Vitals

Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey, air traffic controller who picked the wrong week to quit smoking, drinking, amphetamines, and sniffing glue

Chicago, Spring 1980

Film: Airplane!
Release Date: July 2, 1980
Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton

Film: Airplane II: The Sequel
Release Date: December 10, 1982
Director: Ken Finkleman
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

If you’re anything like me, you’ve had the kind of week that’s sending you right back to smoking, drinking, amphetamines, and sniffing glue. Luckily, we have a kindred spirit in Steve McCroskey—the frazzled Chicago air traffic control chief in ZAZ’s comedy classic Airplane! who signaled Lloyd Bridges’ shift from drama to comedy.

And Bridges didn’t just nail his line deliveries, he also served sartorial gold as I noted during a recent rewatch of Airplane! and its sequel Airplane II: The Sequel, decked out in a Donegal tweed jacket, loosened tie, and dive watch.

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What’d He Wear?

Although Airplane! and Airplane II were written, directed, and produced by different entities, costume designer Rosanna Norton worked on both features, so it was likely under her direction that Lloyd Bridges sported the exact same sports coat as Steve McCroskey in both movies. The single-breasted jacket is made from a warm brown-forward Donegal tweed, a hardy woven wool originating from Ireland and distinguished by the colorful flecks of yarn slubbed throughout. Even after Donegal tweed transitioned from being primarily hand-woven to machine-woven during the mid-20th century, it’s almost impossible for any two Donegal tweed garments to be exactly the same, so these flecks can be matched across both Airplane! and Airplane II to confirm that Bridges indeed wears the same jacket.

The three-button jacket has a smart drape cut, sportily styled with swelled edges along the notch lapels and a unique jetted breast pocket as opposed to the traditional welted pocket. The hip pockets are flapped, plus an additional flapped ticket pocket on the right side, and the rear skirt is split with a single vent. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with tan woven leather buttons matching those on the front.

The stress of assisting Ted Stryker (Robert Hays) and Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty) in their uncontrollable aircraft has McCroskey quickly shedding that warm tweed jacket as he handles the situation in his shirt sleeves and loosened tie. His shirts are invariable a light ecru poplin, styled with a point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs that close through one of two for an adjustable fit. His dark olive-brown are likely a matte polyester, which was increasingly popular through the late 1970s into the early ’80s.

McCroskey maintains tonal consistency with his chocolate-brown gabardine trousers, dark and solid enough to provide a harmonious contrast against his flecked brown tweed jacket. The flat-front trousers rise to just below Bridges’ natural waist, echoing the fashionable lower waistlines of the era than they had been previously. This lower waist is emphasized by the fitted waistband—unsupported by belt, braces, or side-adjusters—and thus more prone to falling over the course of a stressful evening of smoking, drinking, and sniffing glue.

The trousers have slanted front pockets and jetted back pockets with at least a button-loop visible on the back-left pocket in Airplane II. Narrow through the thighs, the trousers have a slight trendy flare at the plain-hemmed bottoms, which break over the tops of his polished dark-brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes.

Bridges had cultivated his collection of dive watches through his passion for scuba diving, deepened by his work on the 1960s series Sea-Hunt. Thus, the 18-karat yellow-gold Rolex Submariner he wears in Airplane! was likely the actor’s own diver, styled with a black dial and gold three-piece Oyster-style link bracelet matching the 40mm case.

Rolex had introduced yellow-gold cases for the Submariner in 1969 for the ref. 1680 Date, though Bridges’ screen-worn Submariner in Airplane! appears to lack a date complication so it wouldn’t be the ref. 1680 or the 16800 update introduced in 1977. To my knowledge, no contemporary non-date Submariners—specifically references 5512, 5513, 5514, and the “Mil-Sub” 5517—were factory-produced in yellow-gold, so it’s surely possible that Bridges had one of these non-date Subs customized with the ref. 1680’s gold case and bracelet. (Interestingly, Bridges would later wear a gold Submariner Date in another absurd Jim Abrahams comedy, the 1991 parody Hot Shots!)

When McCroskey makes his somewhat triumphant return to service in Airplane II, he’s wearing the same jacket and generally the same clothing—but a different dive watch. This is a more conventionally styled stainless steel-cased diver on a black leather strap, though its non-magnified white double-wheeled day-date window at the 3 o’clock position against the black dial informs that it’s not another Rolex, as contemporary Submariners only had single-wheeled Cyclops-magnified date windows. It may be a Rolex competitor like Citizen, Heuer, or Seiko, though especially the latter often produced their divers with crowns asymmetrically angled at 4 o’clock rather than the 3 o’clock crown on McCroskey’s second watch.

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What to Imbibe

We don’t actually know Steve McCroskey’s preferred spirit in Airplane! when he tells us he “picked the wrong week to quit drinking,” but Airplane II depicts him pouring from a pint of Jack Daniel’s—the iconic Tennessee whiskey easily recognized by its black-and-white “Old No. 7” label.

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How to Get the Look

Looks like Steve McCroskey at least picked a great outfit for helping to land a big pretty white plane with red stripes that looks like a big Tylenol, clad in a fall-friendly Donegal tweed sport jacket with perpetually loosened tie and trusty dive watch.

• Brown flecked Donegal tweed single-breasted 3-button sport jacket with swelled-edge notch lapels, jetted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets with flapped ticket pocket, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
• Light-ecru poplin shirt with point collar, front placket, breast pocket, and adjustable button cuffs
• Dark-brown polyester tie
• Chocolate-brown gabardine flat-front trousers with fitted waistband, slanted front pockets, jetted back pockets, and slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Dark-brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Dark socks
• Yellow-gold 18-karat Rolex Submariner non-date dive watch with black bezel insert, round black dial, and yellow-gold three-piece Oyster-style link bracelet

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.