MovieChat Forums > My Three Sons (1960) Discussion > I Loved This Show, but one thing always ...

I Loved This Show, but one thing always bothered me.....


I loved this show, but one thing always bothered me...the way the boys dressed. They always seemed to wear dress slacks, dress shirts and dress shoes, no matter what they were doing. It just always seemed kind of odd to me. Makes you wonder if the wardrobe department knew anything about boys.
I really don't say this as a sharp criticism. Like I said, I loved this show, the stories and the characters....especially "Robbie". I had a huge crush on Don Grady..he was so gorgeous!!

reply

they did that in most of the shows. Did you know anyone who went to a bgme or childrens birthday party in a suit. June cleaver went to a picnic in a dress and high heels. It was silly, but back then things had to be perfect as possible.

The easiest thing i have ever had to do was give my heart.

reply

We dressed up more back then. I don't recall my mother ever wearing jeans. We had to wear dresses to school until around 1970 due to the school's dress code. This is a very rural area in the south. I didn't own jeans until I was in high school. I remember in the 60s having to dress up just to go to "town" for shopping or a doctor's visit. Now we don't dress up unless we have to.

reply

This is something I asked my mom, who was a child and teen in the 60s. She said, HERE where we live during that time, the dress code changed in the mid/late 60s. Girls were allowed to wear pants to school when she was like in the 6th grade. She said she knows for sure that by the time she was in junio high (7th-9th grades)girls were wearing pants to school.

So it also depends on the city and school district. M3S wanted to give the show a "Midwest feel", whatever that means. But I agree, at times it seemed behind the times, especially with the guys wardrobe. I think they were pretty on point with the ladies fashions.


Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with.

Brian Walker to Tracy Chambers in Mahogany

reply

I didn't have jeans as a child either, and I don't remember my mother ever wearing them. I'm from rural Illinois rather than the south, but I don't think it ever occurred to my mother to purchase jeans for me as a child.

reply

Stan Livingston said in 'On The Edge of Black & White' that it was embarrassing to him at the time but the producers wanted to keep the mid-western 1950's feel. It wasn't too long before that that people wore suits to baseball games. What stood out to me was the corny music they occasionally played in the show that had no relevance to the time frame at all.

reply

I went to a so-called "tough" junior high and senior high school in the late 60s and early 70s, but we, too, had strict dress codes. Even the hoods had to conform! Girls couldn't wear trousers except when the temperature dropped below freezing and on the last day of school. No sneakers, except in gym class (or the last day of school) We could wear jeans, but NEVER torn ones. A coupla toughest hoods would wear rep ties and white, button-down shirts even when they kicking your #@&*!

May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

reply

I went to a so-called "tough" junior high and senior high school in the late 60s and early 70s, but we, too, had strict dress codes. Even the hoods had to conform! Girls couldn't wear trousers except when the temperature dropped below freezing and on the last day of school. No sneakers, except in gym class (or the last day of school) We could wear jeans, but NEVER torn ones. A coupla toughest hoods would wear rep ties and white, button-down shirts even when they kicking your #@&*!

May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

reply

People did used to dress up more than they do today-something I kind of miss sometimes.

I remember wearing pants (not jeans,orange denim pants) to a basketball game and when my mom found out I had worn pants she about had a fit.

Even just going to town to buy shoes or whatever-we dressed nice and this was in a rural Indiana location.

reply

I was a boy during the late 1950s and 1960s, and I almost always wore blue jeans and a t-shirt, except going to church or dinner at my grandmother's house, when I was forced to wear slacks, dress shoes, and a dress shirt. The first two years I was in high school (1968-1970) girls were not allowed to wear pants. I remember a girl named Suzy who was sent home one morning because she showed up in jeans. I never knew any boys who wore slacks and dress shoes at home.

reply

I lived in Michigan and then moved to California as a kid.

When I was really little, men wore suits and even hats. They stopped in 1960 when JFK didn't wear hats. Women, when they'd go "to town" -- I wasn't in a rural area, but this is what they referred to going out shopping -- wore hats, and before my time, in the 40's and early 50's, they wore gloves too.

Things got more informal as time went on, but women still wore dresses. My mom would wear pants around the house during the day, but would change into a dress before my dad came home until well into the 60's.

As far as kids and school, both in Michigan and California, boys wore nice slacks and dress shirts and leather shoes, like loafers. Girls had to wear dresses and nice shoes. When we came home, we would change into our "play clothes," to go outside and play so as not to mess up our school clothes. Before every school year, we would be taken out to get new school clothes, and of course we would wear some from last year that still fit.

Of course in the 60's, the shirts got shorter and we had rules. If they thought your skirt was too short, they sent you to the office, made you get down on your knees and they would measure the distance from the floor to the bottom of your dress or skirt. If it was more than two inches, you either got sent home or a note was sent home with you.

I once was wearing a dress that was the appropriate length but had matching shorts under them. The gym teacher was outraged and said she'd send a note to my mother. I told her to go ahead, she wouldn't care since she picked it out.

In the 70's, they gave it up, couldn't control it anymore, and we could wear jeans and tennis shoes, as long as there were no holes.

Female attorneys couldn't wear pantsuits to court until the late 70's or early 80's. Even then, it raised eyebrows.

reply