Figure 1.-- This is the school the children attend. The other boys all seek to wear knickers.

Enjoyable little movie enlivened by Donald (Peter Holdeen). His sister is also a competent little actress. He has bangs and dresses rather formally with a white shirt, tie, and proper short pants. This is both his school outfit and the clothese he normally wears. At school the other boys wear knickers. Unusual for U.S. pictures he wears over the knee stockings. This is in fact the only American film that I know of that features a lead character wearing short pants and over-the-knee stockings. As his father is down on his luck, his stockings usually have holes in the knees, making it difficult to see precisely what he is wearing. In the scene at the end of the movie he wears a short pants suit, again with over the knee stockings, but without holes. A friend tells me that Donald's long stockings keep coming down, I remember one scene during which he and his sister go over a fence to get apples and she helps him pull up his stockings. The film is set around how his father votes in an election, which I am afraid I do not quite understand. In the final election scene there are boys in the crowd scene in shorts and knickers. One boy, the school bully, around 12 and wears a knicker suit gets a good boot from his father for almost messing up a business deal. Benny ? of Bowery Boys fame has a small part.

Filmology

Enjoyable little movie enlivened by two charming child actors. It was directed by Garson Kanin.

Cast

The star of the film is John Barrymore. It was his lat memorable film. Two children star prominently in the movie, Donald Ainslee Vance, a 9-year old boy (played charmingly by Peter Holden), and his sister Joan, a girl of about 10-11 (played by Virginia Weidler). They play the main character's children who is under siege from the child welfare people. Benny ? of Bowery Boys fame has a small part.

Setting

The film is set in an American city during 1923. I don't remember the city as being identified, but it is a large city with an important Irish community. That could be any of a number of American cities. It did not have a contemporary setting which should be born in mind in assessing the costuming.

Plot

"The Great Man Votes" is a film about ethnic ward politics in America. The film is set around the children's father and how his father votes in an election, which I am afraid I do not quite understand. The plot concerns Gregory Vance, an eccentric once famous professor at Harvard who becomes a scruffy, down-and-out alcoholic after the death of his wife. Vance lives with his two children who are intensely loyal to their father and amusingly supportive of his somewhat wayward habits, which are treated with a kind of gentle comedy and a spirit of sympathetic understanding. Films dealing so gently with alcoholism would no longer be made in Ameica. One day Vance is chosen to cast the deciding vote in the city's mayoral election, and is rewarded with position and influence in the city government.

Figure 2.-- "The Great Man Votes" is a film about ethnic ward politics in America. The film is enlivened with two competent childs actors and has some interesting costuming. The boy wears short pants and long stockings--unusual for an American film..

Costuming

The period clothing seems to be fairly accurately reproduced. Donald has bangs and dresses rather formally with a white shirt, tie, and proper short pants. This is both his school outfit and the clothese he normally wears. The film has numerous examples of boyhood dress in the early 1920s. Many of the boys wear knickers, but young Donald is shown wearing short pants and long dark stockings. His sister Joan wears knee socks with her dress. Donald is somewhat slovenly in appearance in the early scenes--a reflection of Vance's less than meticulous care in bringing the boy up. Climbing over a fence, he falls and tears holes in the knees of his black stockings which have a tendency to fall down below the hem of his shorts. But at the end of the film, Donald acquires a new proper pair of stockings without holes and looks respectable. In this episode, shown in the image reproduced here, he wears a single breasted shorts pants suit, long dark stockings, hightop shoes, and a flat cap. At school the other boys wear knickers. Unusual for U.S. pictures he wears over the knee stockings. This is in fact the only American film that I know of that features a lead character wearing short pants and over-the-knee stockings. This may have been more common in the silent films made in the 1920s, but we have little information about silent films. As his father is down on his luck, his stockings usually have holes in the knees, making it difficult to see precisely what he is wearing. In the scene at the end of the movie he wears a short pants suit, again with over the knee stockings, but without holes. A friend tells me that Donald's long stockings keep coming down, I remember one scene during which he and his sister go over a fence to get apples and she helps him pull up his stockings. In the final election scene there are boys in the crowd scene in shorts and knickers. One boy, the school bully, around 12 and wears a knicker suit gets a good boot from his father for almost messing up a business deal.

Created: March 12, 2004
Last updated: March 12, 2004