law does not visit oftener than once in a quarter, and then not to remain all night; so long as all bills for millinery shall be paid out of spending money furnished by your beloved father.”
It continues on in this fashion, and ends with not “I do” but with “Sure enough.”
In the reprint of their play, Bakers’ Plays briefly mentions its competitors, including another “Jennie June Wedding.” Wherever the name came from, it wasn’t copyrighted.
To underline this, in 1934, Donald V. Hock published a short play, “Tom Thumb’s First Wedding Anniversary,” with Jennie June as the young wife. Could the name have been traditional to the pageant even before the script was published?
However, the main contender in the world of miniature wedding scripts seems to have been Lillian Putian Midget or simply Miss Midget – the copyrighted property of C. A. Rose and Co., of Kansas City, Missouri.
Lillie Putian: C. A. Rose and Co.
This is the other script that shows up frequently in news articles. The name Lillie Putian is a reference both to Gulliver's Travels and to the Strattons, who were headlined as “The Loving Lilliputians.” The earliest mention I’ve found of “Lillian Putian Midget” dates a 1901 advertisement in the Oklahoman, formatted like a wedding announcement. The writer was clearly having fun with references, as there’s a mention of their address at “Gullivar Avenue” in “Pigmy Town.” Over twenty newspaper notices and reports feature the name “Miss Midget” in mock weddings. Other variations are Lillian Putian Midget, Lillie Putian, Lily Midget, and on two occasions in Minnesota, simply Lilliputian.
The Script
A Portland, Oregon performance in 1915, performed by 75 children, featured three scenes. The first was the wedding ceremony for Tom Thumb and Miss Midget. The second was the wedding banquet, in which the grandfather and grandmother sang their songs. The third was the wedding dance, including a minuet and finally the entire cast singing “I’d Like to Live in Loveland with a Girl Like You.”
In both Lily productions and Jennie productions, there were some common popular songs that showed up: “Oh, Promise Me,” “I Love You Truly,” “You are the Ideal of My Dreams,” “I'd Love to Live in Loveland With a Girl Like You,” “When You and I Were Young, Maggie,” “I Cannot Sing the Old Songs” and “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (these two usually by Grandma and Grandpa Thumb), “When You and I were Young,” and “When You Look in the Heart of a Rose.”
A California newspaper printed a program with the entire cast and the songs for different scenes:
Cast of Characters
Bride
Bridegroom
Maid of Honor
Best Man
Bridesmaids (4 listed)
Flower Girls (2)
Ring Bearer
Minister
Father and Mother
Program
“Oh, Promise Me”
Ceremony
“I Love You Truly”
“Silver Threads Among the Gold” – Grandfather of the Bride
“I Cannot Sing the Old Songs” – Grandmother of the Groom
“When You and I Were Young, Maggie” – Grandfather of the Bride
Wedding Supper
“When You Look in the Heart of a Rose”
“Old Maids’ Song” (by three singers – also known as “The Spinsters’ Song,” and sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle.)
“I’d Love to Live in Loveland” (duet)
More elaborate versions could include over 85 children! The guests often impersonated prominent members of the community, and everyone was perfectly dressed in full formal fashion.
The Creators
The five-page, typewritten play “The Marriage of Miss Midget,” by Electa Chase and M. Burnworth in Bonaparte, Iowa, was copyrighted in December 1911. The copyright was renewed in 1939 by May Burnworth, now living in Long Beach, California.
In 1914, M. Burnworth copyrighted the twelve-page “Marriage of the Midgets; or, the Tom Thumb Wedding,” a “home talent playlet.” This time the location is Kansas City. This one seems significantly longer, has a different title, and does not have Electa’s name on it. It was printed by the Kellog-Baxter Printing Company, which in the same year printed a brochure for Tom Thumb Weddings by C. A. Rose and Company. This brochure was filled with recommendations from all over the county, and they bragged that “This entertainment has been given twenty-two times in Kansas City; eight times in Joplin, Mo. . . . ten times in Des Moines, Iowa; seven times in Independence, Kansas; six times in Springfield, Ill.; and it has been repeated in four hundred towns.” Those interested could ask for a director to come out and put on such a play; they were instructed to write to C. A. Rose at 2920 Olive Street, Kansas City, MO.
However, it came with a stern “WARNING!!”
“The Marriage of the Midgets, or the Tom Thumb Wedding, is copyrighted. Copyright No. 28274, issued 1911 and No. 37408, Class D. XXC issued 1914. All persons and societies are warned that any public performance of the same, except under my direction, is infringing copyright and they become liable to suit for damages.”
In the reprint of their own Tom Thumb script, Baker’s Plays fired back.
Persons in Jacksonville, Florida, and in Kansas City, Missouri, who put out similar entertainments under the titles, "The Marriage of the Tots," "The Jennie June Wedding" and " The Marriage of the Midgets, or the Tom Thumb Wedding” have been calling the attention of our customers to what they describe as an “infringement” of their “rights” . . . citing copyrights issued in 1911 and 1914, thirteen to sixteen years later than the date under which we claim. Such a claim is, of course, mere nonsense.
ELECTA CHASE
Electa Chase, nicknamed Lecca, was the daughter of Ira Joy Chase, a minister and the 22nd governor of Indiana. In Lecca's youth, her name appeared often in society news. She graduated from Danville High School in 1887, and continued to live with her parents. Her father passed away suddenly in 1895 while on one of his trips.
Perhaps it came naturally to travel around working with different churches, as her father had done. In May 1900, Lecca put on a Tom Thumb wedding at the Downey Avenue Christian Church. She was staying with a Mrs. P. C. Jacobs.This is the earliest mention I have found of her name in such an article.
In July, for Children’s Day, she organized another Tom Thumb wedding at the tabernacle in Bethany Park (a town with connections to her family’s denomination, the Disciples of Christ). She and her mother were among the cottagers and campers there for the Bethany Assembly. The wedding party included forty children, all under ten years of age.
In March 1901: "Tom Thumb's Wedding." A playlet, was given by the juniors of the Morris-street Christian Church Friday night before a large crowd. This is the second presentation of the play by the children, under the direction of Miss Electa Chase, of Wabash.
In January 1901, the Christian Evangelist, a publication by the Disciples of Christ, mentioned Electa’s efforts amidst some other news and advertisements. Mrs. T. J. Clark of Bloomington, Indiana recommended Lecca’s playlet as “a good money-raiser and a pleasing performance.”
In March 1902, she appeared in Brookland, Indiana. Tickets for reserved seats at the Opera House performance were available for 25 cents and children would be admitted at the door for 15 cents.
The Indianapolis News reported that she would perform another one in a chapel in May 1902.
One of the most detailed accounts comes from Hiram Austin Pratt, a barber in Waveland, Indiana, who kept a diary for many years. In 1902, in between staid accounts of business and weather, the now 32-year-old Electa appears.
Saturday November 1 -- $6.95. Sam I mean Doran Clore 25c for a ¼ of a bushel of nice pears to eat. A daughter of Ex-Gov. Ira Chase is at our house tonight. She is here in the interest of the Christian Endeavor society and will give an entertainment in the Christian Church. "Tom Thumb readings." She is training 40 little children for the occasion. I paid 60c for fresh meat got some pigs feet jelly along with the meat. I was done work by 10 o'clock, but did not get home until 12. A lot of stuff was piled against my door last night.
Tuesday, November 4 -- $5.40. Eva went to the Tom Thumb wedding tonight. I had work to do and could not go. I have no doubt that the wedding was a good entertainment, marriage license were granted today to Dr. Lee Straughan and Nellie Kritz, Dr. Ben Harbeson and Lala Kritz. The wedding will take place tomorrow evening at 8 o'clock at Prof. H.S. Kritz's. The girls are twins and the youngest of the family. I voted an unscratched republican ticket today. The weather was fine most all day late this p.m. a little rain fell.
Wednesday, November 5 -- $2.15. Miss Electa Chase of Wabash, Ind left this morning for North Salem, Indiana. She had $18.45 for her part of the receipt to the Tom Thumb wedding. The house was full of people.
In 1903, still in Indiana, she put on a production with the young students of the Central Christian Sunday-school. She stayed with Mrs. A. J. Clark and Mrs. Frank Wells.
In November 1905, she and attorney Horace G. Murphy announced their engagement. They were married just after Christmas, in Electa’s home town of Wabash, at the home of Dr. and Mrs. J. W. G. Stewart.
The newspaper announcement mentioned that “Miss Chase is well known as the originator of the "Tom Thumb" wedding idea, a children's entertainment which she has given under the auspices of church organizations in nearly every State.”
They adopted a daughter named Mary Elizabeth.
In August 1908, the Call-Leader from Elwood, Indiana reported that Mrs. Electa Chase Murphy would be giving one of her Tom Thumb weddings. This is the last such mention I have found of her performances, until her name appeared in the 1911 copyright. Electa passed away in 1960, at the age of 90. She was living at the Fairbanks Home in Terre Haute, Indiana.
May Burnworth
Most of Electa’s newspaper appearances that I have found are in Indiana, but May Burnworth appears in articles again and again, personally overseeing productions all across America through three decades and probably more.
1902: Miss Burnworth of Independence appears in a Newton, Kansas newspaper as training “the little people who are to take part and as she has repeated the play in a number of places a charming entertainment is assured.”
November 1903: Arkansas City, Kansas.
June 1903, Iowa. Her play “has been given with splendid success in many Iowa cities."
1908: Independence, Kansas, as "Miss Burnsworth."
1910: Decatur, Illinois.
June 1911: Decatur, Illinois. The connected newspaper article features one of the best looks at May Burnworth, who it is said has been traveling around the states giving this play for the past eleven years. She had just travelled south to Decatur only six days before, arrived at 4 p.m., and that evening she assigned the children their parts and handed out costumes that she provided. They did two rehearsals before the night of the play. Directly after the play finished, she left for Blue Mound to start another production. “She is in this kind of work during the entire year, and says she finds little time for a vacation. During this month her work has kept her mainly in this state.”
At this time, May is described as “having the only copyright on this particular version she is the only person producing it, and has calls to appear in many towns.” Later this year, she would copyright the play written with Electa Chase.
In July 1911, she was in Missouri – the state where she, presumably, met C. A. Rose.
In 1912, she was working in Antioch, Illinois, now with an assistant.
September 1912: Earlington, Kentucky.
October 1912: Montague, Michigan.
1919: Alma, Kansas."The costumes were furnished by Miss Burnworth.”
1926: San Bernardino, California. She's referred to as May Burnsworth of Oceanside.
April 1927: Washington.
April and May 1928: San Mateo, California. “Costumes will be supplied to the children without cost and the play will be directed by Miss Mae Burnworth, author.”
September 1928: San Bernardino, California. May is now apparently living in Long Beach, and it is said that she “wrote the little play” performed by kindergarteners and first-graders.
November 1928: The Healdsburg Grammar School in California.
May 1929: Sausalito, California.
September 1929: Another interesting look at May's technique.
“May Burnworth, the Los Angeles artist who is directing it, will arrive in Colton next Tuesday to direct the rehearsals on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She will select" the characters from the children who have been secured by Mrs. Gaylord McCobb who is making arrangements to get 45 little girls and 30 little boys to take part In the play. Because children learn easily it was announced by the directoress that it would not be necessary to have long drills but that a few concentrated practices would be sufficient.”
1930: Arlington. Miss Mary Burnworth is mentioned.
A 1931 performance in Oakland, California is the last one that I have been able to find; also at this point, “Lillie Putian” performances become harder and harder to find in newspapers.
So who was May Burnworth?
In early mentions, May was said to be from Independence, Kansas. In 1932, she was referred to as “May Burnworth of Santa Monica.” In later mentions, she was said to be from Los Angeles, and the 1939 copyright renewal placed her in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California.
There was an Ida May Burnworth born in Kansas in about 1877. She had an eighth-grade education and in many files is listed as simply May Burnworth. In the 1910 census, she was living in Independence, Kansas; in 1930, in Santa Monica, California, where her occupation was listed as a vaudeville entertainer; and in 1940, in Long Beach, California with her sister Lyda’s family. Incidentally, according to one announcement, Lyda met her husband (photographer Alexander H. Cummings) while she was in Bonaparte, Indiana, training some children for a Tom Thumb wedding. They were married in 1909.
Ida May Burnworth died in California on August 15, 1946.
C. A. Rose
C. A. Rose has a level of anonymity that Electa Chase and May Burnworth lack. The name appears only as the person who is, apparently, in charge of the production, and who can be reached at 2920 Olive Street. In February 1914, the Dorcas Society of Cortland presented the Marriage of Miss Midget, or Tom Thumb’s Wedding, at the opera house. About forty children, from three to twelve years old, participated. The lady director was sent by C. A. Rose, who, the newspaper advertisement mentions, “has had charge of this entertainment for a number of years and who is making a big success of it.” C. A. Rose personally stepped in to direct a few faux weddings, but their gender or any other information was hard to place.
In 1913, the Central Christian Church had a wedding given by Mrs. C. A. Rose of Kansas City, “who conducts these weddings all over the United States.” It advertised a hundred young actors, “a miniature up to date wedding” with “full trained evening gowns” and “full evening dress.” For the wedding feast, ice cream was served. “It is a highly enjoyable affair and everyone will be delighted with the quaint antics of the little people impersonating the “grown ups.”
One, in February 1917, took place in an Indianapolis high school auditorium, performed by the first and second rooms of the public school. The proceeds would go to benefit the school. C. A. Rose was mentioned as manager.
In April 1919, the Taylor Daily Press of Texas announced simply that C. A. Rose & Company would present the play, sponsored by the Methodist Missionary Society, at the City Auditorium. Admission was 35 cents for adults and 20 for children.
Another, in November, 1922, had a cast of between fifty and seventy-five children and was sponsored by the Ladies Aid of the Presbyterian Church. It will be directed by C. A. Rose, of Kansas City.
However, most mentions are simply of “lady directors” sent out by C. A. Rose. May Burnworth was no longer the only person producing these plays. Some directors' names were Charlotte Hume or Leila G. Stewart.
An advertisement from C.A. Rose in 1921 read, “An experienced and well known entertainment business desires to employ three young ladies as traveling directors of Juvenile entertainments; experienced in handling children; pay salary, commissions and expenses. Address C. A. Rose. 2920 Olive St. Kansas City, MO.”
The Olive Street address and the mention of “Mrs. C.A. Rose” are the only initial clues to C. A. Rose’s identity. After little luck finding Rose by name, I tried searching for the address. I found the 2920 Olive Street address mentioned with the name Vernon J. Rose, a sales manager for automobile headlights. These ads appeared in the 1917 edition of the Oil and Gas Journal and the December 1922 El Paso Herald. There are census records for a Vernon J. Rose living at 3211 Olive Street in 1935 and 1940. He was born in Iowa around 1871, and his wife was Clara Augusta Rose, a woman of Prussian descent born in Fairplay, Colorado around 1880. Clara’s highest level of education was her fourth year of high school. She married Vernon in 1904. They do not seem to have had children. She died in Kansas City, Missouri in 1965, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.
Here's a speculative version of C. A. Rose and Co's story. In the late 1800s, the weddings of performers with dwarfism are popular entertainment. Many of the spectators compare the participants to children. Several people have the idea of holding miniature wedding pageants with actual children. One of these people is Lecca Chase, a young lady of society whose family is very involved with her church. Her brainchild is a great community activity for the children of church. She calls her creation “Tom Thumb weddings” after the generic term for tiny things, and also harkening back to the wedding of General Tom Thumb.
Other people have had the same idea, like May Burnworth, the daughter of a wheelwright in Kansas. May runs her programs as fundraisers and becomes a travelling businesswoman, playwright, stage manager, and costume designer. She polishes her routine as she goes along, bringing costumes with her and having other people cast the play while she’s coming in on the next train. It’s a lot of work for one person, but it’s a living. Seeing how lucrative the fundraisers can be, she has the idea to copyright her script for “The Tom Thumb Wedding” or “The Marriage of the Midgets.” But even then, she hasn’t been the first person to copyright such a play.
Around 1911, May is working in Indiana. By this time, Lecca has gotten married and settled down, but perhaps this is where they become acquainted. That same year, May meets a Missouri woman named Clara A. Rose. They copyright the play again under Lecca’s and May’s names together. Clara has experience with advertising from her husband’s automobile parts sales business. She publishes brochures using a local printing place, giving their group the name C. A. Rose and Co. They hire young ladies through the paper to train as traveling directors. Many of these young ladies, including May’s sister, probably find husbands along the way.
But there are other people also doing Tom Thumb weddings. They write their own scripts, but use similar or identical names, and of course the idea is the same. Clara publishes brochures with stern threats of copyright infringement, and insists that all Tom Thumb weddings be done under her direction. This isn’t really something she can enforce, though.
The enterprise eventually ends, perhaps because of Clara’s brand of self-promotion, or maybe they just drift apart naturally as time passes. May moves to California near her sister’s family and takes up her old solo act - less support, but more control and freedom. She continues her business, renewing the copyright for the play. By the 1930s, “C. A. Rose and Co.” has been forgotten, but the idea of Tom Thumb weddings survives.
The Script
A Portland, Oregon performance in 1915, performed by 75 children, featured three scenes. The first was the wedding ceremony for Tom Thumb and Miss Midget. The second was the wedding banquet, in which the grandfather and grandmother sang their songs. The third was the wedding dance, including a minuet and finally the entire cast singing “I’d Like to Live in Loveland with a Girl Like You.”
In both Lily productions and Jennie productions, there were some common popular songs that showed up: “Oh, Promise Me,” “I Love You Truly,” “You are the Ideal of My Dreams,” “I'd Love to Live in Loveland With a Girl Like You,” “When You and I Were Young, Maggie,” “I Cannot Sing the Old Songs” and “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (these two usually by Grandma and Grandpa Thumb), “When You and I were Young,” and “When You Look in the Heart of a Rose.”
A California newspaper printed a program with the entire cast and the songs for different scenes:
Cast of Characters
Bride
Bridegroom
Maid of Honor
Best Man
Bridesmaids (4 listed)
Flower Girls (2)
Ring Bearer
Minister
Father and Mother
Program
“Oh, Promise Me”
Ceremony
“I Love You Truly”
“Silver Threads Among the Gold” – Grandfather of the Bride
“I Cannot Sing the Old Songs” – Grandmother of the Groom
“When You and I Were Young, Maggie” – Grandfather of the Bride
Wedding Supper
“When You Look in the Heart of a Rose”
“Old Maids’ Song” (by three singers – also known as “The Spinsters’ Song,” and sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle.)
“I’d Love to Live in Loveland” (duet)
More elaborate versions could include over 85 children! The guests often impersonated prominent members of the community, and everyone was perfectly dressed in full formal fashion.
The Creators
The five-page, typewritten play “The Marriage of Miss Midget,” by Electa Chase and M. Burnworth in Bonaparte, Iowa, was copyrighted in December 1911. The copyright was renewed in 1939 by May Burnworth, now living in Long Beach, California.
In 1914, M. Burnworth copyrighted the twelve-page “Marriage of the Midgets; or, the Tom Thumb Wedding,” a “home talent playlet.” This time the location is Kansas City. This one seems significantly longer, has a different title, and does not have Electa’s name on it. It was printed by the Kellog-Baxter Printing Company, which in the same year printed a brochure for Tom Thumb Weddings by C. A. Rose and Company. This brochure was filled with recommendations from all over the county, and they bragged that “This entertainment has been given twenty-two times in Kansas City; eight times in Joplin, Mo. . . . ten times in Des Moines, Iowa; seven times in Independence, Kansas; six times in Springfield, Ill.; and it has been repeated in four hundred towns.” Those interested could ask for a director to come out and put on such a play; they were instructed to write to C. A. Rose at 2920 Olive Street, Kansas City, MO.
However, it came with a stern “WARNING!!”
“The Marriage of the Midgets, or the Tom Thumb Wedding, is copyrighted. Copyright No. 28274, issued 1911 and No. 37408, Class D. XXC issued 1914. All persons and societies are warned that any public performance of the same, except under my direction, is infringing copyright and they become liable to suit for damages.”
In the reprint of their own Tom Thumb script, Baker’s Plays fired back.
Persons in Jacksonville, Florida, and in Kansas City, Missouri, who put out similar entertainments under the titles, "The Marriage of the Tots," "The Jennie June Wedding" and " The Marriage of the Midgets, or the Tom Thumb Wedding” have been calling the attention of our customers to what they describe as an “infringement” of their “rights” . . . citing copyrights issued in 1911 and 1914, thirteen to sixteen years later than the date under which we claim. Such a claim is, of course, mere nonsense.
ELECTA CHASE
Electa Chase, nicknamed Lecca, was the daughter of Ira Joy Chase, a minister and the 22nd governor of Indiana. In Lecca's youth, her name appeared often in society news. She graduated from Danville High School in 1887, and continued to live with her parents. Her father passed away suddenly in 1895 while on one of his trips.
Perhaps it came naturally to travel around working with different churches, as her father had done. In May 1900, Lecca put on a Tom Thumb wedding at the Downey Avenue Christian Church. She was staying with a Mrs. P. C. Jacobs.This is the earliest mention I have found of her name in such an article.
In July, for Children’s Day, she organized another Tom Thumb wedding at the tabernacle in Bethany Park (a town with connections to her family’s denomination, the Disciples of Christ). She and her mother were among the cottagers and campers there for the Bethany Assembly. The wedding party included forty children, all under ten years of age.
In March 1901: "Tom Thumb's Wedding." A playlet, was given by the juniors of the Morris-street Christian Church Friday night before a large crowd. This is the second presentation of the play by the children, under the direction of Miss Electa Chase, of Wabash.
In January 1901, the Christian Evangelist, a publication by the Disciples of Christ, mentioned Electa’s efforts amidst some other news and advertisements. Mrs. T. J. Clark of Bloomington, Indiana recommended Lecca’s playlet as “a good money-raiser and a pleasing performance.”
In March 1902, she appeared in Brookland, Indiana. Tickets for reserved seats at the Opera House performance were available for 25 cents and children would be admitted at the door for 15 cents.
The Indianapolis News reported that she would perform another one in a chapel in May 1902.
One of the most detailed accounts comes from Hiram Austin Pratt, a barber in Waveland, Indiana, who kept a diary for many years. In 1902, in between staid accounts of business and weather, the now 32-year-old Electa appears.
Saturday November 1 -- $6.95. Sam I mean Doran Clore 25c for a ¼ of a bushel of nice pears to eat. A daughter of Ex-Gov. Ira Chase is at our house tonight. She is here in the interest of the Christian Endeavor society and will give an entertainment in the Christian Church. "Tom Thumb readings." She is training 40 little children for the occasion. I paid 60c for fresh meat got some pigs feet jelly along with the meat. I was done work by 10 o'clock, but did not get home until 12. A lot of stuff was piled against my door last night.
Tuesday, November 4 -- $5.40. Eva went to the Tom Thumb wedding tonight. I had work to do and could not go. I have no doubt that the wedding was a good entertainment, marriage license were granted today to Dr. Lee Straughan and Nellie Kritz, Dr. Ben Harbeson and Lala Kritz. The wedding will take place tomorrow evening at 8 o'clock at Prof. H.S. Kritz's. The girls are twins and the youngest of the family. I voted an unscratched republican ticket today. The weather was fine most all day late this p.m. a little rain fell.
Wednesday, November 5 -- $2.15. Miss Electa Chase of Wabash, Ind left this morning for North Salem, Indiana. She had $18.45 for her part of the receipt to the Tom Thumb wedding. The house was full of people.
In 1903, still in Indiana, she put on a production with the young students of the Central Christian Sunday-school. She stayed with Mrs. A. J. Clark and Mrs. Frank Wells.
In November 1905, she and attorney Horace G. Murphy announced their engagement. They were married just after Christmas, in Electa’s home town of Wabash, at the home of Dr. and Mrs. J. W. G. Stewart.
The newspaper announcement mentioned that “Miss Chase is well known as the originator of the "Tom Thumb" wedding idea, a children's entertainment which she has given under the auspices of church organizations in nearly every State.”
They adopted a daughter named Mary Elizabeth.
In August 1908, the Call-Leader from Elwood, Indiana reported that Mrs. Electa Chase Murphy would be giving one of her Tom Thumb weddings. This is the last such mention I have found of her performances, until her name appeared in the 1911 copyright. Electa passed away in 1960, at the age of 90. She was living at the Fairbanks Home in Terre Haute, Indiana.
May Burnworth
Most of Electa’s newspaper appearances that I have found are in Indiana, but May Burnworth appears in articles again and again, personally overseeing productions all across America through three decades and probably more.
1902: Miss Burnworth of Independence appears in a Newton, Kansas newspaper as training “the little people who are to take part and as she has repeated the play in a number of places a charming entertainment is assured.”
November 1903: Arkansas City, Kansas.
June 1903, Iowa. Her play “has been given with splendid success in many Iowa cities."
1908: Independence, Kansas, as "Miss Burnsworth."
1910: Decatur, Illinois.
June 1911: Decatur, Illinois. The connected newspaper article features one of the best looks at May Burnworth, who it is said has been traveling around the states giving this play for the past eleven years. She had just travelled south to Decatur only six days before, arrived at 4 p.m., and that evening she assigned the children their parts and handed out costumes that she provided. They did two rehearsals before the night of the play. Directly after the play finished, she left for Blue Mound to start another production. “She is in this kind of work during the entire year, and says she finds little time for a vacation. During this month her work has kept her mainly in this state.”
At this time, May is described as “having the only copyright on this particular version she is the only person producing it, and has calls to appear in many towns.” Later this year, she would copyright the play written with Electa Chase.
In July 1911, she was in Missouri – the state where she, presumably, met C. A. Rose.
In 1912, she was working in Antioch, Illinois, now with an assistant.
September 1912: Earlington, Kentucky.
October 1912: Montague, Michigan.
1919: Alma, Kansas."The costumes were furnished by Miss Burnworth.”
1926: San Bernardino, California. She's referred to as May Burnsworth of Oceanside.
April 1927: Washington.
April and May 1928: San Mateo, California. “Costumes will be supplied to the children without cost and the play will be directed by Miss Mae Burnworth, author.”
September 1928: San Bernardino, California. May is now apparently living in Long Beach, and it is said that she “wrote the little play” performed by kindergarteners and first-graders.
November 1928: The Healdsburg Grammar School in California.
May 1929: Sausalito, California.
September 1929: Another interesting look at May's technique.
“May Burnworth, the Los Angeles artist who is directing it, will arrive in Colton next Tuesday to direct the rehearsals on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She will select" the characters from the children who have been secured by Mrs. Gaylord McCobb who is making arrangements to get 45 little girls and 30 little boys to take part In the play. Because children learn easily it was announced by the directoress that it would not be necessary to have long drills but that a few concentrated practices would be sufficient.”
1930: Arlington. Miss Mary Burnworth is mentioned.
A 1931 performance in Oakland, California is the last one that I have been able to find; also at this point, “Lillie Putian” performances become harder and harder to find in newspapers.
So who was May Burnworth?
In early mentions, May was said to be from Independence, Kansas. In 1932, she was referred to as “May Burnworth of Santa Monica.” In later mentions, she was said to be from Los Angeles, and the 1939 copyright renewal placed her in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California.
There was an Ida May Burnworth born in Kansas in about 1877. She had an eighth-grade education and in many files is listed as simply May Burnworth. In the 1910 census, she was living in Independence, Kansas; in 1930, in Santa Monica, California, where her occupation was listed as a vaudeville entertainer; and in 1940, in Long Beach, California with her sister Lyda’s family. Incidentally, according to one announcement, Lyda met her husband (photographer Alexander H. Cummings) while she was in Bonaparte, Indiana, training some children for a Tom Thumb wedding. They were married in 1909.
Ida May Burnworth died in California on August 15, 1946.
C. A. Rose
C. A. Rose has a level of anonymity that Electa Chase and May Burnworth lack. The name appears only as the person who is, apparently, in charge of the production, and who can be reached at 2920 Olive Street. In February 1914, the Dorcas Society of Cortland presented the Marriage of Miss Midget, or Tom Thumb’s Wedding, at the opera house. About forty children, from three to twelve years old, participated. The lady director was sent by C. A. Rose, who, the newspaper advertisement mentions, “has had charge of this entertainment for a number of years and who is making a big success of it.” C. A. Rose personally stepped in to direct a few faux weddings, but their gender or any other information was hard to place.
In 1913, the Central Christian Church had a wedding given by Mrs. C. A. Rose of Kansas City, “who conducts these weddings all over the United States.” It advertised a hundred young actors, “a miniature up to date wedding” with “full trained evening gowns” and “full evening dress.” For the wedding feast, ice cream was served. “It is a highly enjoyable affair and everyone will be delighted with the quaint antics of the little people impersonating the “grown ups.”
One, in February 1917, took place in an Indianapolis high school auditorium, performed by the first and second rooms of the public school. The proceeds would go to benefit the school. C. A. Rose was mentioned as manager.
In April 1919, the Taylor Daily Press of Texas announced simply that C. A. Rose & Company would present the play, sponsored by the Methodist Missionary Society, at the City Auditorium. Admission was 35 cents for adults and 20 for children.
Another, in November, 1922, had a cast of between fifty and seventy-five children and was sponsored by the Ladies Aid of the Presbyterian Church. It will be directed by C. A. Rose, of Kansas City.
However, most mentions are simply of “lady directors” sent out by C. A. Rose. May Burnworth was no longer the only person producing these plays. Some directors' names were Charlotte Hume or Leila G. Stewart.
An advertisement from C.A. Rose in 1921 read, “An experienced and well known entertainment business desires to employ three young ladies as traveling directors of Juvenile entertainments; experienced in handling children; pay salary, commissions and expenses. Address C. A. Rose. 2920 Olive St. Kansas City, MO.”
The Olive Street address and the mention of “Mrs. C.A. Rose” are the only initial clues to C. A. Rose’s identity. After little luck finding Rose by name, I tried searching for the address. I found the 2920 Olive Street address mentioned with the name Vernon J. Rose, a sales manager for automobile headlights. These ads appeared in the 1917 edition of the Oil and Gas Journal and the December 1922 El Paso Herald. There are census records for a Vernon J. Rose living at 3211 Olive Street in 1935 and 1940. He was born in Iowa around 1871, and his wife was Clara Augusta Rose, a woman of Prussian descent born in Fairplay, Colorado around 1880. Clara’s highest level of education was her fourth year of high school. She married Vernon in 1904. They do not seem to have had children. She died in Kansas City, Missouri in 1965, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.
Here's a speculative version of C. A. Rose and Co's story. In the late 1800s, the weddings of performers with dwarfism are popular entertainment. Many of the spectators compare the participants to children. Several people have the idea of holding miniature wedding pageants with actual children. One of these people is Lecca Chase, a young lady of society whose family is very involved with her church. Her brainchild is a great community activity for the children of church. She calls her creation “Tom Thumb weddings” after the generic term for tiny things, and also harkening back to the wedding of General Tom Thumb.
Other people have had the same idea, like May Burnworth, the daughter of a wheelwright in Kansas. May runs her programs as fundraisers and becomes a travelling businesswoman, playwright, stage manager, and costume designer. She polishes her routine as she goes along, bringing costumes with her and having other people cast the play while she’s coming in on the next train. It’s a lot of work for one person, but it’s a living. Seeing how lucrative the fundraisers can be, she has the idea to copyright her script for “The Tom Thumb Wedding” or “The Marriage of the Midgets.” But even then, she hasn’t been the first person to copyright such a play.
Around 1911, May is working in Indiana. By this time, Lecca has gotten married and settled down, but perhaps this is where they become acquainted. That same year, May meets a Missouri woman named Clara A. Rose. They copyright the play again under Lecca’s and May’s names together. Clara has experience with advertising from her husband’s automobile parts sales business. She publishes brochures using a local printing place, giving their group the name C. A. Rose and Co. They hire young ladies through the paper to train as traveling directors. Many of these young ladies, including May’s sister, probably find husbands along the way.
But there are other people also doing Tom Thumb weddings. They write their own scripts, but use similar or identical names, and of course the idea is the same. Clara publishes brochures with stern threats of copyright infringement, and insists that all Tom Thumb weddings be done under her direction. This isn’t really something she can enforce, though.
The enterprise eventually ends, perhaps because of Clara’s brand of self-promotion, or maybe they just drift apart naturally as time passes. May moves to California near her sister’s family and takes up her old solo act - less support, but more control and freedom. She continues her business, renewing the copyright for the play. By the 1930s, “C. A. Rose and Co.” has been forgotten, but the idea of Tom Thumb weddings survives.
OTHER PRODUCTIONS
There were more competitors, of course. Baker’s Plays mentioned “Persons in Jacksonville, Florida . . . who put out similar entertainments under the titles, "The Marriage of the Tots," [and] "The Jennie June Wedding.” I still have no clues on who these were, but there are other names out there.
Louise Aldrich
Louise Aldrich of Wyanet, Illinois copyrighted a 7-page “Tom Thumb wedding; or, Departure of Lillian Midget” in March 1912. She was another traveling director, appearing in Mattoon, Illinois in April 1912 with an assistant, Miss Everett, to train one hundred children. The play had three acts. Admission was 15 cents and 25 cents.
She did one for the First Congregational Church of Mattoon, Illinois. It was a “costuming triumph,” with the bride in white silk and the groom and groomsmen in full evening dress. “Guests” included family members from all over the country, Mr. and Mrs. Taft, and a group of suffragettes from England. The newspaper made much of how well the “little folks” performed their parts: “Without a bobble, the ceremony was held, solemnly, grotesquely.”
Aldrich stayed in Decatur, Illinois for several days in June 1912, holding daily rehearsals for the Presbyterian church’s Tom Thumb wedding.
Based on her location and these dates in 1912, it seems impossible that she would not have encountered or at least known of May Burnworth and other traveling directors. But then why did she have her own copyright?
Frank Moorer Sheridan of the Sheridan teacher’s supply company copyrighted the “Wedding of Tom Thumb and Lillie Putian” in 1917, for Greenwood, South Carolina.
Unknown Authors:
In a Kensington, Ohio production in 1916, the bride was “Miss Dotty Dimples.” (Woodrow Wilson and wife were among the guests, as were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford.) It was put on by a group of young people from Millport, who also did a play titled “The Sweet Family” on the same occasion.
In a Phoenix newspaper in May 1925, a Tom Thumb wedding features a bride named Jean Astorbilt, played by Neva Jean Hess. This one had a more uppercrust slant, with “Lord and Lady Thumb” as the parents of the groom, and the Sultana of Turkey, the Prince of Wales, the Empress of Japan, and Uncle Sam in attendance.
There was another play in the 1930s where “Miss Littletot became the bride of Mr. Littleman at the Methodist Episcopal church.”
On a few occasions, people put on double weddings where Tom Thumb married Jennie June and Fred Finger married Millie May (or Nellie May).
And in Ohio in 1957, there was a "Mock Marriage of Tom Thumb and Miss Lavinia Warren” – a callback to the real wedding that started it all.
Louise Aldrich
Louise Aldrich of Wyanet, Illinois copyrighted a 7-page “Tom Thumb wedding; or, Departure of Lillian Midget” in March 1912. She was another traveling director, appearing in Mattoon, Illinois in April 1912 with an assistant, Miss Everett, to train one hundred children. The play had three acts. Admission was 15 cents and 25 cents.
She did one for the First Congregational Church of Mattoon, Illinois. It was a “costuming triumph,” with the bride in white silk and the groom and groomsmen in full evening dress. “Guests” included family members from all over the country, Mr. and Mrs. Taft, and a group of suffragettes from England. The newspaper made much of how well the “little folks” performed their parts: “Without a bobble, the ceremony was held, solemnly, grotesquely.”
Aldrich stayed in Decatur, Illinois for several days in June 1912, holding daily rehearsals for the Presbyterian church’s Tom Thumb wedding.
Based on her location and these dates in 1912, it seems impossible that she would not have encountered or at least known of May Burnworth and other traveling directors. But then why did she have her own copyright?
Frank Moorer Sheridan of the Sheridan teacher’s supply company copyrighted the “Wedding of Tom Thumb and Lillie Putian” in 1917, for Greenwood, South Carolina.
Unknown Authors:
In a Kensington, Ohio production in 1916, the bride was “Miss Dotty Dimples.” (Woodrow Wilson and wife were among the guests, as were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford.) It was put on by a group of young people from Millport, who also did a play titled “The Sweet Family” on the same occasion.
In a Phoenix newspaper in May 1925, a Tom Thumb wedding features a bride named Jean Astorbilt, played by Neva Jean Hess. This one had a more uppercrust slant, with “Lord and Lady Thumb” as the parents of the groom, and the Sultana of Turkey, the Prince of Wales, the Empress of Japan, and Uncle Sam in attendance.
There was another play in the 1930s where “Miss Littletot became the bride of Mr. Littleman at the Methodist Episcopal church.”
On a few occasions, people put on double weddings where Tom Thumb married Jennie June and Fred Finger married Millie May (or Nellie May).
And in Ohio in 1957, there was a "Mock Marriage of Tom Thumb and Miss Lavinia Warren” – a callback to the real wedding that started it all.
MODERN TOM THUMB WEDDINGS
The mock weddings seem to have been popular with communities of all cultures. Why did it die down around the 1930s and 1940s? There were other things to worry about, like the Depression and World War II. And the ladies running it weren't around. May died in 1946, Electa in 1960; maybe “C. A. Rose and Co.” just didn’t outlive them.
Another element is that some audience members found the whole practice uncomfortable. However, scattered weddings still appeared throughout the decades.
At the Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Cheltenham, Pennylvania, a 1982 performance mimicked a traditional Armenian wedding with a crowning ceremony. The bride was Norpie Balboosian (Cold Ice), the groom was Massis Dakshoonian (Hot Dog), and the minister was Hyre Yerginkian (“Father Heaven”).
Also in 1982, a Tom Thumb wedding in West Hagert, Philadelphia, was actually a triple wedding – for the “Flintstones,” the “Smurfs,” and the “Jeffersons.” The “minister” asked the brides, “Do you promise to take him to Shopping Bag and spend all his money on cakes and cookies?” The best men objected a few times, drawing laughs from the crowd. At the end, the grooms were told, “You may salute the bride.”
A 1991 mock wedding took place in Brooklyn at Cadman Congregational Memorial Church, sponsored by the Order of the Eastern Star. The ten-year-old minister read out the vows: “Do you promise to take Nakia to the movies? Do you promise to buy her popcorn and bonbons if she wants them? Do you promise to let Lenox play Nintendo in peace? Do you promise to push him in the swing when you are in the park?” The children dressed in African fabrics, and three of them performed an African dance. Deacon William T. Lee Jr. of Norfolk, VA, said that the weddings were a way to teach children “religious values.” Rosalyn Johnson, the director, said it was “to teach them about the importance of friendship and of making promises,” and a parish member called it “a way to give children a sense of what a real wedding is like.” However, other parish members were uncomfortable with the production.
Tom Thumb weddings have been publicized as recently as 2008, and doubtlessly continue, even if they are no longer as well-known. I personally remember my parents filming a video to send to my grandparents for their anniversary. For the video, my brothers and I acted out a very short wedding.
Throughout the years, the defining attributes of the miniature wedding have been that it is cute (little and tiny) and funny. There was mockery at Peter the Great’s marriage spectacle, giggling at the Stratton wedding, and “100 Laughs in 100 Minutes” in C. A. Rose’s promotional pamphlets. The vows in the children's pageants were invariably parodies.
Who was the originator of the Tom Thumb Wedding idea? Lecca Chase and May Burnworth both laid claim to the title. Either of them could easily have been operating in or before 1891. Bakers’ Plays may have copyrighted the idea first, but people were independently putting on their own productions long before anyone started publicizing them.
Although many think these mock weddings are the cutest things ever, some people feel uncomfortable with these performances. As the child weddings have waned, Rachel Poliquin suggests something similar has taken their place: pet weddings. The current world record for most expensive pet wedding has been set at $250,000, at the wedding of Wendy Diamond’s dog in 2012. Two hundred and fifty human guests attended, and that’s not counting the doggy guests. A seven-piece orchestra played the bridal march. The poodle groom was decked out in a tuxedo, and the Coton de Tulear bride in a custom $6,000 gown. After that, there was a five-tier wedding cake and an all-natural pet food buffet for the guests to enjoy. This pet wedding was miniature (a Coton de Tulear weighs typically up to thirteen pounds). It was for a charitable cause, raising donations for the Humane Society of New York. And it had an emphasis on making people laugh, with a comedian pronouncing the parody vows.
Another element is that some audience members found the whole practice uncomfortable. However, scattered weddings still appeared throughout the decades.
At the Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Cheltenham, Pennylvania, a 1982 performance mimicked a traditional Armenian wedding with a crowning ceremony. The bride was Norpie Balboosian (Cold Ice), the groom was Massis Dakshoonian (Hot Dog), and the minister was Hyre Yerginkian (“Father Heaven”).
Also in 1982, a Tom Thumb wedding in West Hagert, Philadelphia, was actually a triple wedding – for the “Flintstones,” the “Smurfs,” and the “Jeffersons.” The “minister” asked the brides, “Do you promise to take him to Shopping Bag and spend all his money on cakes and cookies?” The best men objected a few times, drawing laughs from the crowd. At the end, the grooms were told, “You may salute the bride.”
A 1991 mock wedding took place in Brooklyn at Cadman Congregational Memorial Church, sponsored by the Order of the Eastern Star. The ten-year-old minister read out the vows: “Do you promise to take Nakia to the movies? Do you promise to buy her popcorn and bonbons if she wants them? Do you promise to let Lenox play Nintendo in peace? Do you promise to push him in the swing when you are in the park?” The children dressed in African fabrics, and three of them performed an African dance. Deacon William T. Lee Jr. of Norfolk, VA, said that the weddings were a way to teach children “religious values.” Rosalyn Johnson, the director, said it was “to teach them about the importance of friendship and of making promises,” and a parish member called it “a way to give children a sense of what a real wedding is like.” However, other parish members were uncomfortable with the production.
Tom Thumb weddings have been publicized as recently as 2008, and doubtlessly continue, even if they are no longer as well-known. I personally remember my parents filming a video to send to my grandparents for their anniversary. For the video, my brothers and I acted out a very short wedding.
Throughout the years, the defining attributes of the miniature wedding have been that it is cute (little and tiny) and funny. There was mockery at Peter the Great’s marriage spectacle, giggling at the Stratton wedding, and “100 Laughs in 100 Minutes” in C. A. Rose’s promotional pamphlets. The vows in the children's pageants were invariably parodies.
Who was the originator of the Tom Thumb Wedding idea? Lecca Chase and May Burnworth both laid claim to the title. Either of them could easily have been operating in or before 1891. Bakers’ Plays may have copyrighted the idea first, but people were independently putting on their own productions long before anyone started publicizing them.
Although many think these mock weddings are the cutest things ever, some people feel uncomfortable with these performances. As the child weddings have waned, Rachel Poliquin suggests something similar has taken their place: pet weddings. The current world record for most expensive pet wedding has been set at $250,000, at the wedding of Wendy Diamond’s dog in 2012. Two hundred and fifty human guests attended, and that’s not counting the doggy guests. A seven-piece orchestra played the bridal march. The poodle groom was decked out in a tuxedo, and the Coton de Tulear bride in a custom $6,000 gown. After that, there was a five-tier wedding cake and an all-natural pet food buffet for the guests to enjoy. This pet wedding was miniature (a Coton de Tulear weighs typically up to thirteen pounds). It was for a charitable cause, raising donations for the Humane Society of New York. And it had an emphasis on making people laugh, with a comedian pronouncing the parody vows.
Sources
Previous blog posts on miniature weddings:and on General Tom Thumb:
- Bryant, Carol. "I Went to the Most Expensive Pet Wedding in History." Dogster. 16 Jul 2012.
- Pesce, Nicole Lyn. "$250,000 puptials are a doggone fancy affair." New York Daily News. July 12, 2012.
- Poliquin, Rachel. "The Visual Erotics of Mini-Marriages." The Believer. 2007.
- Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Duke University Press, 1984. Page 186.
Previous blog posts on miniature weddings:and on General Tom Thumb: