Tagged: Oxford Shoes
Lloyd Bridges’ Donegal Tweed Jacket in Airplane!
Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey in Airplane! (1980)
Vitals
Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey, air traffic controller who picked the wrong week to quit smoking, drinking, amphetamines, and sniffing glue
Chicago, Spring 1980
Film: Airplane!
Release Date: July 2, 1980
Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton
Film: Airplane II: The Sequel
Release Date: December 10, 1982
Director: Ken Finkleman
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
If you’re anything like me, you’ve had the kind of week that’s sending you right back to smoking, drinking, amphetamines, and sniffing glue. Luckily, we have a kindred spirit in Steve McCroskey—the frazzled Chicago air traffic control chief in ZAZ’s comedy classic Airplane! who signaled Lloyd Bridges’ shift from drama to comedy.
And Bridges didn’t just nail his line deliveries, he also served sartorial gold as I noted during a recent rewatch of Airplane! and its sequel Airplane II: The Sequel, decked out in a Donegal tweed jacket, loosened tie, and dive watch. Continue reading
Dead End: Humphrey Bogart’s Dandy Gangster Suit
Humphrey Bogart in Dead End (1937)
Vitals
Humphrey Bogart as Hugh “Baby Face” Martin, gangster
New York City, Summer 1937
Film: Dead End
Release Date: August 27, 1937
Director: William Wyler
Costume Designer: Omar Kiam
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
After his breakthrough screen role as the menacing Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), Humphrey Bogart followed it up the next year as another swaggering gangster in Dead End (1937), adapted from Sidney Kingsley’s hit play—which had premiered 90 years ago today, on October 2, 1935.
The play had run for 687 performances on Broadway, so bringing it to the screen became a passion project for producer Samuel Goldwyn and director William Wyler. Goldwyn spent a then-staggering $165,000 for the rights, bracing himself for battles with the Hays Office to keep the play’s thematic grit intact. He even hired the “Dead End Kids”, the scrappy young actors from the stage version, though their chaotic behavior on set soon had Goldwyn regretting it and he later sold their contract to Warner Brothers, where—under names like the East Side Kids and Bowery Boys—they made more than 60 films across the next two decades. Despite his dedication to replicating the realism that made the play a success, the famously fastidious Goldwyn also clashed with Wyler, who had the set decorated with actual garbage to recreate an actual slum atmosphere.
Goldwyn first hoped to cast James Cagney or George Raft as the central gangster “Baby Face” Martin, but the role ultimately went to Humphrey Bogart—already 37 years old at the time, though it still feels like watching a “young” Bogie. Continue reading
Daniel Craig’s Cream Linen Suit in Queer
Daniel Craig as William Lee in Queer (2024)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as William Lee, dissolute American expatriate
Mexico City, Spring 1951 and 1953
Film: Queer
Release Date: November 27, 2024
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Costume Designer: Jonathan Anderson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Following the success of Challengers earlier in the year, director Luca Guadagnino kept his 2024 momentum going with Queer, adapted from the 1985 novella by Beat Generation icon William S. Burroughs—who died 28 years ago today, on August 2, 1997. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, a clear stand-in for Burroughs, complete with the author’s distinctive wardrobe, substance issues, and ever-present handgun—albeit with some of the rougher edges sanded down for the screen. Continue reading
One Way Passage: William Powell’s Shipboard Flannel Suit
William Powell in One Way Passage (1932)
Vitals
William Powell as Dan Hardesty, recaptured death row fugitive
Hong Kong to San Francisco, via Honolulu, Fall 1932
Film: One Way Passage
Release Date: October 22, 1932
Director: Tay Garnett
Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On the anniversary of William Powell’s July 29, 1892, birthday, let’s look at how the dashing actor brought his marvelous sense of style to the screen in the last of his six major films opposite Kay Francis, the pre-Code drama One Way Passage.
Crafted from a story by Robert Lord, who won the Academy Award for Best Story, One Way Passage stars Powell and Francis as Dan Hardesty and Joan Ames, star-crossed lovers who meet over Paradise cocktails at the International Bar in Hong Kong. Shortly after, they reconnect aboard the S.S. Maloa steaming across the Pacific to San Francisco. Continue reading
Midnight Mary: Ricardo Cortez’s 1930s Tuxedo
Ricardo Cortez in Midnight Mary (1933)
Vitals
Ricardo Cortez as Leo Darcy, sociopathic gangster
New York, Spring 1933
Film: Midnight Mary
Release Date: June 30, 1933
Director: William A. Wellman
Costume Designer: Adrian (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
When Midnight Mary was streaming on the Criterion Channel last year, I was impressed not just by the well-tailored costumes worn by its male characters on both sides of the law but also the amount of dialogue within this 74-minute pre-Code classic dedicated to discussing menswear, whether that’s a a lawyer’s butler modeling his new dressing gown or an underworld mook fishing for positive feedback about his new tuxedo only to receive conflicting criticism about the length of his jacket.
The movie centers around the titular Mary Martin (Loretta Young), whose hard life as an orphaned young girl led to her acquaintanceship with the smooth-talking gangster Leo Darcy (Ricardo Cortez) by her late teens. One of the most popular actors of pre-Code Hollywood, Cortez died 48 years ago today on April 28, 1977. Continue reading
Stray Dog: Toshirô Mifune’s Summer Suit
Toshirô Mifune in Stray Dog (1949)
Vitals
Toshirô Mifune as Murakami, homicide detective
Tokyo, Summer 1949
Film: Stray Dog
(Japanese title: 野良犬, Nora inu)
Release Date: October 17, 1949
Director: Akira Kurosawa
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Considered one of the greatest actors of all time, Toshirô Mifune was born 105 years ago today, on April 1, 1920. Before his Hollywood debut in Grand Prix (1966), Mifune starred in sixteen films directed by Akira Kurosawa. Their third collaboration was the 1949 drama Stray Dog, a film that blends elements of film noir with themes of disillusionment in postwar Japan and is now regarded as an early example of the police procedural.
The story begins on “an unbearably hot day” in Tokyo, where Mifune’s newly promoted homicide detective Murakami reports the theft of his sidearm. After recounting the incident—including his failed pursuit of the pickpocket—Murakami partners with veteran detective Satō (Takashi Shimura) to track the weapon into the depths of Tokyo’s underworld. Their investigation leads to a desperate small-time crook named Yusa (Isao Kimura), whose escalating crime spree weighs heavily on Murakami, forcing him to confront difficult questions about guilt, duty, and justice. Continue reading
David Niven’s Blazer and Cravats in Separate Tables
David Niven in Separate Tables (1958)
Vitals
David Niven as David Angus Pollock, charming yet deceitful retired British Army officer
Bournemouth, England, Spring 1958
Film: Separate Tables
Release Date: December 18, 1958
Director: Delbert Mann
Costume Supervisor: Mary Grant
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The legendary David Niven was born 115 years ago today on March 1, 1910. Though he’d been an Academy Awards host for three different ceremonies, Niv was only once nominated—and awarded—an Oscar.
As of this date, Niven’s performance in Separate Tables remains the shortest ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, clocking in at just under 24 minutes of screen time. Coincidentally, he was also one of the hosts during the 31st Academy Award ceremony when he won, making him the only person to ever win an Oscar at the same ceremony he hosted. In honor of Niv’s birthday and tomorrow night’s Academy Awards ceremonies, let’s look deeper at the acclaimed actor’s Oscar-winning performance. Continue reading
Sunset Boulevard: William Holden’s New Year’s Evening Dress
William Holden and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Vitals
William Holden as Joe Gillis, “well-known screenwriter, uranium smuggler, and Black Dahlia suspect”
Los Angeles, New Year’s Eve 1949
Film: Sunset Boulevard
Release Date: August 10, 1950
Director: Billy Wilder
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy New Year! Billy Wilder’s iconic 1950 noir Sunset Blvd. features one of the most lavish yet depressing celebrations of this holiday, as the washed-up “silent movie queen” Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) organizes an intimate evening with her latest obsession, desperate screenwriter Joe Gillis.
“It was at her New Year’s party that I found out how she felt about me,” Joe narrates. “Maybe I’d been an idiot not to have sensed it was coming… that sad, embarrassing revelation.”
Clad in the new full evening tailcoat and white tie that Norma purchased for him, Joe strolls into Norma’s ballroom for the party… only to discover that he’s the only guest. Following an awkward tango, the two quarrel when he demands that she not fall in love with him. With less than an hour to midnight, Joe abandons the house “to be with people my own age… I had to hear somebody laugh again.” Continue reading
Clark Griswold’s Christmas Eve Cardigan
Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Vitals
Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold Jr., food additive executive and “last true family man”
Chicago, Christmas Eve 1989
Film: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Release Date: December 1, 1989
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Merry Christmas! Now a perennial holiday classic, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was released 35 years ago this month in December 1989 as the third installment to feature Chevy Chase as the hapless head of the Griswold family.
After zany misadventures on an American road trip and a European vacation, Clark clings to his idealistic hope for a “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas,” which somehow means inviting both his and his wife’s sets of parents to stay with them for more than a week leading up to the actual holiday. In the meantime, Clark is eager to surprise his family with the news that he placed a down payment on a swimming pool… a payment he’ll be able to cover as soon as he receives his company’s usual holiday bonus.
(For modern readers, a “holiday bonus” is a monetary payment that employers used to give to their employees at the end of each year. In the late 1980s when Christmas Vacation was made, this often amounted to several thousand dollars; for most employees today, this may take the form of a branded reusable water bottle, already-obsolete Bluetooth earbuds, or simply not being fired.)
Inspired by producer and co-writer John Hughes’ semi-autobiographical short story “Christmas ’59”, the festivities culminate on Christmas Eve as both sides of Clark and Ellen’s families gather at the over-illuminated Griswold home for an over-cooked turkey dinner, a surprise rodent guest, and the family’s first kidnapping. Happy holidays!
White Christmas: Burgundy Jackets and Boaters for “Blue Skies”
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)
Vitals
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, Broadway entertainers and World War II veterans
Florida, December 1954
Film: White Christmas
Release Date: October 14, 1954
Director: Michael Curtiz
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
One of the most stylish classic Christmas movies, White Christmas was released 70 years ago this year in October 1954. The movie was intended to re-team Bing Crosby with Fred Astaire after their previous collaborations in Irving Berlin musicals Holiday Inn (1942) and Blue Skies (1946), but Astaire dropped out after reading the script and Danny Kaye was hired to co-star with Crosby.
Crosby and Kaye share a marvelous screen chemistry that showcases their respective talents while also allowing for a greater emphasis on humor, illustrated by their performance of “Sisters” that was devised on set after director Michael Curtiz was entertained watching Crosby and Kaye clown around performing the song.
The story follows Crosby and Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, two World War II veterans who met while entertaining their fellow troops in the U.S. Army’s fictitious 151st Division. After Phil saved Bob from a falling wall during an attack, Phil talked Bob into joining him for a double act that has catapulted them to musical stardom a decade later. Continue reading
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