Vitals

Steve McQueen as Henry Thomas, irresponsible musician and ex-convict

Columbus, Texas, Fall 1963

Film: Baby the Rain Must Fall
Release Date: January 23, 1965
Director: Robert Mulligan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Screen and style icon Steve McQueen was born 96 years ago today on March 24, 1930. After his breakthrough success in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and the TV series Wanted Dead or Alive, McQueen was plucked out of westerns and war movies into more dramatic fare like Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) and Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965).

Adapted by Horton Foote from his own play The Traveling Lady, the latter film was more aligned with McQueen’s rougher and tougher screen image. He stars as Henry Thomas, a small-time rockabilly singer estranged from his wife Georgette (Lee Remick) and their six-year-old daughter Margaret Rose (Kimberley Block), whom he’s never met… until the gals surprise him in his hometown of Columbus, Texas, where he’s recently been released from a jail stint.

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What’d He Wear?

There is no credited costume designer on Baby the Rain Must Fall, which is just as well for a Steve McQueen movie as the “King of Cool” could always be counted on to provide his own duds to suit the roll. As Henry Thomas, he’s frequently dripped out in double denim, appropriate for a Texan ne’er-do-well with aspirations of rockabilly stardom. Though cinematographer Ernest Laszlo photographed the film in black-and-white, enough color photography from the production exists to illustrate exactly what colors McQueen wore on screen.

Made from an indigo-blue sanforized cotton denim, Henry’s go-to Wrangler 27MW work-shirt is instantly identifiable by the “W”-shaped stitching over both chest pockets. These pockets are covered by asymmetrical flaps that each close through a single pearl-finished snap, matching the seven up the front placket, three on each cuff, and additional snap over each gauntlet. (Unlike some snap-front shirts, the top button at the neck is also a snap-button, rather than a traditional button.) The asymmetrical pocket flaps are consistent with Wrangler’s early 1960s offerings, which have been revived with the brand’s Blue Bell Collection, referencing the company name across the early 20th century.

Cut with a straight hem as opposed to some of its long-tailed versions, the shirt also has western-informed pointed yokes over the shoulders.

Henry mixes denim brands, tucking his Wrangler shirt into nearly matching indigo-blue Levi’s 501 jeans, styled with their characteristic button-fly and five-pocket configuration with arcuate stitching over the two back pockets. Like the Wrangler shirt which had its branded patch removed from the left pocket seam, the jeans have been de-badged with a dark spot over where the Jacron leather-like Levi’s “two horses” patch was removed over the back-right belt-line. As makes sense for a movie filmed in 1963, the off-center placement of his rear center belt loop informs that his 501s predate 1965, when Levi’s standardized this placement directly over the center seam.

Henry self-cuffs the bottoms of his jeans over the tops of his brown roughout leather work boots and white socks. These boots are styled with a rounded cap-toe and seven-eyelet derby lacing which extends over the ankles, similar to the Type III “Reverse Upper” service boots issued in limited numbers to U.S. Army personnel during the latter years of World War II. (You can read more about these in Chris Guska’s article for the 90th Infantry Division Preservation Group.)

Henry’s sole affectation is a silver signet ring on his left ring finger. Of course, this is McQueen’s own ring with a stylized “SM” monogram, also seen in The Great Escape.

This denim-on-denim outfit is Henry’s typical costume in Baby the Rain Must Fall, alternating only with a black snap-front shirt and trousers for his band’s performances and a dark striped suit and tie through the final act that begins with a funeral.

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The Car

Henry prowls the southeastern Texas countryside in his “Tucson Tan”-painted 1947 Ford Super DeLuxe Convertible Club Coupe, almost always with country guitar twanging from the radio. “Well, there’s my Cadillac car,” he quips about his weathered convertible before offering Georgette a ride.

Though not as powerful as the V8 under the hood of his Mustang a few years later in Bullitt, Ford’s flathead V8 powering his ’47 coupe was an evolution of the milestone engine named by Ward’s as one of the ten best engines of the 20th century.

After the innovation that developed and refined the flathead V8 through the 1930s, automotive pioneering paused during the early ’40s as most American marques focused on producing war materiel. Ford resumed civilian production for the 1946 model year with a lineup that generally resembled its 1942 output. But behind that heavier grille and wider hood, Ford installed the 239 cubic-inch flathead V8 it previously reserved for Mercury models, now capable of producing over 100 horsepower for the first time. By this point, even that output no longer represented a clear advantage over GM and Chrysler competitors, whose six- and eight-cylinder engines produced comparable figures. Still, Ford’s flathead V8 delivered strong low-end torque in a relatively light package, giving V8-equipped Fords a livelier feel and top speeds approaching 80 mph.

Ford gradually made subtle cosmetic changes throughout the 1947 model year, beginning with moving the parking lights from above the grille to below each headlight as seen on Henry’s screen-driven Model 79A Convertible Club Coupe.

1947 Ford Super DeLuxe Convertible Club Coupe

Body Style: 2-door convertible

Layout: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive (RWD)

Engine: 239.4 cu. in. (3.9 L) Ford “Flathead” V8 with Holley 2-barrel carburetor

Power: 100 hp (74.5 kW; 101 PS) @ 3800 RPM

Torque: 180 lb·ft (244 N·m) @ 2000 RPM

Transmission: 3-speed sliding-mesh manual

Wheelbase: 114 inches (2896 mm)

Length: 198.2 inches (5034 mm)

Width: 73.3 inches (1862 mm)

Height: 114 inches (2896 mm)

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How to Get the Look

Baby the Rain Must Fall presents a simple “McQueen Lite” outfit to start for anyone looking to emulate his style: the Wrangler shirt and Levi’s jeans are still produced more than six decades later, and the boots are a simple third element to literally ground the outfit. Aside from a monogrammed ring, he doesn’t accessorize—even with any of the King of Cool’s usual wristwatches—providing a blank template to allow a wearer to inject their own personality.

• Indigo sanforized denim Western-yoked work-shirt with seven-snap front placket, two “W”-stitched chest pockets with single-snap asymmetrical flaps, and triple-snap cuffs
  • Wrangler 27MW
• Indigo denim straight-cut jeans with button-fly, five-pocket configuration, and self-cuffed bottoms
  • Levi’s 501
• Brown roughout leather 7-eyelet derby-laced cap-toe service boots
• White socks
• Monogrammed silver signet ring

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

I’m not gonna quit my music! You hear that, old lady? I’m not gonna quit my music!