In the world beyond costuming (we do stick our head out of the door from time to time), we have noticed a new trend in community entertainment – the Scarecrow Contest or Festival. Although these are nothing new in some parts of the country – sometimes being held in tandem with Harvest Festivals or summer County Shows – they seem to be becoming more popular, in ‘non-rural’ areas and at other times of the year. Never one to miss an opportunity, we thought we’d do our bit to promote the cause of the scarecrow here at Props n Frocks (not literally, of course – we have a sensible dress-code).

There are a number of off-the-peg scarecrow costumes (as in ‘something ready-made’ as opposed to ‘something that ‘fell off’ a washing-line’) and our first candidate is what they call a ‘no-brainer’:- The Scarecrow from the tales of Oz, apparently soon to be featuring in both a remake and a prequel to the much loved film – we do stock this Scarecrow Costume. There’s also a new ‘evil’ version of the Oz scarecrow on the market – take a look at these fantastic Scarecrow Halloween costumes. Next we have everyone’s favourite ‘other’ story-time scarecrow, Worzel Gummidge – originally one of the first Puffin books for children and brought to life for TV by Jon Pertwee (with Una Stubbs as the waspish love of his life, Aunt Sally, the fairground doll). No licensed costumes here, but fairly easy to improvise – piece of cake really! Then we have the Scarecrow villain from the Batman franchise ‘Batman Begins’ – the evil psychiatrist Jonathan Crane. Finally, for lovers of folklore, we have Dr Syn alias The Scarecrow, the clergyman with a secret identity who helped smugglers on the Kentish Romney marshes evade the Revenue men. In the Disney film of the same name Dr Syn/The Scarecrow was played by Patrick McGoohan, later known for his roles in Danger Man and The Prisoner. Indeed a man of many masks! Alternatively, of course, you can think outside the envelope, not confine yourself to mere crows and dress to scare the heck out of anything or one – with a little help from your fiends (sorry, friends) at Props N Frocks.