Figure 1.--The boy in "Life is Beautiful" wears a peaked cap and romper suit with strap shoes. HBC is not surechow common such outfits were in 1940s Italy. |
You can also slect the movies available on HBC by using this alphabetical movie listing. At this time only a few movies have been analized by HBC for clothing information, but more pages are being added all the time.
A HBC reader reports viewing Liam. It is a film about a 7-year boy old boy living in Liverpool. Excellent movie in the same vein as Angela Ashes, but much better. The time era is very early 1930's, family father working in the shipyards when there was a major lay off that took place. The family is Catholic and many scenes were at the school, classroom and the church. Many boys were involved in the movie, especially the classroom scene. All boys wore short pants and there was a major scene in the church where all the boys for their first communion wore short pants suits. It was 1930's period of dress of boys from working-class families. Most critics gave this a four star rating. It was a BBC film production.
MTV production. A little boy gets dressed up in his step-mother's satin teddy.
This aclaimed Italian film deals with a father's attempt to disguise the horrors of the Holocost from his son. I think the film rather trivializes the Holocost. Also small children in the camps were usually kept with the mothers and were the first to be murdered. The boy wears a romper suit and matching peaked cap with strap shoes and white ankle socks. I'm not sure how common such outfits were in 1940s Italy.
Dickie Moore plays Pierre, the son of Cpt. Drefus who is unjustly accused of spying. He is first seen in a charming domestic scene where he and his father is playing with an elaborate collection of toy soldiers. He wears a smart kneepants sailor suit with long dark stockings. As it is a black and white film, I do not know what color the suit is, but presumably light blue. The scene would have occurred about 1895. He is seen again briefly when the French secret police come to search the Drefus home. Both scenes occur indoors so the hat that he would have worn is not depicted.
Mickey Rooney
A really wonderful film set about 1880 in New York. Through a series of reminiscences, a man recreates a childhood spent with his eccentric Victorian father. A financier rules his numerous family, consisting of his wife and his four sons, with the meticulousity of a bookkeeper.This comedy's plot is simple: get Father baptized. It was quite a well done film about a large New York family in the 1880s. The family was an affluent one. It was a well done period costumed film, with a lot of different period outfits shown--especially for the two younger boys. A kind hearted wife and her four sons find ways of manipulating an otherwise tyrannical father. The well-ordered household becomes unglued when the wife finds out that her husband has never been baptized. The two youngest boys wear very attractive costumes, both with knee pants and long stockings. The youngest boy, Harlin (Derek Scott), has to be the best outfitted boy in any major movie. He wears kilts in two scenes and a lovely blouse with lacy collar and cuffs in another. I understand he objected to this when they shot the movie. He his rather young, I'd say about 6 years old, but his outfits are great. I especially liked his kilt suit outfit when his mother went shopping with the boys. It is a sort of blue-gray outfit with matching jacket and kilt, both with all kinds of black trim. He wears his kilt outfit with a big floppy beret with a long tassel. The kilt is above the knees and he has long stockings. His frilly blouse with the lacy collar and cuffs are also very nice. The lace collar is enormous and the lace intricate. Presumably his knee pants are velvet, but it is hard to tell from the film. It is clearly a Fauntleroy-type outfit, but he doesn't wear a jacket with it. All the little details in his and the slightly older boys outfits, such as ribbons hanging from the back of sissy boy hats are done perfectly. Harlan's Sunday best hat is especially nice, broad-brimmed sissy hat with a long streamer. Its very unusual for such outfits to be so accurately pictured in movies. They are surely some of the best sissy outfits depicted in the movies. The next oldest boy is about 10, perhaps 11 and not dressed nearly as well. He does, however, wear kneepant suits, including a sailor outfit.
A noted heart surgeon gets a second chance at adolescence when his personality is accidentally switched with that of his teenage son (Kirk Cameron).
Rather a long film about the relationship between highschool boys.
A British school boy about 13 has a small part. He appears in various outfits, including a long pants suit.
a href="/the/movie/star/moviestarfb.html">Mark Lester
Features a teenage Anthony Newley.
Unimaginative kiddy baseball film. A 12-year old (Luke Edwards) inherits a baseball team. He appears with some friends showing 1990s American clothing styles. There is one funny scene where the boy's mom is fussing over him. The boy complains, embarrassed that some one will see. His mother assures him that no one is looking until he looks at the big screen in part TV to see the whole seen on TV being shown to a packed stadium.
A reporter finds an orphaned French boy who may be his son. Boys appear in shorts and smocks. The orphanage boys all wear knee socks. Only a few boys wear smocks, but interestingly they appear to be the bigger ones. The biggest boy in the first class scene is wearing a nice smock, but without a wide white collar. The main character has rather an appealing personality. There are some older boys at the orphanage and near the end of the movie, and his class is again shown. Scott Grimes
The beautiful, but isolated Australian bush is the setting for this true adventure of the thrilling search for a lost 4-year old boy. Tommy Barry, John Hargreves, Nathan Dawes
Plucked from the sloppy streets of 19th Century New York to live in a mammoth English estate, young Cedric finds himself swaddled in the trappings of wealth. He inocently proceeds to teach his dour and miserly grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, to once again embrace life and happiness. Film legend Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart, plays both Little Lord Fauntleroy and his mother, in this early silent version. A double-exposure camera trick allows Mary Pickford to play two roles in this 1920s classic. I believe that this was the first film productions, at least the earliest one I know of.
Classic story by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Freddie Bartholomew plays Cedric, but costumes are very disappointing. He wears long pants with an Eton collar, but has a nice sailor suit. Mickey Rooney plays the boy his mother tries to pass off as the real heir. Jackie Searl also appears. I saw a portrait of Freddie in a lovely proper velvet Fauntleroy suit, complete with lace collar and patent leather shoes. It must have been made for publicity shots I don't remember it being used in the film. Rather a pity.
An improvised American boy from Brooklyn learns he is a heir to an English estate. I do not yet have information on the making of this version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Some films of course are first conceived and the producers and directors then go looking for the actors. Other folms are conceived as vehicles for stars. This may have been the case for this version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Boys in the 1920s-60s had short hair and established child stars, like Freddy Bartholmew, would probably have objected to wearing ringlet curls or even uncurled long hair. In addition, this might not have been inkeeping with the somewhat surprising, but consistent desire of many directors to "desissify" Cedric in the film. Popular
hair styles changed in the 1970s and many boys were now wearing long hair. Ricky Schroder had bangs and longish hair and it was thus not much
of a streach to have him grow it a big longer, making him the perfect selection for the role of Cedric. Some nice touches. Mother tells a visitor as she sews Ricky's lace collar. "He will look so dear in it, but won't he hate wearing it!" Then they laugh uproariously. Lovely scene. Ricky tells the nurse that he can dress himself when she comes into his bed room to dress him in the morning. Actually it is interesting that on several occasions he explains to others that his outfits are against his well, he tells Mr. Hobbs and Dick, for example, that the clothes are part of his job. I believe that he also tells someone that he wouldn't want the boys on Hester Street (back in the States) to see him, but I could be wrong about that. Several nice outfits. He wears two different velvet suits, one black the other blue. He looks lovely in them, especially with his lace collars and cuffs and his beautiful longish hair. In one scene he wears a broad brimmed sissy hat, but without a ribbon in back. He also wears a sailor suit, but again the pants are below the knees. He wears Mary Jane patent leather shoes, but the black socks make it difficult to see. No curls, however, which I guess is too much to hope for. It would be interesting to know what Ricky really thought of these outfits.
The BBC in 1995 produced another version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Ironically the same young
American actor, Michael Benz, that played in the
Mike and Angelo
Fauntleroy spoof, played Cedric in the newest BBC
dramatisation. He appears to have been about 10 or 11 years old in the film.This film was condensed from the BBC television miniseries.
Boys appeared in Fauntleroy suits in a wide range of movies. For the most part the boys only had small roles There were only a few actual productions of Little Lord Fauntleroy.
A young prodigy is caught between his working-class mother and the director of an institute for gifted children. This is Jody Foster's authentic portrayal of the experiences of a gifted child. She plays the boy's mother and directs the film. Tate who is about 10-years old is effectively portrayed by (Adam Hann-Byrd). He wears longs in all the clips I have seen.
Two newlyweds struggle to make a life together amid the social turmoil of pre-Hitler Germany. The man has a tough boss with an obnoxious kid. He comes in the shop on his way to school. He has a book bag and wears nice, if longish, shorts and knee socks. Quite a nice scene, but he doesn't appear again.
Classic Louise May Alcott's story about a 15-year old orphan raised by criminals, but finding compassion and understanding at a small country orphanage. A family of brothers experiencing the joy and pain of growing up. Not very interesting costuming. One cute little guy wears below the knee knicker-length pants. The cast includes some of the principal child stars of the early 1930s.: Junior Durkin and Dickie Moore as well as David Durrand, Tad Alexander, Richard Quine, Tom Bupp, Ronnie Crosby, George Ernest, Buster Phelps, and Donald Bucks
Full length remake of the 1934 version of L.M. Alcott's family of brothers. Two ex-cons find a child in a basket and raise him as their own son. As a rough, card-playing, smoking street-wise teenager he has a change of heart when his foster father tries to swindle the kindly owners of a small country orphanage. No really interesting scenes, but their is one modest tub scene. Jack Oakie and Jimmy Lydon.
Shirley Temple movie where she plays an orphan who brings a hotel for theatrical players to life. I haven't seen this, but there is a real good ST movie where she plays a girl who runs the local gang of kids. She makes the bully exchange clothes with the sissy who wears a velvet suit. This could be it.
Shirley Temple movie where the adorable tot is taken in by a small-time gambler. I don't think this is the one, but in one of these Shirley Temple movies, she befriends a sissy boy who has to wear a velvet suit. She befriends him and makes a bigger bully boy wear it.
Following his mother's death, the son of an army officer (Butch Jenkins) tries to console his father who has turned to alcohol for comfort.
A boy about 13 or so played by Fred Savage befriends a mischievous monster. In one scene the monster pulls down Fred's jeans leading him in his underwear in front of a girl monster. No particularly interesting scenes and the film is rather outlandish. Fred's little brother Ben, about 8 or so also appears. (Ben subsequently appears in the 1990s TV show, "Boy Meets World." He has the same nice smile that he has in the TV show.)
The boy is played by River Phoenix. Uninspiring film about an American teen age who wakes up to find his parents are spies. River Phoenix plays the boy, but he is now just a bit too old.
Johnny Sheffield
A teenager (Curt Cameron) makes a pledge to find a playmate for his developmentally disabled (i.e pc-speak for retarded) sister. Some nice little chaps are seen briefly at the orphanage, but the are all in pajamas or longs, no interesting costumes as it is the middle of winter. One boy has a major part, a black boy about 9 or so--a cute little guy who plays his part rather well.
Landing in the Sahara Desert, a pilot meets a tiny prince from another planet wonderfully played by Steven Warner. The Prince is cute, but very young. He is searching for knowledge and understanding. I think I have seen this, but remember nothing of special interest. The costuming is very disappointing.
Shirley Temple movie adapting Frances Hodgson Burnett's book about Sarah, a wealthy little girl at an exclusive boarding school. When her father and his tuition payments disappear, a dour, tyrannical headmistress makes her a char girl at her exclusive school. Only girls involved, but the idea is nice.
Remake of the 1939 Shirley Temple film. Excellent costuming and a mean headmistress who makes life miserable fir Sarah and the other girls even before her tuition payments stop. Unfortunately, again no boys are involved. Well done film, but as one reviewer explains, boys will fidget.
The old black and white Kids comedy shorts entitled The Little Rascals, also called Spankey and Our Gang has wonderful glimpses into chikdren's clothes in the 1930s. Some of the episodes even touched on the outfits. Some times fancy clothes were worn by the kid who acted "better then every one else" for being well to do, and in more than a few episodes, found himself falling or being pushed, fully clothed, into the water or mud, and coming away quite soaked. One HBC contributor reports that he had heard that Bill Cosby, the American comedian/actor, purchased the rights to all these wonderful films because he felt the black character, Buckwheat was an offensive stereotype. It may be true because even with 100 cable channels, he never sees any The Little Rascal shorts any more. They used to be a TV rerun staple.
Alfalfa disguises himself by dressing up in a chiffon party dress, long blond wig, and girl's shoes.
Little boy dresses up as a girl in a frilly party dress and wig to sneak into a surprise party for a little girl.
Dickie Moore
An elderly con artist joins two teenage runaways in love on a mad dash across Europe with their parents and the police in pursuit. The French boy is utterly charming, but just a touch to old. No shorts except a few younger boys in the background during scenes in the park.
Jonathan Silverman plays a college boy who puts on a dress to gain to gain access to a sorority.
A group of neighborhood boys join forces with a veteran to rescue dogs from a kennel that is stealing them and then selling them for laboratory experiments. A few of the boys wear shorts. Disney. Peter Smith.
A young boy whose father was wrongfully imprisoned gets caught up with delinquents. Jackie Searl
An upstanding lady of the community decides that the Little Tough Guys would make good companions for her self-centered son.
Nicely made Disney production based on the Rosemary Anne Sisson story about three children in Edwardian Whales who try to save the pit ponies when the local colliery (coal mine) is mechanized. The two boys are from a miner's family, nice but their shorts/knickers are not to exciting. The girl, however, has a real biddy of a governess (unfortunately rather befuddled rather than sinister) and wears pinafores, prissy dresses, a sailor dress, broad-brimmed straw hats with a ribbon. The boys are Alastair Sim and Peter Barkworth. The boys try to figure out how to sneak the girl into the mine, finally they decide to the horror of the little boy to dress her up in his clothes. The poor disgusted boy is left dressed in her pantaletts and coat while the other two march into the mine.
Mickey Rooney
Freddie Bartholomew grows up to be Tyrone Powel. No particularly interesting costumes, but at the beginning Freddie's pal Horatio (Lord Nelson) is birched by his father before he goes off to sea. "You'll feel my birch rod," the father says. Horatio replies bravely, "Shall I go into the study and take down my britches?"
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