Figure 1.-- Here Christopher is chinning himself on a bar in one of the boys' rooms while the other boys, the new governess, and the parents look on. The youngest boy wears a sailor suit and the other boys wear kneepants and knicker suits
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Figure 1.-- Here Christopher is chinning himself on a bar in one of the boys' rooms while the other boys, the new governess, and the parents look on. The youngest boy wears a sailor suit and the other boys wear kneepants and knicker suits |
The costuming seems to be reasonably correct historically for the Connecticut of 1907, the period when the film begins. There is interesting age-grading here. The youngest boy, Philip, is the only one allowed to go with bare knees. He wears a white sailor suit with knee socks. Christopher and David (about 13 and 12 respectively) wear knee pants suits with floppy bow ties and long stockings. The oldest boy, Jack, wears a knicker suit of Norfolk styling, with the knickers buckled below the knees, and a more grown-up necktie. The three oldest boys wear caps with bills (when they are outdoors) and hightop shoes. The boys appear in the same outfits for several scenes.
The three oldest boys wear caps with bills (when they are outdoors) and hightop shoes. Notice that the youngest boy, Philip, here holds his saucer-type sailor cap. It is a white cap to match his white suit.
There is interesting age-grading here. Philip is the only one allowed to go with bare knees. He wears a white sailor suit with knee socks.
The suits look similat, but there is some age grading involved here. Christopher and David (about 13 and 12 respectively) wear knee pants suits with floppy bow ties and long stockings. The oldest boy, Jack, wears a knicker suit of Norfolk styling, with the knickers buckled below the knees, and a more grown-up necktie.
The standard color for long stockings in the United StatesSA in the 1900s was nearly always black--especially for older boys wearing knee pants. Here in "Adam Had Four Sons" that the two boys who wear knee pants in the film and who seem to be about 12 and 13 wear different colored long stockings with their knee pants suits. One boy wears black stockings but the other one wears either brown or gray stockings. The costuming seems fairly careful in this film, and yet one of the boys wears gray or brown stockings rather than black. I'm not sure how historically valid the lighter colored stockings are for 1907 in Connecticut. I think more likely the film is using the light colored syockings more common in the 1930s than wghat was more appropriate for 1907.
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