Vitals

Mel Brooks as Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke, anxious psychologist

Los Angeles to San Francisco, Spring 1977

Film: High Anxiety
Release Date: December 25, 1977
Director: Mel Brooks
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The 2,000-Year-Old Man turns 100! Born Melvin James Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, prolific writer, director, producer, actor, and comedian Mel Brooks is one of less than two dozen entertainers to date to have attained EGOT status over a career that delivered iconic stage and screen comedies like The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Spaceballs (1987).

One of his most prominent (and stylish) on-screen performances was in High Anxiety, Brooks’ affectionate satire of Alfred Hitchcock’s films—crafted with the Master of Suspense’s own endorsement. (Following a private screening, Hitchcock’s only criticism was that Brooks used three too many shower rings in a parody of Psycho‘s famous “shower scene”; the director later sent a congratulatory case of wine to Brooks, noting that it was “splendid!”)

In addition to the Psycho moment, High Anxiety also pays tribute to Hitch’s classics like Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and The Birds (1963) as we follow Brooks’ anxious psychologist Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke from LAX to his new position at the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. The mysteries deepen as Thorndyke’s work takes him to San Francisco to speak at a psychiatric convention, where he is suspected of very publicly shooting a man in the lobby of his hotel. Thorndyke thus must clear his name, all while dodging assassins, neuroses, and bird dung!

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What’d He Wear?

Dr. Thorndyke generally rotates between two three-piece suits and a herringbone tweed sports coat over the course of High Anxiety, typically favoring a charcoal flannel suit with a slight blue-ish cast that he wears for the first and final acts. Based on the fact that he gets covered in bird excreement while wearing this suit, I believe that—for good reason—costume designer Patricia Norris likely outfitted Mel Brooks in multiple charcoal flannel three-piece suits—all meant to be the same suit that he gets quickly laundered at the cable car cleaners—though there are subtle differences distinguishing the suits from each other, like the number of buttons on the waistcoat and jacket-cuffs.

The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that stretch fashionably wide across his chest, consistent with 1970s menswear trends, tapering to a two-button stance over Brooks’ waist. In addition to the conventional welted breast pocket, the jacket has straight hip pockets with wide flaps and a long single vent—both concessions to the excessive detailing associated with ’70s-era fashions. As mentioned earlier, the number of buttons at the end of each cuff is an occasional costume-related continuity error as we see jackets with both three- and four-button cuffs, though the three-button cuffs are more frequent.

Thorndyke’s matching waistcoat (vest) is another source of continuity errors, as it typically has five buttons—all of which he wears fastened—though a brief shot inside the airport clearly shows a six-button waistcoat. The single-breasted waistcoat has four welted pockets, with a gold pocket watch tucked into one pocket attached to a gold chain strung across his mid-section with a pointed fob.

Thorndyke’s matching suit trousers have a medium rise, held up by a black leather belt with a squared silver-toned single-prong buckle that is typically visible below the waistcoat’s notched bottom. These flat-front trousers have side pockets with slightly slanted entries and flare below the knees to the plain-hemmed bottoms over the tops of his black calfskin leather wingtip oxford shoes, worn with plain black socks.

When Dr. Thorndyke arrives at LAX, he wears a pale-blue broadcloth shirt with a front placket, button cuffs, and its collar pinned behind the tie knot with a silver safety-style pin that would become a sartorial signature. This first repp tie is patterned with narrow sets of red, yellow, green, white, and red “downhill”-diagonal stripes against a navy twill ground.

Dr. Thorndyke travels from the L.A. institute up to San Francisco, now wearing a white shirt with a mini blue graph-check and another striped tie, this one “uphill”-striped in crimson and navy bar stripes, each separated by a thinner white border stripe. The shirt follows the same design as his previous shirt with its pinned collar and front placket.

For the climactic final act that begins with Dr. Thorndyke framed for murder and speed-running set-pieces from The Birds and Vertigo, he wears a thick crimson satin-finished tie and the same muted-stripe shirt he had previously worn with his herringbone tweed sports coat. This shirt features alternating muting blue and red stripes against a white ground and, of course, follows a similar design as his other shirts with a front placket, button cuffs, and a pinned collar with such wide tie space that barely manages to contain his cravat’s then-fashionably bulging four-in-hand knot.

More than a decade after regular hat-wearing had passed out of style, Dr. Thorndyke maintains an old-fashioned gentility with his Tyrolean-inspired trilby, rendered in an olive-brown velour felt and finished with a gold braid wrapped twice around the base of the crown and knotted on the left side—an Alpine alternative to the traditional grosgrain ribbon that recalls the Jägerhuts traditionally worn by Bavarian hunters.

Although he never actually wears it, Dr. Thorndyke carries a light khaki raincoat through LAX that is clearly lined in the Burberry house check of a black, white, and red-on-beige tartan, with the white-embroidered navy brand tag also visible in some scenes. With visible details like its broad lapels, double-breasted front, shoulder epaulets, and belted cuffs, his Burberry mac is almost certainly a shortened trench coat.

Rather than the redundancy of a belt and braces, Dr. Thorndyke is always seen wearing two watches; in addition to his gold pocket watch, he sports a simple stainless-cased wristwatch on his left wrist. The styling recalls an older, World War I-era trench watch with its thick case and large crown. The round cream dial features silver-toned baton hour indices, and the strap is a narrow band of mid-brown leather. Perhaps his high anxiety manifests in wanting to make sure he’s always punctual?

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The Gun

“Braces” (Rudy De Luca) frames Dr. Thorndyke for murder by impersonating him while publicly shooting a man in the Hyatt Regency lobby with a Smith & Wesson Model 36. Thorndyke himself later gets ahold of this snub-nosed .38 Special revolver during the climax.

The Smith & Wesson Model 36 is one of the classic American snub-nosed “belly guns” favored by cops and crooks alike for packing .38 Special power into a comfortably portable package, its five-shot cylinder trading one extra round for a flatter profile that conceals more easily. It debuted at the 1950 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) convention, where attendees voted on its original name of “Chiefs Special” before Smith & Wesson converted to numbering its models later that decade. At the time High Anxiety was produced in the late 1970s, a new blued Model 36 sold for $110.

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How to Get the Look

Dr. Richard Thorndyke’s signature look mates his charcoal flannel three-piece suit to a Tyrolean-style trilby, pinned shirt collars, redundant timekeeping devices, and—for a brief moment that must have felt far too long for the brief doctor—considerable amounts of bird droppings.

• Charcoal flannel wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight wide-flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long single vent
  • Single-breasted 5-button waistcoat with four welted pockets
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, slanted side pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
• Pale-blue or subtly patterned cotton broadcloth shirt with pinned collar, front placket, and button cuffs
  • Silver safety-style collar pin
• Navy-ground striped tie
• Black leather belt with silver-toned squared single-prong buckle
• Black calfskin leather wingtip oxford shoes
• Black cotton lisle socks
• Olive-brown velour felt trilby with double gold braided band
• Gold pocket watch on gold chain with gold fob
• Stainless steel trench-style wristwatch with round cream dial on mid-brown narrow leather strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.