Vitals

Rock Hudson as Stuart “Mac” McMillan, San Francisco police commissioner and former defense attorney

San Francisco, Fall 1971

Series: McMillan & Wife
Episode: “Murder by the Barrel” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 29, 1971
Director: John Astin
Creator: Leonard B. Stern
Costumes: Burton Miller

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Screen icon Rock Hudson was born 100 years ago today on November 17, 1925. After launching his career as a romantic leading man through the 1950s and ’60s, Hudson redefined the second phase of his career with a dramatic role in John Frankenheimer’s excellent experimental drama Seconds (1966) and the espionage thriller Ice Station Zebra (1968)—the latter a favorite of both Hudson himself and eccentric superfan Howard Hughes. Unsatisfied with the screen roles he was being offered, even after creating his own production companies, Hudson turned to television with the mystery series McMillan & Wife.

Hudson starred as San Francisco police commissioner Stuart “Mac” McMillan with Susan Saint James as his titular wife, Sally. The series may be the closest spiritual successor to The Thin Man films, as Mac and Sally’s witty banter and affectionate, equal-footed partnership recall the dynamic charm of William Powell and Myrna Loy’s Nick and Nora Charles. What sets McMillan & Wife apart from contemporaries, however, is that Mac isn’t a typical TV detective but a high-ranking commissioner, whose background as a criminal defense attorney gives him a greater familiarity with the city’s crooks and their cohorts.

Like the other NBC Mystery Movie pilots that debuted during the 1971-1972 season (specifically Columbo and McCloud), McMillan & Wife became a hit and the first canonical episode, “Murder by the Barrel”, aired less than two weeks later after its feature-length debut.

Directed by Gomez Addams himself, John Astin, “Murder by the Barrel” eschews the traditional police procedural formula by dropping a murder literally into the McMillans’ home when Sally discovers a dead body among the barrels and boxes moved into their new townhouse. Their phone not yet installed, she understandably panics and runs to a neighbor’s house to call her husband, who arrives with the trusty Sgt. Enright (John Schuck), only for the trio to discover the barrel and body are now missing! The episode also introduced Nancy Walker as the McMillans’ live-in maid Mildred, contributing to the screwball dynamic that propelled the series for nearly six seasons.

Similar to many shows of the era, McMillan & Wife was frequently being retooled, with episode lengths ranging between 70 minutes up to two hours. Sally became pregnant twice, actually giving birth in the fourth season… only for Chuck Cunningham Syndrome to claim their son, who goes unseen and unmentioned through the subsequent season. Contract disputes led to both Saint James and Walker leaving the show before the sixth and final season; with Sally killed off in a plane crash, the series was retitled McMillan and focused solely on Hudson as the now-widowed Mac. The magic left with Saint James’ departure, and McMillan aired its final episode in April 1977.

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What’d He Wear?

Mac typically wears suits or sport jackets while on the job, but—after rushing home to address Sally’s call about the corpse—he changes out of his brown chalk-striped suit and tie into a more casual striped shirt, slacks, and corduroy jacket that he would sport throughout the next two days until dirtying the ensemble during a graveyard tussle.

This single-breasted sports coat is made from a brown medium-wale corduroy, with broad notch lapels that roll to the top of a three-button front balancing Rock Hudson’s towering 6’5″ physique. The sleeves are finished with three-button cuffs, and the back has a single vent.

From the half-belted back with bi-swing pleats behind the shoulders to the four symmetrical flapped pockets, the jacket reflects the safari-informed flair that widely influenced men’s sportswear through the ’70s. Both sets of chest and hip pockets are covered with gently pointed flaps that each close through a single button.

Mac’s popover shirt is blue with orange bar stripes, each with two narrower red stripes within them to add complexity. Already unique as a popover shirt, the shirt has four silver-framed snap buttons up the long placket that extends down to Hudson’s mid-section, a set-in breast pocket with a single-snap pointed flap, and raglan sleeves that close with two snaps over each barrel cuff. The large point collar is consistent with trending fashions of the ’70s.

Mac’s Western-styled flat-front trousers are made from a classic blue-and-white hickory-striped seersucker cotton—a surprisingly cool-wearing fabric that coordinates with the texture (if not the seasonality) of his waled corduroy jacket. The seersucker stripe can only be seen clearly in close-ups (like one of the above screenshots), appearing more like a light slate-blue gabardine finish from a distance.

Finished with flared plain-hemmed bottoms, the medium-low rise trousers have jeans-style curved front pockets and two back patch pockets, each covered by a scalloped flap that closes through a single pearl-like plastic button, with a pointed yoke over the seat echoing the shape of the pocket flaps.

Mac holds these trousers up with a wide chestnut-brown leather belt, detailed with a raised brass-studded leather strip stitched onto the center except for the front, where it closes through a large brass-finished single-prong buckle. This hefty and somewhat embellished belt adds a harmonizing degree of Western ruggedness without going full rodeo.

Mac’s brown suede moc-toe loafers maintain the rest of the outfit’s steady balance between casual comfort and presentability, with the napped leather uppers reflecting the rugged texture of his jacket and the ornamental buckle-straps consistent with the overall safari and Western influences. These shoes are finished with black crepe soles that provide both comfort and traction when he’s called to action while even off the clock. He wears them with plain black socks.

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How to Get the Look

Mac nods to the safari- and Western-influenced fashions of the ’70s with his rich brown corduroy four-pocket sport jacket, striped popover shirt, and yoked seersucker trousers… all tied together with a spectacular mustache that, unfortunately, Rock Hudson would not maintain for the rest of the series.

• Brown medium-wale corduroy single-breasted 3-button sport jacket with wide notch lapels, four patch pockets (with single-button pointed flaps), 3-button cuffs, bi-swing shoulder pleats, and half-belted back with single vent
• Blue and fancy orange bar-striped raglan-sleeved popover shirt with large point collar, four-snap front placket, set-in breast pocket (with single-snap pointed flap), and double-snap cuffs
• Blue-and-white hickory-striped seersucker cotton flat-front trousers with belt loops, curved front pockets, patch back pockets (with single-button scalloped flaps), Western-yoked seat, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Chestnut-brown leather belt with raised brass-studded leather center strip and brass-finished single-prong buckle
• Dark-brown suede buckle-strap moc-toe loafers
• Black socks

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the series.

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The Quote

Mac: What’s wrong?
Sally: It’s missing. It’s not here!
Mac: What? The dinner?
Sally: The barrel with Aunt Sophie’s china! Do you realize what that means?
Mac: We eat on paper plates?
Sally: The killer got our china! Don’t you see? We got his corpse, and he got our china.
Mac: Not necessarily.
Sally: Well, that’s what one way to look at it, but any way you look at it, we can’t eat dinner in our new home without Aunt Sophie’s china.
Mac: Sure we can, we just won’t tell her.
Sally: Well that’s not right! We’ve always had our first dinner in our new home on Aunt Sophie’s china every time we’ve moved.
Mac: Well… as long as you’re not superstitious.