The Animated Costumes (1904)

The scene represents the shop of a costumer who rents garments for masquerades and fétes, A young student presents himself for the purpose of selecting a costume for a masked ball. The proprietor shows him several, which he refuses, one alter the other, for one reason or another but principally because of their doubtful cleanliness and of the nauseating odors which emanate from them. The costumer, furious at having found nothing to suit his client, who seemed hard to please, opens a hamper from which he draws the clothing of a clown, of an acrobat, of a musketeer, of a danseuse, and of various other personages which, as soon as he throws them down beside him, begin to move about and become animated, These animated costumes seize the student, deal him some hard blows, and shut him in the hamper from which they have come out. After terrific efforts, the unfortunate student extricates himself from the basket and throws himself upon what he supposes to be human beings, but his hand only grasps some tatters without consistence. They fall to the floor and he flies away in astonishment.