Tagged: Frank Abagnale Jr

Catch Me If You Can: Frank’s Fair Isle-Style Christmas Sweater

Leonardo DiCaprio and Nathalie Baye in Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr., suburban high-schooler

New Rochelle, New York, Christmas 1963

Film: Catch Me If You Can
Release Date: December 25, 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres

Background

Merry Christmas!

Based on the now mostly debunked claims of fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr., Catch Me If You Can was released 20 years ago today on Christmas 2002, an appropriate opening date for a movie that benchmarks its protagonist’s status by how he spends each yuletide.

When we first meet Frank in late 1963, he’s a relatively well-adjusted teen with plenty of charisma if perhaps a bit precociously streetwise for a 15-year-old in the suburbs of New Rochelle, no doubt a byproduct of his artful father Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken), depicted passing on several lessons in minor larceny to his son. Before Frank Jr.’s first Pan Am uniform fitting or check forgery, we spend one last idyllic holiday with the Abagnale family in their New Rochelle home during Christmas 1963, as both Frank and his father take turns dancing with his Algerian-born mother Paula (Nathalie Baye), reminiscing about Frank Sr.’s courtship of the “blonde bombshell” Paula while he was serving in France during World War II. Continue reading

Catch Me If You Can – Unique Orange Knitwear

Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr., teenage con artist

Atlanta, Summer 1965

Film: Catch Me If You Can
Release Date: December 25, 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres

Background

Having made a fortune from passing his forged checks posing as a Pan Am pilot, 17-year-old Frank Abagnale Jr. is living the high life, hosting a fondue party in his swanky Atlanta condo full of era-specific goodies like The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” on the Hi-Fi and Nesbitt’s soda in the hand of every giggling go-go dancer present.

What’d He Wear?

Christ, Terry! This is Italian knit!

Continue reading

Catch Me If You Can: Frank’s White Dinner Jacket

Hey, guys, remember how last year in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day we had the Week of Weddings? Well, it’s back with hopes of bringing you some of the more manly posts out there to have the word “wedding” in them.

Leonardo DiCaprio as a furtive Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002).

Leonardo DiCaprio as a furtive Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002).

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr., aka “Frank Conners”, a young doctor lawyer con artist

New Orleans, Summer 1966

Film: Catch Me If You Can
Release Date: December 25, 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres Continue reading

Catch Me If You Can – Pan Am Uniform

Need a costume this weekend for Halloween that’s identifiable but still looks good? James Bond and Don Draper are good go-tos, but those “costumes” can also be worn on a day to day basis. For an original and sharp 60s-style Halloween costume, consider a Pan Am uniform reminiscent of Frank Abagnale’s co-pilot outfit in Catch Me If You Can.

Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can (2002).

Vitals

Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr., international teenage con man posing as Pan Am pilot Frank Black, aka Frank Taylor, aka Frank Roberts

Pretty much anywhere in the world, notably New York, Miami, and France, 1960s

Film: Catch Me If You Can
Release Date: December 25, 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres

Background

By the time he was 19, Frank Abagnale, Jr., had amassed millions of dollars posing as a college teaching assistant, a lawyer, a doctor, and – most notably – a Pan Am co-pilot.

Choosing to imitate a pilot in order to fly around the world for free, Abagnale called Pan Am to ask for a “replacement” uniform, decorated it with a forced FAA pilot’s license, and flew over 1,000,000 miles on over 250 flights in 2 years. After flying to 26 countries with travel, lodging, and food all expensed to Pan Am, Abagnale was captured in Europe. Continue reading