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We note a number of films in which long stockings are depicted. The matter of whether the children are costmed in long stockings or tights, is basically auestion of when the film was made. Long stockings in American films by the 1950s were increasingly less likely to use long stockingz, regardless of the hostorical accuracy. There were some films that insisted on accuracy. Even Europeans films by the 1970s were increasingly less likely to actually use long stockings in the costuming. But some producers insisted on historical accurcy, regardless of the complications and cost. As TV programs tended to have lower budgets for costumes, they were even less likely than in the movies to use long stockngs. Many films archived on HBC have had to address this costuming problem. Movies made during the 1950s or before presented no costuming problem because long stockings were still available in shops and catalogs. After tights became commerically available for boys, costume designers may have opted to use them instead of long stockings, although many directors still insisted on historical accuracy. Notice that we do not use silent films, essentially those made before 1930. All of these films would have accurarely portrayed long stockings. After this it becomes more complicated. In many cases we are not entirely sure what hosiery was worn. Readers are incouraged to contribute what ever insights they may have about these or other films.
The boys in "Adam Had Four Sons" (1949) wear actual long stockings with garters and not tights. But of course in 1949 long stockings were still available in stores in America, despite the fact that they were quickly becoming quite old-fashioned. This wasn't true, however, in Canada (especially Quebec) or Europe (Brabant, for instance). A reader points out that the
you can see the tops of the boy's stockings in a still posted on the alphaberical movie pages.
The producer in the wonderful American film, "Ah Wildreness", used real long stockings (sometimes worn without
garters and stocking tops shown). At thectime long stockings and stocking supporters were still commonly worn and easy to obtain in the United States.
The producer and costume designer in "Aimee and Jaguar" used real long stockings (Leibchen with supporters
visible). It would be interesting to know wherecthey got these items. Perhaps German studios have kept some in stock.
The producers in "The Aryan Couple" (2004) seems to have used real long stockings, even though only background scenes were involved. See figure 2 on "The Aryan Couple" page. Here we are not positive, but costuming in this film seems to be carefully historical.
"Berlin: Symphony of a City" was a realistic German documentary. The children were not costumed. Long stockings were commonly worn and thus depicted in the film.
"Die Bertinis" is an acclaimed German TV mini-series about a Germany family with a mixed (German/Jewish parents) during the NAZI years. The three Bertini boys wear actual long stockings which is correct for the time period, although not quite as pervasive as depicted in the film. Actual photographs tend to show a greater variety if hosiery. It is quite obvious that tights are NOT used in "Die Bertinis". The boys wear authentic long cotton and sometimes woolen stockings with
Strapsleibchen (probably with commerical garter clips since there is no sign of buttons sewn onto the stocking tops,as in "Der Laden", for instance). The colors vary but not very much. The standard shades are tan, dark brown, gray, and occasionally black.
"Big Jake" was a rockem, sockem John Wayne western, one in many made with Maureen O'Harra. The action swirled around the Wayne character's grandson. The boy actually was his grandson. Little Jake is carefully illistrated in a velvet suit, complete with a wide-brmimmed hat and streamer. Wayne isn't to impressed with the hat, but uses it to give the dog a scent. Here we are not sure, but think Little Jake is wearing tan tights instead of long stockings. It is difficult to tell, in part because little Jake's knee pants are rather long, especiall for the 1900s. The complications of finding real stockings were probably too much even for this big-budget Hollywood film.
"Blossoms in the Dust" (1941) is an excellent early American colored film. The children are definitely costimed in real long stockings (garters showing in one shot). Long stockings at the time were rapidly going out if style, but still obtainable in the stores.
"A Death in the Family (2002) is a beautifully made TV melodrama. The costuming is generally well done. The production, however, is a good example of modern children's tights being used to represent long stockings. The costuming here is quite obviously fake. Notice the sheerness of the supposed stockings (a false note).
"Donovan's Reef" (1963) is another John Wayne film, of course with Maureen O'Harra again. This is arather senstive film, but with some action included. The little boy involved wears 1960s style clothes, except when he dresses up for a formal occassion. Here he wears a wide-brimmed hat and strean=mer and glack velvet suit. It looks to HBC that he is wearing white tights, but one reader thinks he may be wearing long stovkings. Again the velvet sjorts are fairly long so it is difficult to tell. A HBC reader suspects they may have been the real thing.
"Europa, Europa" (1990-91) is a epic World War II saga about the experiebces of a Jewish boy--Soli. Long stockings are not extensively depoicted. Only the scene with the Young Pioneers shows a few boys wering long stockings. We note grey lobg stockings. They would have been Polish boys. This is historically accurate. We are not at all sure that they are, however, real long stockings. It is im[pssible to tell from viewing the film. We suspect that they are tights. A reader writes that since this was a European film that they could be real long stockings. Of course by the 1990s, long stockings were not readily available for costuming, even in Germany wherethey had been so common..
"Fanny and Alexander" (1983) is a wonderful film. It is often included on lists of the greatest films made. It is beautifully costumes. Many of the adults wear very accurate period costumes. The children are more simply, but accurately costimed. The long stockings here are quite authentic. Bergman took the trouble to recreate the dress of his own
childhood accurately. He and some other great directors was convinced that accurate costuming helped the characters better get into the historical period. The children wear black longstockings and period stocking supporters. You can see Alexander's garter clasps in several scenes.
This film was made in NAZI Germany at the time that the terror and viloence inflicted on Europe began to come home to Germany. "Die Feuerzangenbowle" (1944) depicts school boys wearing long stockings and they are quite genuine. Long stockings were of course still being widely worn and sold in Germany throughout the 1940s.
"Finding Neverland" (2004) is an enjoyable film about J.M. Barie and the origins of Prter Pan. His association with the Llewelyn-Davies boys is depicted in some detail. The boys are commonly shown wearing knickers rather than short pants or knee pants. Thus it is difficult o tell if the boys are wearing long stockings are tights. Here the historical accuracy is complicated. Long stockings were not s common in Englnd as in Germany. Any many boys rolled their socks down to form turn-over-top knee socks. Even so, the short pants were so long that it was often still difficult to identify the type of hosiery being worn in period photographs. The issue is further complicated because the Llewelyn-Davies boys were somewhat excentricately dressed. It looks to us that in the film, the boys are wearing knee socks that have been pulled up over the knee. British turn-over-top socks are made longer than hust to the knee. This is to form a cuff that cover an elastic garter. Actual long stockings would have been longer.
"The Go Between" (1971) is an interesting English film. A reader suggests, "The boys wear long stockings with both knee
pants and with knee breeches. Tights are a possibility here, but one scene in which tan stockings are slightly wrinkled makes me think the costumer used actual stockings for the film." Here we are not sure. It has been some time since we watched this film. I have the impression that the boy who was the go between wore knee socks with the new green suit that was purchased for him. As the knee pants covered his knees, they looked rather like long stockings. I saw no hint of atocking supporter.
"The Great Man Votes (1938) about a down-on-his-luck man trying to raise two children. The The boy in the film wears
actual long stockings with short trousers. Long stockings and the supporters to go with them were widely worn at the time and available in the stores. Curiosly, despite how common long stockings were, they are not often depicted in American films. This is a notable exception.
"Heaven Can Wait" (1943) is a wonderful family drama bout a charming rascal. Real long stockings were used in this
film. This was not difficuly because they were still readily available in shops,catalogs, and stores even though their popularity had dwindled significantly. Girls still wore long stockings and the same stockings were also sold for boys.
The film spans a wide time frame. The depection of long stockings was if I recall from the late 19th century when they were virtually ubiquitous. The main character, Henry, is depicted as a small boy and as a teenager. He wears knee pants at both
ages--as a smaller boy black stockings (which is realistic) and as a teenager brown ribbed stockings (which is less accurate historically).
Heimat was a popular and long running German TV series about the saga of a family. The first series was done in 1984. It was done in the style of a documentary and using footage from actual life, shows boys of all ages from very young to older teenagers wearing long stockings. The film series covers a wide range of years chronologically. The stockings here are entirely authentic.
"How Green Was My Valley" (1941) is a very important World War II film. It is also the best known film about Wales. It is an example of the best known film about a country being made in Hollywood. The film focused on the family values and traditions under attack at the time. It was based on Richard Llewellyn's book. It probably could not have been made in England at the time becuse it was about the suppression of Welsh coal miners by wealthy English mine owners. At this same theme was picked up on when Huw goes to National School and the other boys make fin of his Welsh accent. Huw wears knee pants with black long stockings. A HBC reader suggests that this was historically correct for Wales at this period. We are less sure. We think many british boys wore turn-over-top knee socks that were pulled up, but not worn with stockibng supporters. The film was shot in Hollywood. (Britain at the time was being bombed by the NAZIs. Hugh wasReal stockings were used. There was, however, played by Roddie McDowell--a British boy. There was still no problem purchasing long stockings were were still worn by boys and girls in the early 1940s, though less frequently than earlier.
"Hypocrites" is an important silent-era film (1915). Long stockings were worn with buckle and strap knickers in this film. The costuming is correct, reflecting contemprary dress. Black long stockings were the standard wear for boys in 1915 so there would have been no problem securing them for the costuming. Actually we believe that many silent film producers did not costume children for contemprary scenes, but just had them wear their own clothes. Older boys (like the lad in the film) would have worn suspender waists for stockings with knickers. That may have been the case in the film also, although we don't see any suspension devices.
"King's Row (1941-42) depicts five children are depicted growing up in what looks to be the perfect American small town at the turn of the 20th century. Long stockins, especially black long stockings, were commonly worn by both boys and girls at the time. Real black long stockings were worn in the early part of this film where the two main male leads are depicted as schoolboys--Parris and Drake. In one of the scenes we actually see the clasps of the hose supporters. Of course in 1941 both long stockings and hose supporters were still readily available in stores.
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"Korczak" (1991) is an international production set in NAZI Occupied Poland during World War II. It is a moving film which depicts the Jewish orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto superintended by the famous pediatrician, Januz Korczac. Korczac The actual interactions in the film are fictionlized because the children were all kill by the NAZIs. Dr. Korczac rejects an offer of a Swiss passport and life so that his orphans will not feel abandoned. He voluntarily accompanies the children when they are transported to the Treblinka death camp. The film is shot in stark black-and-white. The costuming meticulously accurate. Most of the boys from teenagers on down are shown wearing short trousers with brown long stockings and supporters. Even though the film was made long after tights had replaced long stockings in Poland, the distinguished director Waida was very keen to get the costuming accurate in historical terms. He used actual long stockings for the boys, and in several places we can see the supporter clasps and elsewhere a gap between the trouser hems and the stocking tops.
"Der Laden" (Germany, 1998) translates as " The Shop ". It depicts rural life on the still ildefined German-Polish border in 1919. This film is very accurate historically and shows the major boy character wearing short trousers with very long,
thigh-length brown stockings held up with Leibchen. We can tell this because the Waschknopf (the button that was sewn onto a stocking top and connected to a garter strap with graduated button-holes) is clearly visible. This film is especially valuable for its historical costuming and is often praised for this reason.
"Life with Father" (1947) is a wonderful late-19th century family drama. Several of the boys in the Day family, an affluent New York family are shown wearing black long stockings with knee trousers--very true to the period. The stockings are obviously genuine and would not have been difficult to acquire during the 1940s. Girls still wore long stockings in the late 1940s as did a few boys, although they were increasingly seen as old fashioned and beginning to disappear in stores and catalogs.
Francis Hodgson Burnett wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1885. Stage productions, mostly unauthorized, appeared almost immediately and continued into the 20th century. With the development of the motion picture industry, content-hungary prodicers began doing novels and Little Lord Fauntleroy was one of many novels memora;ized in film. The girst production was Mary Pickford's "Little Lord Faunterloy" (US, 1921). Real long stockings were used in this film since they were standard wear in the 1920s. Notice, however, that black silk stockings are also a part of the costuming, in part because Pickford played Cedric. Many remakes followed. Major Remakes were made in 1935 (US), 1980 (US), 1995 (UK-BBC) and 2004 Russia (2004). The first sound version and one of the best remembered is the 1935 remake starring Freddy Bartholomew. Freddy's wore knickers so we are not sure if they were black knee socks or long stockings. By 1935, the Burnett stork had attracted considerable derisive parody and as a result the costuming director down played the outfits Freddy wore. Long stockings were, however, still widely available in 1935. For the later films it is likely that tights were substituted for long stockings although we can't be certain.
Ricky Schroeder played Faunterloy in a 1980 remake where tights may have been used.
The BBC Fauntleroy 1995 remake may also have used tights.
The Russian 2004 remake in which Faunterloy wore white long stockings almost certainly substituted white tights for long stockings. White stockings were not historically accurate for late-19th century Fauntleroy suits. White tights were popular for Russian children when the film was made.
Look at "The Little Princess", the last version by Alfonso Cuaron (1995) costumes the girls in tights even though the action is in 1905-10. In the 1990s version of the Secret Garden the girl is wearing tights which is a real anachronism, but she is wearing over-the-knee white leather leggings. Here it is a true replica. It gives a good idea how a girl was really well-dressed at that time.
"M" (Germany, 1931) is another well known film, although it is not a very pleaant movie to watch. This Fritz Lang film about a child molester contains background shots with boys wearing long stockings. The stockings are of course quite authentic because the children are depicted as contemporary German children, who would have worn such stockings in everyday life in 1931. The boys may have not been costumed, but instructed to wear their own clothing.
"The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942) is one of Orson Welles's famous films (unfortunately mutilated for commercial reasons by Hollywood) shows the main character Georgie (as a boy) dressed in fancy dress-up kilts and Faunterloy-style clothes. He has ringlet curls and wears long stockings with knee pants. The stockings are undoubtedly genuine, not only because Welles was careful about costuming but also because long stockings and supporters were still readily available in 1942 America, but declining in popularity.
Mishima (1985) is a biographical account of the famous Japanese writer Mishima. We see the writer as a boy kneeling
beside the bed of his invalid mother. As an aristocratic boy he is dressed in short trousers and white long stockings, which the writer actually mentions wearing in a memoir. The stockings are quite genuine and not tights. The hose supporter button is visible in one scene. We know that Japanese boys in the 20th century wore long stockings. We are, however, unsure just how common white long stockings were before the War. After the War we see Japanese boys wearing white tights. Mishima does not specifically mention white stockings in his memoir so we are not sure the choice of white stockings in the movie is accurate.
Our information on pre-War Japan is limited. We think girls did wear white long stockings with their school sailor suit uniforms, but we are less sure about boys. A reader writes, "I suspect that the white long stockings in Mishima's childhood
are correct. He came from a very aristocratic family and admired the emperor. Note that the Crown Prince Akihito is shown wearing white long stockings as a boy." This would be the same convention as in the West where some younger boys also wore white long stockings.
"The Music Man" (1962) is one of the best-loved American musicals. This American musical film shows boys of
all ages wearing long stockings with knee trousers--even highschool boys. But the costuming is somewhat inaccurate. Tights were probably used for many of the knee pants costumes. This seems to have been the case in the library dance scene where olders boys are seen wearing improbably colored knee pants or knickers, including white tights. At one point, where a point is made about the scandalous way boys are allowed to rebuckle their knickers below the knee, a boy adjusts the length of his knickers exposing black knee socks instead of the correct long stockings held up by supporters. The boy with the largest part was Winthrop. We are not entirely sure about what he wear with his knee pants outfits. Historical accuracy in costuming was not a major consideration in this production. HBC believes in accuracy in film productions, but we are not quite as committed to accuracy in mysical and dance films. And in fairness though, the film does a beautiful job in creating the ambience and culture of small-town Iowa.
Butch Jenkins is adorable as Lewie Penrose, the little boy who talks to horses to find if they are going to win races. For some reason, dogs are totally uninterested in him. Jackie was particularly well liked in this role. The film is set im Baltimore. He and his brother John (Peter Lawford) live with their mother (Spring Byington). As they have little money, mother has opened a boarding house. A sterotyped black girl wearing a sailor suit helps out. There is a group of eccentric boarders. The film is similar to the much better British film, 'The Rocking Horse Winner'. Butch is very good, but the rest of the film is disappointing. Lewie Penrose is 9-years old and is able to talk to horses attracts a lot of interest, including that of gangsters who are interested in race handicapping straight from the horses' mouths. Lewie wears knickers suits and long stockings. He also wears a tunic-like outfit that is tucked in at the waist. The costuming seems quite accurate for the 1910s. Lewie has a little girl friend who wears a white dress and white long stockings.
We note a late-Soviet television series set in the 1930s. A Young Pioneer squad makes a ceremonial appearance in formal uniforms. They were depicted in white long stickings, but the producer and costutme people used wjite tights instead, presumably because they were easily available.
Nils Karlsson Pyssling (1990) is a film based on a charming children's book by Astrid Lindgren, the author of the Pippi
Longstocking series, shows its boy hero, Nils, wearing long stockings with short trousers. The action dates from about the 1950s so the long stockings and garters are historically correct. No use of tights here.
The Railway Children is a classic English children's book. The original English 1972 film costumed boys in knickers with long stockings in this film. They look genuine enough, but tights or knee socks could have been substituted. It is difficult to tell. A 2000 remake used knee pants which were worn with blaxk long stockings. Tights would be a likely substitution here.
Francis Hogdson Burnett was the author of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Another of Mrs. Burbett's books was The Secret Garden. The book was written in the 1880s. Film productions play with the timing. Some set it after the turn of the 20th century. Thus long stockings would have been historically correct in the costuming of the children. In this book, a little girl as the main character. There are also two boys involved in the story. The original 1949 film was made in American and starred Dean Stockwell. He wore actual long stockings which were still available in 1949. Garters are visible in one scene, and long stockings were of course still available in the 1940s. Later versions (1975, 1993 might have used tights. These versions show the boys in knickers mostly. Long stockings possible but tights are more likely. The 1994 remake by Agnieska Holland costumes the girls in tights which is historically inaccurate. In Holland's film, we can look at the very beginning of the film a little girl living in India clothed by a servant; curiously, this passage is really authentic. Her long stockings have a button on the stocking which is tied to a somewhat silky garter. The rest of the film presents the little girl in tights.
"Song of the South" (1947) is a very important American film which tragically has been supressed because of political correctness. Bobby Driscol played the part of Johnny in this film, wearing a Fauntleroy velvet suit with white long
stockings. The stockings are quite genuine. There would have been no reason to substitute tights because long stockings were still being widely worn, especially by girls in the late 1940s. White stockings, however, may be somewhat unhistorical. White stockings were coomon in the 1860s, but this was before the popularity of sailor suits and Fauntleroy suits. The film is not precisely dated, but seems to be after the Civil War--perhaps the 1890s. This was a ime in wgich Fauntleroy suits and sailor suits were common as well as long stockings, but not white long stockings. Most Faunterloy suits were worn with black or other dark stockings until after the turn of the 20th century.
"The Steam Roller and the Violin" (1960) is a marvellous Russian film. It shows Russian boys wearing tan long stockings with the Russian equivalent of a Leibchen. The stockings are entirely authentic. In fact, we are not sure to what extent the film was costumed. It is sent in contemporary times so the boys may have just been wering their own clothes. Here we are not sure how costuming was handled in Soviet films. You can see the stocking tops and supporters in at least one scene. But we also see knee socks on some of the boys. Both were worn by actual Soviet boys in the 1960s, and tights did not become very common in Russia until the 1970s. Even then, some mothers preferred long stockings for economy and for other reasons as well (such as convenience).
The "Tender Hours" (1950) is not a film we are familiar with. A reader tells us that the younger brother in this film wears a knickers suit with long stockings. The stockings are probably genuine since they were still aavailable in North America at the time, although few Americab children were wearing them any more.
"There is One Born Every Minute" (1942) was a standard American B movie. Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, one of the Our Gang actors, wore an Eaton collar suit, knee pants and long black stockings in this film. The stockings are undoubtedly
genuine since they were still being worn by actual children at the time the film was made. There would be no need for tights which at any rate were not available. And Alfalfa is meant in this film to be comically over-dressed and a bit sissified for
laughs.
"The Thief" (1997) is a Russian film we do not know much about. . A boy in this film wears light brown long
stockings with trousers that look like loose knickers but that show his legs during the action. A reader writes, "The boy actor could be wearing tights, but perhaps he is wearing actual long stockings. It is not really clear from the film." At the time, long stockings were no longer worn in Russia, but children tights were commonly available and worn by both boys and girls.
"This Side of Heaven" (1934) is a "B" movie tear jearker. A delivery boy of about 12 or 13 years old is shown wearing knickers with long stockings. The stockings are undoubtedly genuine since they were widely worn by boys in the 1930s.
"Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965) is a fun romp through early aviation and national stereotypes. Boys in this film are shown in this film with fairly brief knee pants and long black stockings. Boys are only seen briefly or in background scenes it is difficult to see precisely what they are wearing. Since no garters are visible, they could be tights, but the effect is very authentic. No sheer tights or a nylon look as in A Death in the Family, for instance. I suspect that real, heavy boys' long stockings were worn, but we can't be sure.
"Uprising" (2001) is an American film about the World war II Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. This film was shot in Europe and has what looks like very careful, historically accurate costuming. Many scenes involve boys wearing heavy woolen long stockings with short trousers. which would be correct for the Warsaw of 1943). As in "Korczak", which deals with the same period, I think the director was careful to use authentic long stockings. In Europe this would have been less of a
problem than if the film had been shot in the United States, but even in Europe, obtaining long stockings and stocking supporters would have been a problem in 2001.
"The Vanishing Virginian" (1941) deals with prohibition and women sufregettes stirring up trouble in Ole Virginia.
Dean Stockwell wears knee pants and genuine black long stockings in this film, set in 1913. The stockings are surely authentic. They were still being worn by some American children in 1941 and were widely advertised in the catalogues
(as well as the necessary hose supporters that were necessary to wear with them).
"Watch on the Rhine" (1943) is an excellent World War II-era film, set in Washington, D.C., but involving the Muller family just arrived from central Europe, fleeing the NAZIs. The film stars Bette Davis, the children's mother, and Paul Lukas. their father, as an anti-Nazi agent of German extraction. The film is based on the successful play by Lillian Hellman. Bodo, the 12-year son of the family, arrives in Washington, wearing the warm clothes of Europe, which includes a short trousers suit and black long stockings. The stockings are entirely authentic. They were still being advertised in American stores and
catalogues, and of course were still common in Germany and other northern European countries.
"When Fir Trees Light" (1956) is an animated film with no human actors based on a popular Russian children's book. The
boys wear suspender shorts and long stockings, which was standard schoolboy dress in Russia. Long stockings are represented but of course only drawn by artists, not worn.
"The Young Visitors" (2003) is the TV adaptation of the Young Visiters is based on Daisy Ashford's humerous novel of the same title. The interesting aspect of the book is that it was written in 1890, when Daisy was still a 9-year old child. The draft was put away and forgotten until several years later. It was published just as Daisy wrote it, including her childish spelling errorts--even the title. That is the charm of the book. It is the world as seen by a little girl, albeit a perceptive little girl. The boys wear Faunterloy suits--blue velvet knickers with long stockings. I suspect tights were
used here. In any case the costuming is dubious. The time represented is the 1890s, and one boy who seems to be a young teenager is dressed in a Fauntleroy suit, which is probably stretching the age, even in the 1890s, for such a style. Colored long stockings also seem a bit unusual. Tights are likely but one can't be sure.
"Zmory" (1979) is a movie about a Polish boy, although we do not have a lot details. We do have information on the costuming. We note what were meant to represent white long stockings with a knicker suit. We note a wide variety of boys'
costumes--both old-fashioned and more up-to-date. Tights were probanly used here, although long stockings probably could have been found in Poland during 1979.
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