Figure 1.--Robert and Ethel Kennedy had 11 children. Here is Robert with four of the children at the Kennedy family compond in Hyannis Port. It was Monday morning in July 1962 as The Attorney General Eobert and President Kenney JFK and RFK leave for Washington, D.C. The President in the background is saying good bye to his very unhappy little boy.

There were also demographic differences associated with short pants. Knee pants and knickers in the late-19th and early-20th century were worn by boys of all social clases. Short pants wre different. They were very common for boys families in comfortable circumstances, but much less common for boys from more ordinary families. A good example is apopular Broadway play amd movie at the time--'Aunty Mame'. The boy in the play, Patrick Dennis, is from a rich family and is appropriately costumed in short pants suits not knickers. At the same time, TV and Hollywood producers in the 1960s rarely costimed the many child actors in shorts. The notable exception during the 60s was Eddie Munster in the 'The Munsters' in which every one wore gag outfits. None of Eddie's many friends appearing on the show wore short pants. Shorts were more common in the suburbs where the more sucessful families moved to from the city and still more popular. Notice how the Kennedy family boys still wore short pants suits. Here we are primarily talking about Robert's large brood. The President's son John also wore short pants suits until he was about 8-9 years old. We are not sure what was behind this demographic difference. The influence of British fashion might have been a factor. The fact that boys from affluent families more commonly attended summer camps with required uniforms may have been another factor. Another factor is that many of these families sent their kids to private schools, some of which still had school uniforms. And generally supervised their children more closely, meaning they had less contact with aveage American boys. Strabgeky we begin to see the ifea developing that boys weaing short pants suits were spoiled, pampered brats. This is a theme we see in some Hollywood and TV programs. We suspect tyhis may be an idea picked up from the general publkic and not implanted by Hollowood.

Created: 5:47 AM 5/28/2019
Last updated: 5:47 AM 5/28/2019