Fursuits And Such Throughout History

Bal des Ardents.   En Anglais, Dance of the burning ones.

January 28, 1393, Charles VI of France, along with five other nobles, are covered in tar and flax, to portray wildmen.  A spectator moves too close with a torch, and the men are ablaze.  The spectator was the king's brother, the Duc d'Orleans.  Torches and all fire had been forbidden, but the brother, drunk, pushed his way in.   The fifteen year old Joan, Duchess de Berry, throws her skirt over the king and saved his life.  The only other survivor was the Sieur de Nantouillet who jumped into an open barrel of wine.  

The king was already crazy as hell and seems to have been a paranoid schizophrenic.  The French people saw this as a judgement and it further deteriorated the trust in the court.  Charles had already attacked and killed four of his officers while going to war, thought he was made of glass and wandered the court, naked, howling like a wolf.  The poem below was written by that excellent artist and thinker Nat-ti, who obviously knows more about this than I shall ever learn:

Le bal des Ardents

Pour égayer les jours d'un roi devenu fou,

on organisa un charivari.

Toile enduite de poix, étoupe de lin,

voilà le souverain et cinq compagnons

déguisés en hommes sauvages.

Le duc d'Orléans, approchant la torche

de ces bêtes immondes pour mieux voir,

y mit bientôt le feu.

Quatre d'entre elles périrent,

l'une dut son salut à l'eau de vaisselle.

Par la duchesse de Berry, le roi fut sauvé

et dans sa démence sourit en répétant :

" Les belles flammes ! Elles couraient

sur le bal tout à l'heure, où sont-elles ?"

Mais, la fête fut gâchée et on alla le coucher.

(To brighten up the days of a king gone mad,

a charivari was organized.

Canvas coated with pitch, linen oakum,

here are the sovereign and five companions

disguised as wild men.

The duke of Orleans, approaching the torch

of these foul beasts to see better,

soon set fire to them.

Four of them perished,

one owed his salvation to the water of crockery.

By the duchess of Berry, the king was saved

and in his insanity smiled and repeated :

"The beautiful flames ! They ran

on the ball just now, where are they ?"

But, the party was spoiled and they put him in bed).

https://www.deviantart.com/nat-ti

 Poe used this incident for his story 'Hop-Frog'.

https://www.deviantart.com/disezno

 

Another version, by Dore unless I miss my guess.

Jump to 1939.  Here is the most famous fursuit of all time, The Cowardly Lion.  Bert Lahr makes the role his own.

https://youtu.be/z2itQkiQUOE

This is a "Wookie" costume from some movie in the seventies.  What were they thinking?

And now, a scalie.  Lou Gossett, Jr.  Enemy Mine.

And another.  General Sarris, very well played by Robin Sachs.  Pure evil!  Galaxy Quest.

George Barrows as Ro-Man, the Robot Monster.  1953.  Never in history has such dichotomy been worked into a movie like this.  Must see to believe.

Iorek Byrnison, The Golden Compass.  Ian McKellan.  His opponent in the clip below is voiced by Ian McShane.  Just think, two hams as bears.  Righteous! 

https://youtu.be/wHm7ki04qcs

In the book, Anthony Adverse, the protagonist is sewed into a bearskin when captured by Indians.  This was not in the movie, as far as I can tell.  Nor was much of the book, believe you me.  So I went with the above just to give the bears some mention.

Fenris Ulf, aka Maugrim.  That Narnian movie something something wardrobe.

  This fursuit for Maugrim is awesome.  I got this from in-tempest on DeviantArt.  It is a shame that I do not know the name of the actor, I can tell that he is doing a fantastic job and is probably scary as can be.  Bring the kids!

(Oops!  This is in-tempest himself in the role).

 

https://www.deviantart.com/in-tempest 

Ok, two of these were CGI.  But still anthro.  But now something serious.  The new version of Alvin and the Chipmunks is incredibly messed up.  Just look at their idea of "furry".

Well and good, and why am I talking about a done to death idea that was weak when I was a kid?  I mention this because it is such a watering down of the human/animal hybrid concept.  Alvin et al is just a kid with a stripe down his nose and a tail.  The furry thing is about talking animals, two legs or four, no matter.  Put Bugs up against this and watch what the little 'uns choose to view.

 

From the television show Evil.  Leland and his demon psychiatrist.

 

 Jean Cocteau's Beast.

 

 Bigfoot, and yes, that's a fursuit.

Ron Perlman as The Sayer of the Law, The Island of Doctor Moreau, 1996, and what an ungodly mess that movie was.  Great fursuit though!

If anyone can think of some others, and I know you can, please tell me and I'll put those up.

https://misterscribbles.blogspot.com/