Lady and the Boat

It's not easy for a Victorian lady to maintain her dignity on the water - and this clown certainly doesn't help

This is not the popular image of Victorian womanhood. This comic skit by a short-lived London-based film called Haydon and Urry takes a potentially awkward situation and escalates it into rather risqué slapstick. A lady tries to step neatly out of a rowboat, but the scamp who comes to her assistance drops her in the water. Composure lost, she is forced to wring out her skirts (exposing voluminous bloomers) and attempt her escape once more - much to the amusement of her ungentlemanly companion.