Leslie Nielsen’s Pinstripe Suit as Dr. Rumack in Airplane!
Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack in Airplane! (1980)
Vitals
Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack, serious physician
In the air between Los Angeles and Chicago, Spring 1980
Film: Airplane!
Release Date: July 2, 1980
Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 100 years ago today on February 11, 1926, the legendary Leslie Nielsen finally found the role that unlocked his straight-faced superpower, launching his beloved comedic second act in Hollywood history in Airplane! as Dr. Rumack, a man so serious that irony simply bounces off him.
Dr. Rumack: Can you fly this plane and land it?
Ted: Surely you can’t be serious.
Dr. Rumack: I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.
Aside from a lighthearted guest spot on the first season of M*A*S*H, the Canadian-born Nielsen’s comic potential generally sat idle on the runway until the madcap ZAZ crew cast him as the deadpan Dr. Rumack, followed by his enduring role as the bumbling detective Frank Drebin—first in the short-lived TV series Police Squad!, followed by its far more successful film continuation The Naked Gun and its two sequels.
Adapted nearly word-for-word (no, really) from the 1957 drama Zero Hour, Airplane! primarily parodies the disaster subgenre that dominated ’70s cinema like Airport, though it found fodder in everything from From Here to Eternity to Saturday Night Fever. Star-crossed ex-lovers Ted Striker (Robert Hays) and Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty) are our leads, but Nielsen hijacks the movie the moment he’s introduced as the doctor tapped with treating any of the passengers and crew aboard Trans American Flight 209 from LAX to Chicago who made the sorry decision of choosing fish for dinner, prompting a food poisoning epidemic rivaling even the revulsion of an Anita Bryant concert.
Dr. Rumack: What was it we had for dinner tonight?
Elaine: Well, we had a choice of steak or fish.
Dr. Rumack: Yes, yes, I remember. I had lasagna.
What’d He Wear?
Consistent with his serious demeanor, Dr. Rumack always wears his complete three-piece suit with its jacket buttoned. The suiting is an olive-leaning brown worsted wool, patterned with muted pinstripes. The suit follows a conventional design, including a two-button single-breasted jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, vestigial three-button cuffs, and single vent.
The matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) has six buttons that Rumack wears fully fastened, as well as four welted pockets. Unlike most tailored waistcoats from earlier decades that rose higher on the chest, Dr. Rumack’s vest follows late ’70s trends with a lower rise to mid-chest. We see little else of the vest on screen since Nielsen always wears the jacket buttoned, but production photos reveal a darker brown satin-finished back that matches the lining in his suit.
The flat-front trousers are almost certainly held up with a belt that goes correctly unseen under the buttoned waistcoat, with straight pockets along the side seams and plain-hemmed bottoms.
Production photo from Airplane! In the film itself, Dr. Rumack never removes—or even unbuttons—his suit jacket.
Dr. Rumack wears an ecru poplin shirt that harmonizes more softly with his earth-toned suit than plain white shirting. The shirt has single-button rounded barrel cuffs and a narrow spread collar that frames the Windsor knot of his silk twill tie. The tie is downhill-striped in wide swaths of brown and black, each separated by a set of narrower gray, beige, and gray bar stripes—each with their own hairline-width tonal border stripes.
Dr. Rumack convinces a discouraged Ted to go out there and win just one for the Zipper: “‘I don’t know where I’ll be then, Doc,’ he said, ‘but I won’t smell too good, that’s for sure.'”
We don’t see enough of Dr. Rumack’s dark leather footwear to determine the specific style or shade of leather, but I’d suspect he follows convention with something like cap-toe derby shoes in black leather, which more closely coordinates with the cooler brown suiting than warmer brown leather shoes.
A squared gold wristwatch case pokes out from under his left sleeve, though we also never see this too closely. We do, however, get a good look at the good doctor’s stethoscope during his on-screen introduction.
Somehow, Dr. Rumack’s fellow passenger was able to accurately guess his profession without talking to him.
How to Get the Look
Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack in Airplane! (1980)
Dr. Rumack matches his serious attitude with some serious style, never even loosening his tie or unbuttoning the jacket of his brown pinstripe three-piece suit while tending to the souls aboard the doomed Flight 209. Just don’t call him Shirley.
- Olive-brown muted pinstripe worsted wool three-piece suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- Single-breasted 6-button waistcoat with four welted pockets
- Flat-front trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Ecru poplin shirt with spread collar and 1-button rounded barrel cuffs
- Brown, black, gray, and beige downhill-striped silk twill tie
- Black calfskin leather cap-toe derby shoes
- Gold square-cased dress watch
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie and win just one for the Zipper.
The Quote
I just want to tell you both good luck. We’re all counting on you.
Discover more from BAMF Style
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The only thing more stylish than Nielsen’s suit is Randy the flight attendant’s perfectly feathered hair. If there were a blog on women’s hairstyling in movies, that ‘do would deserve some serious analysis. It’s phenomenal.