Figure 1.--Oliver Rokison as William is pictured here with the Oulaws in the 1994-95 production of Just William. Note the boys are playing in their school togs and the cap is the only uniform item that matches.
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Figure 1.--Oliver Rokison as William is pictured here with the Oulaws in the 1994-95 production of Just William. Note the boys are playing in their school togs and the cap is the only uniform item that matches. |
The BBC produced a version of Just William in 1994/95 BBC television. Oliver Rokison, the boy actor in the title role, was excellent. The stories were very amusing. In this version of William, he was quite different from the books. William in the books was a real "monster" with a negative attitude to everything, and this was toned down in the TV series, where he was much more of a "lovable scamp". In fact I think the TV series (as was Crompton's intention for the original book) aimed at least as much at adults as at kids--it was done as quite a "camp" and "post-modern" take on popular stereotypes and clichés about 1920s-30s English middle-class culture.
The BBC produced a version of Just William in 1994/95 BBC television. Oliver Rokison, the boy actor in the title role, was excellent. The stories were very amusing. In this version of William, he was quite different from the books.
William in the books was a real "monster" with a negative attitude to everything, and this was toned down in the TV series, where he was much more of a "lovable scamp". In fact I think the TV series (as was Crompton's intention for the original book) aimed at least as much at adults as at kids--it was done as quite a "camp" and "post-modern" take on popular stereotypes and clichés about 1920s-30s English middle-class culture.
Often production of classic characters are updated gor modern audiences. Interestingly, William is a production that producers never attempt to update. Part of the reason is that the story lines would have to be rewritten. Another reason is that it would be virtually inconceivable to imagine William without his trade-mark school cap and kneesocks falling down to his knees.
Note the boys are playing in their school togs and the cap is the only uniform item that matches. This shows that the boys did not go to a private school. If they had, they would have been wearing a school uniform, especilly the same blazer and tie. Apparently British state primary schools in the 1920s and 30s did not require uniforms. Some did, however, seem require boys to wear a school cap. In some other productions of Willaim, the boys do wear the same ties.
An Enlish reader provided these comments on the Just William costuming, "The mistake here is in assuming that William and his gang are wearing school uniform. They are more likely wearing boys' suits which had once been 'Sunday best' and are now nearly worn out and hence relegated to the status of play clothes--like modern jeans and sweatshirts.
Boys of the period wore caps whether in or out of school. This was their natural headgear - like baseball caps today. Ditto school style striped ties. Finally, remember that the William costumes in TV productions are based on the drawings in the book. The artist is called T. Henry if I recall correctly. He began drawing these pictures in the 1920s, reflecting dress of that period. Sometimes William is depicted wearing an Eton collar in these early drawings. The most `school-style' (and most divorced from the original drawings) of costume appeared in the William movies of 1939 and the late 1940s (three in all). Costume was much more uniform and the gang were not nearly so unkempt.
Our English reader provides some interesting insights. One intersting aspect of the "Just William" books is that they are not centered around school, but rather Williams and the Outlaws activities after school. (Here William constrasts sharply with Jennings.) The use of the first name for Willaim and the last name for Jennings reflects this different focus.) Thus we do not learn a great deal about their school. The stories are set in an small rural English village--not the city. HBC does have a small quible with the comments from our English reader. We do not believe that even in the more formal 1920s and 30s that boys would have come home from school and cahnged into clothes kike the ones pictured here for play.
One TV viewer notes the scruffy look of William and his friends. "'William' sure
isn't the impecably dressed British schoolboy, but he's a real charmer with
his mischevious 'all boy' personality. I guess you'd call him the British
'Tom Sawyer'. He and 'The Outlaws' are only seen dressed in their school
uniforms, but they are a rag tag bunch, and wear them casually, to say the
least." Of course that look, unless William was dressed up by his mother for a special occasion was just what Crompton was shooting for.
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