Movies Depicting Fauntleroy Suits: Song of the South, 1947

Figure 1.--Johnny played by Bobby Driscol wears a burgandy Fauntleroy and long white stockings. He objects to the lace collar that he had to wear with it.

Walt Disney's Song of the South is today one of the lesser known Disney films. I'm not sure why, perhaps because it not deemed today as politically correct. It was, however, in many wys a ground breaking film. Johnny, one of the main characters in the film, wears a burgandy velvet Fauntleroy suits and lace collar.

Filmography

Song Of The South was released on November 1, 1946. The original story was written by Dalton Raymond and was based on the Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris

The movie was a land mark Disney production. It combined animation and live action. A novel concept for the day. Prior to Song of the South, Disney had mastered the marriage of live-action film footage with animation. However, Song of the South represented the first time that Disney made a film which was primarily live-action and interspersed with animated sequences. Conversely, one 1 year before the release of Song of the South, Disney brought us The Three Caballeros which used animation as the primary element and live-action as secondary. It wasn't until 1964 that live-action and animation met on screen once more in the classic Disney film, Mary Poppins.

The brilliant animated sequences of Song of the South are considered by many experts to be some of the greatest animation every created. In them, Brer Rabbit, the "most outdoin'est, bodacious critter in the whole world," out-smarts the crafty Brer Fox and the lumbering Brer Bear. And as Uncle Remus said, that's "mighty satisfaction."

Song of the South was a musical with some memorable songs. The songs included "How Do You Do?" "Song of The South," "That's What Uncle Remus Said," "Sooner or Later," "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place," "Zip-a-dee Doo-Dah," "Let the Rain Pour Down," and "Who Wants to Live Like That?".

The Story

In Song of the South, Uncle Remus tells Johnny three fables which come to life through animation. Each one has a moral which happens to apply to a certain problem in the boy's life. Johnny was beautifully played by American child star Bobby Driscol.

Costuming

Johnny wears a velvet kneepants suit with white stockings. He wears his velvet suit with a lace collar. If I remember correctly he was not happy about having to wear the lace collar. Johnny did not appear that much in the film and I do not recall other outfits he wore. The heart of the film was the wonderfully animated animal stories.

The choice of white stockings is interesting. It was much more common to wear dark stockings at the time. Children still in dresses and girls were the most likely to wear long stockings. Boys in white sailor suits also might wear white stockings on dressy occasions. It was rare, however, to see boys in Fauntleroy suits wearing white stockings until the turn of the century.

A Personal Note

I can remember as a young child seeing Song of the South. Some of the songs, Zip-a-dee Doo-Dah have stuck with me to this day. I can also remember having the Joel Chandler Harris read to me. The film was one of the first Hollywood efforts to preach racial tollerance. I think now that the film had a big impression on me in that regard although as a child it was the wonderful animal stories taht I was intreagued with.