Figure 1.-- Here we see Jem wearing the knickers he wore to school. Scout is wearing the overalls and flannel shirt she used for play. Girls were more likely at the time to wear dresses, but she was a tomboy. I don't recall now what they were doing.

The costuming for "To Kill a Mockingbird" was very realistic, closely following and doing justice to Harper Lee's beautiful book. Even though it is summer, the only boy wearing short pants is Dill. Southern boys were more likely to wear short pants, but even in the South many boys wore long pants. Dill is costumed in light-blue linnen button-on shorts that Truman Capote remembers wearing as a boy. The book takes place over a span of 2 or 3 years. Scout mentions that when she first met Dill, when he was 7, he wore button-on short pants, but the year after he started wearing regular shorts. Jim himself wears overalls for play. Even boys from realtively well-off families wore overalls for play. In the 30s nib-front overalls were sstill common. By the 40s they were rarely seen except in farming communities. Girls also wore them, but this was most common in poor famlies. Scout is of course a tomboy which is why she wears them. Well off boys had knicker suits and other oitfits for special occassions. Boys from less well off familes wear bib-front overalls all the time. At school the boys wear knickers and overalls. All the girls wear dresses. Scout, much to her despleasure, has to wear a dress to school, and Jem teases her about it. Overalls were commonly worn in the South and in rural America. There were worn by boys from poor families, but in rural areas a lot of boys wore them to school, even if there fathers were propsperous farmers. This only began to change in the 1940s and the coming of World War II. Jem when dressing up wears a knickers suit.

Created: 10:54 PM 7/6/2005
Last updated: 10:54 PM 7/6/2005