Figure 1.--Winter underwear was a staple for American children for nearly a century. The 1930s were the last decade this was the case. Here a 'Saturday Evening Post' cover (February 27, 1937) by Frances Tipton Hunter. The cover shows a boy getting a new pair of winter underwear. Notice the short legs as he warsc knickers. The boy doesn't seem very happy about it, but we are not sure just why. I think the implication is that winter underwear was not liked by children. I grew up in the 1940s and never recall seeing winter underwear as a boy. Winter underwear was still sold, but became not only seasonal, but increasingly regional, still worn in the northern tier of states near the Canadian border.

Winter underwear was a staple for American children for nearly a century. The 1930s were the last decade this was the case. Here a Saturday Evening Post cover (February 27, 1937). The Post ws one ogf the most popular mass-circulation magazines in the United states. showing a boy getting a new pair of winter underwear. Notice the short legs as he warsc knickers. The boy doesn't seem very happy about it, but we are not sure just why. I think the implication is that winter underwear was not liked by children. I grew up in the 1940s and never recall seeing winter underwear as a boy. Winter underwear was still sold, but became not only seasonal, but increasingly regional, still worn in the northern tier of states near the Canadian border. Ithink Americans in 1937 would have instantly understood why the boy here was so unhappy. It is soimewhat les clear to modern Americans. A reader writes, "I think boys didn't like winter underwear very much, and by 1937 the more modern kind of underwear (briefs and separate shirts) were beginning to be available. Some boys probably thought union suits were too old-fashioned, although given the boy'sage here we suspect that comfort ws more important. Maybe boys who still wore union suits were made fun of by other boys whose mothers had more modern notions of how boys should be clothed. That is just a guess. I recall that some boys didn't like waist suits with garter tabs because they seemed too much like what girls wore, but this boy doesn't seem to be wearing long stockings. Perhaps boys just hated the ordeal of being taken to shop for school clothes by their mothers, It would have been more fun to shop for toys or be taken to the movies or perhaps stay home and play with friends.".

Created: 11:13 PM 1/7/2007
Last updated: 6:02 PM 3/15/2012