Figure 1.--This Britsh program was for primary school children. The kids are taking part in a quiz, answering questions about Victorian schooling, and are dressed appropriately. |
HBC will list TV series alphabetically here to make them easier to find. TV shows, except for American TV shows, are generally not well know in countries other than in the countries in which they were made. They are also much more current than movies. Almost all TV shows date from the 1950s at the earliest. Costume dramas have the same problems as in the movies, but a great deal of useful information is avialible from TV shows set in contemporary periods. As non-American TV shows are not as widely distributed as movies, often little information is available on these shows outside each country. Movies are often widely distributed in foreign countries. TV shows, with the exceptiion of American programs, are generally not. As an American, we have, for example, never seen German, French, and Italian TV shows. Thus the TV pages provide a much-needed source of information on foreign programing.
Sitcom based on adventures in twin summer camps, one for boys the other for girls.
A Scottish family immigrates to Canada and then moves West. Two boys are involved, James and Sims. The series is acclaimed for its realistic period setting.
One of the episodes ("Sweet Danger") prominently featured a rather large boy, probably about 14-15 who appears extensively in horrendous long shorts and knee socks. When he dresses up in his suit, however, he wears longs.
Alan Funtt had a marvelous way with kids. He tended to select younger kids for his interviews.
This was one of my favorite shows as a boy. I was an avid fan. When the show began, the Ranger Captain Video's side kick (Don Hastings) was 15.
A Britis reader mentions "Catweazle" (1969), in partocular episoide 12, but I know nothing about the series or the episode. Robin Davies
Rather disappointing sitcom about an Irish-American family. There are two boys (Parker Jacobs and Danny Cooksey), but they both play bratty kids. Danny has his hair from "Different Strokes" all cut short. It is too bad that the show is not better done, as there are many interesting catholic family plot lines. It is one of those shows that go out of its way to shock. I haven't seen any thing interesting yet. One thing though this is the first American TV show that I can recall with a catholic family, even having the children in their school uniforms. I haven't seem any interesting episodes, the boys usually have very small parts. Once the aunt took the boys, who are not very well behaved, to a scout type meeting and brings them home all tied up. The Scouts I believe all wore long pants.
Family sitcom with a little guy about 10 years old. The show didn't last very long.
hachi (Scott Baio) from "Happy Days" gets a job caring for two boys. I never watched it too much. The boys almost always wore longs. One reader says that this was her favorite TV show, but thinks that the Pembrokes better than the Powells! The Pembrokes were so much funnier. She remembers the one where Jason and Dougles got into a huge fight (Jason had taken a shower and used Dougles's lucky towel). So Dougles ties him to a chair and dresses up Jasons GI Joe in Barbies's prom dress. Then when
Dougles got his first 'F' because he did a book report on "TV Guide" and the one where Meg Ryan guest starred because she wanted to learn how to be a Live-in Nanny like Charles. One of the boys appeared in a Scout-like short pants uniform once, although the shorts were ridiculously long. Jason Cauks, Alexander Polinski, and Willie Aimes.
Rather boring sitcom about Snow White and Prince Charming living in the suburbs. They have two little princes. They appear briefly in their prince outfits in the credits. In one episode they have a costume party for one of the boys and he appears in white tights. I don't know precisely what happened in the episode, but he was very embarrassed about something. Brandon Call, Calette Ratliff.
Show about the relationship between a Hispanic and crusty Anglo. When Freddie Prinz committed suicide in 1977, he was replaced with 12 year old boy, Gabriel Melgar who played Raul.
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This Britsh program was for primary school children. The kids are taking part in a quiz, answering questions about Victorian schooling, and are dressed appropriately. The sailor suits do not appear to be very accuarte recreations. The color is not right and boys and girls would not have worn matching sailor suits like that. The boy's sailor trousers, however, has a button flap front which is an accurae detail. The boy looks oriental but he spoke in a broad Scottish accent. I'm not sure about the details of the program.
I'm not sure if it only dealt with children at school.'
Motorcycle highway patrolman show. A few episodes had boys in them: "Indian Boy," "Tyler." Some of the boys were Ronnie Scribner, Nicky Katt, and Ross Harris.
Dennis Potter drama based on the memoir of an English bride who settles in Germany just before Hitler comes to power. Her husband eventually gets caught up in the resistance. Cristabel comes from a wealthy family and she has an elaborate wedding. A little boy was beautifully kitted out for the wedding. I could see a satin blouse with a wide collar, I assume he was wearing shorts, but you could not tell. They have two boys, Nicky and ?? . The boys wear shorts and sandals in the first episode, although no German boys were pictured close up.
BBC production with excellent acting and quite faithful to C.S. Lewis' story; however it shows off just how bad the BBC's special-effects department was before "Red Dwarf" gave
them an opportunity to sharpen their skills on a regular basis! They were on more familiar ground with the costuming, however; interstingly, Peter (the oldest boy) wears
shorts throughout although Pauline Baynes' illustrations (which date to the books' publication in the early-mid '50s) show him in long pants. (Personally, I'd rather seen him in the actor's 1990 street clothes talking to an Aslan that didn't look like a giant stuffed animal! As in the books, Aslan, the wise lion, could be relied on to discern the truth of a situation. The children under his tutelage learned courage and a bedrock sense of right
and wrong, gradually learning to acknowledge that troublesome state of in-between as well.
Mickey Dolan, one of the Monkies played in this TV series.
I saw this on cable. I'm not sure where it originally appeared. They had performers from European circuses. One was a group of child jugglers. the Penzor Kids. They seemed to have been pictured at a Spanish circus as they announcer was speaking in Spanish. There were five kids, three dressed as girls and two dressed as boys. One of the two dressed as boys looked like a girl, but presumably was a boy with longish hair, other wise surely he would had been dressed like the other girls. They were all dressed completely in white. The boys wore shirts with lace collars and very short suspender shorts. I would guess that they were about 12 years old. The one boy had quite short boyish hair and really rather old for his short suspender shorts. The long-haired boy seemed to be the star of the show. Like the girls, the boys wore identical little red ballet shoes and white socks.
Trials of Clarissa and her family. Clarissa is a rather appealing little girl, I'd say about 12. She has to put up with her obnoxious little brother, Ferguson, who is about 11 or so. He sometimes appears in shorts. Sometimes in a button-down shirt and khaki or blue shorts, usually a bit longish. One time he appeared in three different pairs of shorts, a record I think for a half hour American TV show. (notably this was a cable show--this probably would not have happened on American network shows. In one episode he wore a Boy Scout uniform with short pants and proper knee socks. Curiously it was a mixture of the old and new uniform. In one episode Clarissa schemes to be allowed to plan an outlandish outfit for her school photo. She looks in disgust at last years outfits, where she wears a cardigan plaid skirt, and knee socks. She especially complains about the knee socks. Mom wants a nice outfit so she can send an photo to grandma. Clarissa complains that Grandma shows them to everyone, including people on the bus. Mom insists on checking out their clothes. Ferguson passes muster with a blue blazer. Mom turns down Clarissa's outfit, but finally gives in. Clarissa is mortified to find, however, that all the kids have dressed up in weird outfits. She has some consolation, however, because Ferguson gets teased about his blazer. The second season of the show Ferguson has shot up and is now taller than Clarissa, he still appears sometimes in shorts. In one episode the family is all dressed in red blazers and baby sitting little ones. Ferguson for some strange reason is wearing shorts with his blazer and argyle knee socks, a rather unlikely outfit for the 1990s. He appears in several scenes dressed like that. Eventually his little charges tie him up.
"Clint and Mac" was a 13+-part serial on the very popular Mickey Mouse Club, an after school kids program. It was set in London and was probably filmed about 1957, well before color TV. The series involved an American and British boy, playing junior detectives. I'm not sure who was who. The American boy appears to be about 14 year old, the English boy slightly younger. The American boy had a short hair cut but not a flat-top and wore a white "T" shirt, jeans, and sneakers. The British boy wore a school uniform, complete with peaked cap (circular pattern), tie, suit jacket (I did not note a blazer badge), short trousers, and kneesocks throughout the series. The only exceptio is the final scene, which depicts the boys and a school girl their age who helped them get on the trail of the bad guys going to Prince Charles' birthday party. In that
scene, the English boy wears a long trousers suit, just as the American boy. The school cap was the traditional peaked cap style with a circular pattern, rather like "Just William". (For some reason I thought at first it was wedges.) I don't believe that it was as popular as "Spin and Marty". I do not recall seeing it, although as a boy I did watch the "Mickey Mouse Club". Another American reader who also watched "The Mickey Mouse Club" also does not remember the series. I do not know if any of the episodes addressed the difference in their clothes. Given the differenc, it seems that the topic almost certainly would have ome up in real life.
Set in Australia during the 1930s. Depicts life in a gold rush community. Several boys are involved. They wear shorts, but they are the long baggy kind and the kids are usually unkempt.
Coronation Street is perhaps the longest running program on television. Over the year many children have featured in the plots and provided a window on changing English fashions.
Court Martial is a British/American joint venture/co-production between ITC Entertainment and Roncom Productions. Production moved to England. It was a military crime drama TV series, premiering (1966). It was was set during World War II. The plot details the investigations of a Judge Advocate General's (JAG) office. The crack team from the JAG office investigates crime all over Europe and then conducts the court-martial. The series ran for one 26-episode season, with 60 minute episodes. It did not prove very popular in America, it lacked the excitement that American audiences expect in crim dramas. The series was shown on ABC in the United States and won the 1966 British Society of Film and Television (later known as BAFTA) TV award for Best Dramatic Series. The series originated in a two-part episode of NBC's Kraft Suspense Theatre which starred the two main actors in the series, Peter Graves and Bradford Dillman. It was 'The case against Paul Ryker' " [10–17 October 19-17, 1963). It was subsequently re-edited into the theatrical feature 'Sergeant Ryker'. There were various directors of the individual episodes, including Sam Wanamaker and British TV regular, Peter Graham Scott. Mark Lester appeared as Paolo Stevens in one episode 1965.
A young boy, Eddie Corbett (Brandon Cruz), tries to get his father married. Freckled-face Brandon was 7-years old when the series began and gave a very endearing performance. Brandon did a superb job with his part. The script was a bit on the mushy side, but watchable. It was a spinoff from a movie. I never saw any interesting costumes. Once little Jody Foster appeared as a precocious tom-boy in a sailor suit beating up on poor Eddie. Eddie was always well dressed, but never in shorts--even play shorts.
Based on the John Wayne movie about 7 boys, aged 9-17, who help a widow ran a ranch. The boys were: Cimarron (A. Martinez), Slim (Robert Carradine), Jimmy (Sean Kelly), Homer (Kerry MacLean), Steve (Clint Howard), Hardy (Mitch Brown), and Weedy (Clay O'Brien).
A British reader mentions a program called "Crackerjack". This is one of those words that has quite different associations in America and England. In America, "Crackerjacks" are a treat of carmalized popcorn, sold in small boxes with treats inside. I am not sure about the origin of the terms, but it is also a slang term meaning a person of great ability and can be used as an adjitive. In Britain, however, "Crackerjack" invairiably with the older generration means a popular 1950s-60s television show. The show ran until 1984, but its greatest popularity was in the 1950s and 60s. The program was a childrens variety show introduced by the late Eammon Andrews. The long running BBC show normally was made up of games, comedy banter or skits, an old silent movie, popular music and a mix of old-fashioned variety fare aimed at children. The target audience was 8-10 year olds, but the way the program was presented provided for a much wider audience. The program often included an audience participation game called Double or Drop where boys and girls answered questions up on stage, receiving a prize for a correct answer and an outsized cabbage for the wrong answer. The idea was to hold all your prizes and cabbages without dropping any. If you lost control of the growing collection you went away empty handed. Early bits of film from "Crackerjack" featured a number of contestants wearing School shorts. He mentions a group called "The King Brothers". The piano player wore proper grey school shorts. This surpprised one reader who remembered "The King Brothers" who in his recollection the King Brothers were a very popular act in the 1950s, but always appeared in natty tuxedo suits. In the 1950s and early 1960s it was common to see contestants appaering in their school uniforms. In those days a boy or girl might wear school uniform as a best outfit, taking considerable pride in it. Large numbers of Cubs, Scouts, Girl Guides and Brownies in full uniform made up the often very vocal audience. It was a proud moment for a contestant to appear on TV, especially in the early years. The boys and girls were often proud to wear their school uniform and there was abosultely no embarrassment at being seen in your well-pressed short trousers or gym slip. Another feature of the show was that everyone, winners or losers, received a Crackerjack pencil. Also, whenever Eamonn Andrews said the word "Crackerjack" the whole audience cheered out loud. Another reader tells us, "I can confirm the report about contestants coming up on stage in their school uniforms. The BBC showed a clip from an old "Crackerjack" that I saw a few years ago, I think in 1998. It appears to have been quite common. I think in part because quite a number of boys did not have actual suits and contestans invairably dressed up to appear on the show."
I think this was the title. A mystery featuring a retired detective and his lawyer son. The grandson had small parts though. He always wore long pants.
The annual Bing Crosby Christmas shows began in 1962. At first they were more of a general variety show, but soon the shows were focusing on the Christmas theme. The family first appeared on the show in 1966. It became a tradition and TV viewers watch the children growup year by year. Both Nathan and Harry in the first program were dressed in matching bright red blazers, red bow ties, and black short pants with black kneesocks. The boys were 6 and 8 years old. I believe either the next or following year only Nahan wore short pants and kneesocks. It was a scene in a toy store. A boy in background briefly appeared in black shorts and knee socks. I'm not sure who costumed the boys, Bing, his wife, or the producers. I also do not know if the boys normally wore short pants suits and if so to what age. This was Bing's second family and he had mellowed quite a bit. He was apparently very strict with the boys in his his first family. They were not great singers, but the family event was hearfelt. In a later show when Harry played the guitar while Bing sang. Harry made some mistakes, but Bing just smiled a bit.
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