Vitals

Ryan O’Neal as Dr. Howard Bannister, awkward musicologist

San Francisco, Summer 1972

Film: What’s Up, Doc?
Release Date: March 9, 1972
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Costume Designer: Polly Platt (uncredited)

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The late Ryan O’Neal was born 85 years ago today on April 20, 1941. Though perhaps best known for his roles in Love Story (1970), Paper Moon (1973), Barry Lyndon (1975), or The Driver (1978), the first O’Neal performance that I ever watched was Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 comedy What’s Up, Doc?, which Maureen Lee Lenker posited for Entertainment Weekly after his death as the actor’s strongest performance.

Bogdanovich conceptualized the film as an homage to classic screwball comedies of the 1930s and ’40s like Bringing Up Baby (1938), from which Cary Grant’s beleaguered and bespectacled hero clearly lent cinematic DNA to O’Neal’s characterization of Dr. Howard Bannister.

Howard and his domineering fiancée Eunice (Madeline Kahn) travel to San Francisco for the Congress of American Musicologists convention at the fictional Hotel Bristol, where Howard’s plaid overnight bag thrusts him into felonious and espionage conspiracies. Still best known as a romantic star from his roles on Peyton Place and Love Story, O’Neal played against type as the clumsy, timid Howard, who—already overpowered by Eunice—is certainly no match for the unpredictable antics of the free-spirited Judy Maxwell (Barbra Streisand)… who has a matching plaid overnight bag of her own.

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What’d He Wear?

Dr. Howard Bannister is introduced to the audience glumly standing on the sidewalk outside San Francisco International Airport in a seersucker suit, clutching the Royal Stewart plaid-finished overnight bag that matches the bow tie and cummerbund he later wears with his tuxedo. (As with all four of Peter Bogdanovich’s first theatrical releases, his then-wife Polly Platt served both as production designer and uncredited costume designer.)

Rather than the blue-and-white stripe traditionally associated with this puckered cotton cloth, Howard’s suiting is a tan-and-white bengal stripe. The single-breasted jacket is shaped with darts… which do little to shape it after Judy tears it up the back when she grabs the tails of his single vent—echoing a similar sartorial gag between both Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. The jacket’s notch lapels are a restrained width, especially for the early ’70s, rolling over the top button of the 3/2-roll front. The jacket also has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and sleeves roped at the shoulders and finished with three-button cuffs.

Howard’s flat-front suit trousers have straight pockets along the side seams and two jetted back pockets revealed after Judy tears away the back of his jacket. The trousers rise to just below Ryan O’Neal’s natural waist, where they’re held up through the loops by a dark-brown leather belt with a squared gunmetal-finished single-prong buckle.

The trousers have plain-hemmed bottoms that break over the tops of Howard’s brown leather derby shoes, which appear to be longwing brogues worn with dark-brown cotton lisle socks. Shoes could make or break this outfit, and derby brogues are appropriately presentable yet informal to accompany the relaxed textures of his seersucker summer suit, OCBD shirt, and knitted tie—with the brown leather uppers maintaining the overall palette.

Howard pulls together a texturally appropriate Ivy-informed unity with his shirt and tie. His white oxford cotton shirt has a front placket, button cuffs, and the soft yet smart button-down collar that became an American classic since the turn of the 20th century when John E. Brooks added these to the Brooks Brothers catalog following how he observed polo players restraining their own collars. His dark-brown knitted silk tie smartly pairs relaxed neckwear with relaxed tailoring for a harmonized irregularity that shows dressing with intention—or at least an opinionated fiancée like Eunice who has very definite ideas about how her future husband should present himself.

The thick optical glasses may be the most important part of Howard’s look, transforming matinee idol Ryan O’Neal into clumsy musicologist Dr. Howard Bannister—again, in the spirit of Cary Grant’s bespectacled Dr. David Huxley in Bringing Up Baby. The rectangular frames are a handsome tortoiseshell, detailed with the four silver-toned metal bands on each temple following Persol’s patented “Meflecto” system that flexes the arms to fit any face—though it lacks the Italian eyewear brand’s signature temple arrows that had been a brand signature since the 1930s.

Howard’s sole other accessory is a simple gold-cased dress watch with a round white dial, strapped to his right wrist on a dark-brown leather band.

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How to Get the Look

Seersucker means never having to say you’re sweaty.

• Tan-and-white striped seersucker suit:
  • Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, straight/on-seam side pockets, jetted back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, and button cuffs
• Dark-brown knitted silk tie
• Brown leather longwing-brogue derby shoes
• Dark-brown cotton lisle socks
• Dark-brown leather belt with gunmetal-toned squared single-prong buckle
• Tortoiseshell-framed rectangular optical glasses
• Gold dress watch with round white dial on brown leather strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

Yes, Eunice.