|
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.
A HBC reader reports, "About a year ago I watched replays of a Disney TV series about
a copyboy for an American newspaper. The stories usually involved the copyboy getting involved in some crime or mystery which he solved as a kind of amateur sleuth. The stories were set in America in the 1890s or there abouts and had very interesting depictions of period boys' clothing. In one of the episodes, the boy hero dresses up in a Fauntleroy velvet suit with white long stockings in order to pursue his adventures. I think the boy had an Irish name. Can anyone give me more information about the name of this TV series? It was named for the Irish boy, I believe." The series was "Gallagher" which ran for three years. It appeared as part of Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" serial in 1964, follwed the next year by "The Further Adventures of Gallagher". "Gallagher Goes West" ran for one season in 1966. In the initial episodes back east, Gallegher normally wore knickers. It was one of these episodes where he dressed up in a Fauntleroy suit of sorts to help catch the bad guys, but manages to get waylaid by the local street gang in the process, who can't believe Gallagher is wearing a Fautleroy suit. The second year he goes west and switches to long trousers.
See "Gallagher" above. This was a slightly upodated series for an older Roger Mobley.
|
Glen Meldrum (Baz) played alongside Rhys Muldoon (Bruce) as a Son and his magical Father in the Australian Childrens' Television Foundation series "The Genie from Downunder". The series was
extended into a second season, which is unusual in Childrens' TV.
Costuming was outstanding in the series which was filmed in Australia and the United Kingdom. Glen and Rhys wore traditional Australian clothing. Akubra hats, moleskin trousers, closed front shirts, and elastic sided boots.
A boy whose father is a forest ranger raises a bear. I don't remember any interesting episodes.
A Japanese reader tells us about a Japanese TV series broadcast in 1988. It is about a group of schoolfriends, rsther like "The Famous Five", although the boys are not as well behaved and of course are all boys. The title was, "German Boys Navy Marine Detective Team". I think it was broadcast daily as a kind of after school children's TV. There were 50 episodes made. Apparently the boys called themselves the Germany Navy detective team because one of them was fascinated with Germany. He had a model of a German World War II U-boat and wore a cap in the colors of the German flag. The boys often misbehaved at school and as acresult were often punished by being made to stand in the hallway outside their classroom. An image from the program shows two boys wearing jean short pants and one boy weard ordinary black short pants. Another in the group wears long pants. A fith boy coming out of the classroom wears long pants, but I am not sure if he is on the Detective team. American viewers will find the costuming a littkle confudsing in that it is difficult to understand how boys dressed like the Dectevive Team can misbehave at school.
I don't remember any particularly interesting costumes or plots. There are two children a boy (Jonathan) and a girl.
Long running TV series with Nell Carter who began as a glorified housekeeper for a police chief with three girls. Now she has two lovely little boys and lives with a friend. I never saw any interesting plot lines. The older boy is Joey (Joey Lawrence), the younger boy Matthew (Matthew Lawrence) was about 6. Joey mostly wore long pants, but I did see Joey wearing short pants during one episode--khaki shorts with white athletic knee socks. Interestingly Matthew wore longs.
ABC aired a weekly TV-series based on the 1944 Bing Crosby "Going my way" film. It was a sure fire Christmas film and aited Secember 12, 1962. Gene Kelly and Leo G. Carroll replaced Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald as the the two priests, but the boys again came from the Mitchell Boys Choir. Father O'Malley is again sent to a parish in low-income New York City neigborhood to assist crusty pastor Father Fitzgibbon and his faltering pasrish. Mrs. Featherstone assists as the housekeeper in the rectory. Father O'Malley again meets a boyhood friend, this time running the local community center. It is not a bad film, especially for a TV production. It is difficult, however to recreate the magic in the original film. This wsas Gene Kelly's only attempt at a television seies. It only ran one season.
Trials and tribulations of a family in the bush. The boy wears a knicker suit occasionally. The story is set around the conflict between the boy and his new, very benign, stepfather.
British production carried by PBS on its Masterpiece Theater series. I question some of the costuming decisions. It was in most respects a beautifully done production. The costumes were great, right down to the peaked cap that the boy in the credits wear, but for some strange reason the boys all wear longs. It was a public school, but didn't the younger boys at any public schools wear short trousers in the 1930s?
"Goodnight Sweatheart" Was a TV series with a new angle on the eternal triangle and involved the lead character Gary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst) who is married in the 1990s, but somehow he time travels back to the 1940s and has a mistress there works in a public house. There are one or two episodes where boys can be seen wearing 1940s clothing. One episode shows Gary holding a boy in his arms wearing a jacket, shorts and cap after a very heavy air-raid by German bombers. Back in the 1990s, Gary has a good friend who is the only person who knows of his time travelling activities.
Ed Westwick played the role of Chuck Bass in the TV Series Gossip Girl, an adaptation of the series of paperback novels of the same title. The first of which was published in 2002. Westwick showed up for a lawn party filming sequence in the croquet outfit Bermuda shorts and argyle knee socks. This looked rather like the country club set dressed in the 1950s. The outfit for some reason was not worn in the actual scene. The episode was titled 'Summer, Kind of Wonderful' and aired during Season 2, Week (September 1, 2008). Westwick was born in 1987 so he was most likely 20 or 21 years old when this was filmed. The characters Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf (as herself) are in a relationship and throughout the series Chuck and Blair are found in many different (and endearing at times) romantic settings and situations. The time of the setting in the story is not clear, but it could be in the 1990's. I somewhat doubt the croquet outfit was worn in this historical context.
An abused mom gets a divorce and tries to raise her three kids. One is Quintin (John Paul Steuer), a lively little chap about 10 or so. He never seemed to have much of a role in the early episodes and his lines were rather bratty.
Fox sitcom about a working-class Catholic family set in present-day Staten Island, with
considerably more movement indoors and out than most US sitcoms. There is one girl (about 15) and two boys (maybe 8-10 and 5-8) in the family; all attend
Catholic school, apparently the same one (they all have red school sweaters and the boys' ties are the same plaid as the girl's skirt). The girl's skirt is shorter than any Catholic school I've ever seen would allow (though still not THAT short); the boys apparently are meant to have the option of short or long pants (in one episode, the younger boy wears shorts). A reader reports, "In one episode the younger boy probably 6/7 years old went to school in a short pants suit and black knee socks. His older brother wore a long trouser suit. The series has typical early 2000s clothes with a mixture of shorts and long pants and the ever-popular T-shirts and button up shirts. What is interesting is that practically no kids in this and several other early 2000s sitcoms wear ballcaps despite the fact that many boys today practically live in them.
|
Ranked as Britain’s first ever soap opera it was transmitted as a 20-minute programme from April 1954 and ran into 1957. It followed the lives of a lower-middle-class family who were regaining a comfortable lifestyle that was lost during the events of the World War II. There was little dramatic effect, as the stories tended to be more directed towards social and domestic issues. The program featured very accurate period costuming. Main cast: Edward Evans (Bob Grove), Ruth Dunning (Gladys Grove), Peter Bryant (Jack Grove), Nancy Roberts (Gran), Margaret Downs (Daphne Grove) and Christopher Beeny as the 11-year-old Lennie Grove. He was typically dressed for a boy of the 1950s and often wore various outfits with short trousers. In adult life Christopher Beeny appeared in numerous productions one was as the footman Edward in Upstairs Downstairs.
One episode was about Lennie's first pair of long pants. A reader reports that Christopher Beeney played the part of a 14-year old and wore short trousers although he was 17 at the time. This resulted in newspaper articles asking "When is he going to wear long trousers?"
Family sitcom. The father is a psychologist with three children, two boys and a girl. Mike (Kirk Cameroon), the oldest boy is about 15. The other boy, Ben (Jeremy Miller), is just about 11 or so. The boys wear contemporary clothing, always long pants. The episodes never touched upon clothing. There was one funny episode in 1987. Bennie gets friendly with his sister and as a favor for helping him, he helps her with her low-cut blue party gown with billowing sleeves by putting it on for her to pen it up. While she works on him as he stands on a chair, Mike walks in. Bennie is embarrassed, his expression is like, Oh my God--my life is ruined. He makes as to cover himself up. Mike teases him. "Just look at you," he exclaims. Ben gets flustered and steps down. Bennie was quite good with expressions. In another episode Bennie is involved in a bully episode. As the boys grew up another boy, Luke (Lenardo Di Caprio) was added to the cast. I haven't seen any of his shows.
Rather witty show about the experiences of a young adolescent, Adrian Mole. The boy is quiet chap and wears glasses. He almost always wears long trousers, although he did wear shorts once at the beach. I don't know of any especially interesting episodes.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main alphabetical television page]
[Return to the Main theatrical page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
