At-home clothing on old TV shows

Cafe Society
21

I don’t think they were glamorized as much as they were idealized. The Cleavers, the Andersons, the Nelsons, the Stones, et al. were supposed to represent the perfect American family in the affluent post-WWII Eisenhower–Kennedy era. For audiences who largely grew up during the Depression and had had to deal with wartime rationing, looking grungy or even casual simply was NOT COOL.

I also don’t think such series could have lasted much longer than they did (up to about … 1966, shall we say?), as the Zeitgeist changed so radically after the Kennedy assassination (Beaver finally went off in December 1963). Even before that, we were getting shows like The Beverly Hillbillies and Andy Griffith that were far less uptight.

My dad, BTW, was largely a self-employed blue-collar worker (radio and TV repair, journeyman electrician) and dressed the part, but NEVER in jeans. He wore mostly casual work clothes bought at Sears, though he decided to become a “businessman” around 1960 and was always “workin’ on a deal” forever after. Not having much of a fashion sense, he’d go out to meetings with prospective investors dressed in shiny suits and clip-on ties. (Unfortunately, he was never much of a success as a businessman either).

I have three nice suits I bought years ago in London, but being self-employed and able to work from home, I seldom wear them. Long T-shirts, shorts, knee socks, and slippers are all I need to get me through the day, though I do put on khakis when I go out to the store. Haven’t worn jeans for several years now; khakis are more comfortable.

I just don’t see the need to wear out my clothing any faster than is necessary. That stuff costs money!

(Not long ago, one of my daughter’s friends, knowing that I work in publishing, said “I’ll bet your dad always wears a suit!” My daughter broke up laughing.)

22

My dad, a college professor, wore suit pants and a dress shirt and tie to teach every day. When it was cold, he’s wear the stereotypical elbow patched cardigan over the dress shirt. When he came home, he’d change immediately into a pair of old pants he’d retired from his workday rotation and a pullover shirt that looked like a tee shirt, only made of a heavier knit material. He never owned a pair of jeans that I knew of, but he did have a pair of overalls he’d wear if he were working on his car or fixing something in the garage.

My mom was a social worker and adjunct professor and wore typical professional women’s clothes of the time during the day. At home she was very Laura Petri, wearing capri pants or shorts and a buttoned blouse with ballet slipper-type flats. That was only for around the house, however, until the 1970s when she relaxed her dress code considerably. She never owned a pair of jeans as an adult, either, although she did tell me she’d worn them as a kid growing up on the farm.

23

I honestly have no strong impression of how my mom dressed when I was growing up. I think it was mostly “cha-cha” pants and a blouse year round (picture Shelly Winters in Kubrick’s version of Lolita), and short shorts in the summertime (she did have a good figure, even after birthing four kids).

24

Wasn’t Lucy wearing pants at home long before Laura Petrie? :dubious: :confused:

25

Back in the day, people wore dingy work clothes to work, so when they got home, they wanted to dress nicer. It wasn’t until office work was widespread that people started thinking of suits and ties as restrictive. It used to be a mark of freedom and affluence to be able to afford decent clothes and people wore them wherever they could. To the diner, the sock hop, school, church, baseball games or the movies. Hell, even hobos wore suits! The idea that it’s weird to dress up for anything short of a funeral or wedding is a very new one.

26

I mentioned 1966 above because that was the year Dick van Dyke (and I think*** Mr Ed***) ended production, and Green Acres finished its first season. Remember how weird it was when Oliver was the only one for miles around (except for maybe Sam Drucker) who bothered to dress up (white shirt, tie, cardigan) every goddamned day? And Lisa was almost always running around in a negligee, on a farm! These were two of the show’s main gags, and they were always funny!

How many TV families or couples bothered after that? Don and Ann? Darrin and Sam? Shirley, Keith, and Danny? The only ones I can think of were Uncle Bill and his brood, and they were freakin’ rich New Yorkers!

27

In re Family Affair, Uncle Bill and Jody found themselves in an awkward situation the one time they went “slumming.” Of course, things were set right when they turned up for the block party (or whatever it was) dressed in their “real” clothes.

28

When I entered the workforce in the mid 70s I had to wear a tie and dress pants (no jeans) while working in a chain grocery store.

Hate, Hate, Hated that damn tie. I heard “fix your tie, Mustard” several times a day from the boss.

I look at what grocery workers wear these days and I’m jealous.
mmm

29

It’s interesting to watch The Odd Couple (1970-1975) and see that much of what the “slob” character Oscar Madison wears is a cut above what a fairly neat guy of his age would probably wear today. A lot of sport coats; sometimes ties.

Although Oscar does deserve credit as a fashion visionary for pulling his shirttails out a lot and wearing a baseball cap.

30

My paternal grandfather was born in 1876 and died in the early 1950s a few years before I was born. He had my father when he was in his early 50s. The few photos I saw of him, he was always wearing a suit and tie. Dad said that’s what he always wore at home, taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves to help with the dishes after dinner. He owned and operated a hardware store with his brother.

Although I don’t think he came from a poor family, Grandfather did come from a farm family that had lived for generations in the Albany area, at least a couple of centuries. He was sent at age eight to a boarding school in New York City for his education, then to Columbia University. My guess is he equated that style of clothing with professional success and respectability.

(The hardware store was in Hollywood, California, where he had followed his brother in the first or second decade of the 20th century. remember the scene in Chaplin where Charlie gets off the train in Hollywood, and it’s all empty fields? That’s exactly what it would have looked like for Grandfather.)

31

Same here. I was allowed to wear slacks but only if the zipper was in the side or the back. Apparently, it was very unladylike for girls/women to wear pants with a fly.

My mother work slacks (as above) but neither of my grandmothers did. I can’t even remember them going without stockings.

32

I certainly don’t want to quote “Playboy” as the infallible source reflecting reality. But looking at the “Back to Campus” fashion article in their September 1961 issue, the vast majority of B.M.O.C. they photographed at Yale, Vanderbilt, Stanford and Michigan are wearing suits and ties.
Again, this is not the most reliable source. I doubt very much if many students outside military academies wore suit and ties. It’s possible Hef made deals with clothing manufacturers to plug their products. But it may reflect a certain feeling of the time.

33

My dad worked at the local livestock sales company and he wore blue jeans and boots to work. IIRC, he also wore short sleeve button down shirts with a tee shirt underneath. Mom was a stay-at-home mom when I was a little kid but I can’t really remember what she wore. It wasn’t dresses, I do know that. I think it was mostly blouses and pants that were not blue jeans. I do remember that she always had to wear a scarf when going out so as not to mess up her hair. She quit doing that several years ago.

34

Kid of the 60s

We had to dress in better than play clothes for dinner. That all relaxed a bunch by the 70s. Not a tie, but clean clothes. We all ate at the table.

When adult guests came over for dinner, Mom and Dad dressed nice, but still no tie. We either weren’t involved or again wore better but not dress clothes.

Except for backyard cookouts! FUN! Play clothes, kids came over with the adults, Dad wore some form of casual clothes, Mom in 60s style Better Homes and Gardens stuff, you know, Laura Petri…, we played and made ice cream, watched Dad and the guys grill, lots of lemonades and TONNES of beer for the grumps. We also got Orange Crush! Yea!
ETA: Dad was a petro-chem engineer, Mom a housewife, WASP, middle class, Houston TX and later L.A. CA of the mid to late 60s

35

If I may ask a related question: those old TV shows usually showed the parents’ bedroom containing a pair of twin beds, implying that they did not sleep together. The classic movie A Christmas Story also shows this arrangement. Am I right in suspecting that this is a “Hollywood-ism,” and few people ever actually slept like that? I’m aware that observant Jewish couples are not supposed to sleep together when the wife is having her period, but if even 1 couple on any of those old shows was supposed to be Jewish, I’ll be very surprised.

36

Yeah, that was standard on TV shows until the mid-60s. Very funny to see Rob and Laura Petrie in separate twin beds, but the Hollywood “censors” generally wouldn’t allow a couple to be shown in the same bed until standards loosened up in the mid-60s.

37

I read that the twin beds in TV shows were because censors thought the public would be shocked seeing a couple in bed together, or some such silliness. My folks shared a bed most of their married life (Dad’s snoring got really bad in later years and they slept in separate rooms.) My grandparents slept separately only because my grandfather worked nights - he had a dark room in the back of the house. I’m pretty sure they continued that habit after he retired, just because.

38

For nearly 100 years, denim was considered workwear for the poor, for farmers and for convicts. A middle-class professional of my father’s generation wouldn’t wear jeans any more than he’d show up at his office wearing a boiler suit.

39

It’s a fairly common bit of “Golden Age of Television” lore that Lucy and Desi pioneered the practice of TV couples sleeping in the same bed (American TV, anyway). I’ve also heard that the show spawned something of a boom in the sale of double-beds (IIRC, that part was from L.M. Boyd, so take that for what it’s worth).

40

What always got me too was how Rob and Laura Petrie slept in separate beds, in the same room yet! No healthy, normal, straight man would have agreed to that! :mad: