TV Series: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (United States, 1964-68)


Figure 1.-- a reader tells us about one exception. "Last night METV showed a 'Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode with Jay North--'The Deadly Toy Affair'. Jay of course was famous for palying Dennis the Menace. Ironically when Jay portrayed Dennis the Menace, he never wore short pants even though he was age appropriate and Kechem's cartoons commonly depicted Dennis wearing short pnts. And the show was done in an era when it would have been correct. Strangely, in 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' episode, Jay who was 14 years old is attired in a shorts pants school uniform. Unlike the Dennis series, this was not age appropriate or common in Aschools, at least American schools. Jay portrays a boy genius that TRUSH is after. All his scenes take place at a Swiss boarding school which presumably explains the short pants--giving a European flavor that fits in with the spy theme."

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a popular NBC spy series done a an increasingly campy flavor as the shooting progressed. It was shot during Cold War and Vietnam War (1964-68), but steered clear of both. It was an effort to pick up on the populrity of the James Bond films. Ian flemming was even consulted. The secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, worke for a secret international espionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. Co-creator Sam Rolfe had the idea of leaving the meaning of U.N.C.L.E. ambiguous so it could be either a U.S. or U.N. agebcy. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer legal department about using "U.N." for commercial purposes resulted in the producers deciding to give U.N.C.L.E. the name United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. There were 105 episodes shot. Althouh shot during the Cold war, the adeversary was ThHRUSH, not the Soviet KGB. And Illya Kuryakin was created to give an idea of a joint American-Soviet effort against TRUSH. by Rolfe as just such an agent, Many popular TV series prove to be popular sindication shows, but 'Man from U.N.C/L/E.' is rarely seen in sindication. Children were rarely featured in the episodes, but a reader tells us about one exception. "Last night METV showed a 'Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode with Jay North--'The Deadly Toy Affair'. Jay of course was famous for palying Dennis the Menace. Ironically when Jay portrayed Dennis the Menace, he never wore short pants even though he was age appropriate and Kechem's cartoons commonly depicted Dennis wearing short pnts. And the show was done in an era when it would have been correct. Strangely, in 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' episode, Jay who was 14 years old is attired in a shorts pants school uniform. Unlike the Dennis series, this was not age appropriate or common in Aschools, at least American schools. Jay portrays a boy genius that TRUSH is after. All his scenes take place at a Swiss boarding school which presumably explains the short pants--giving a European flavor that fits in with the spy theme. Surprisingly, Jay does not get mentioned as a co-star even though he was still well known in 1965 when the episode aired. In the school scenes he wears a white shirt, dark shorts, ankle socks, and dark Oxford shoes. In the last scene he is shown with a very British-looking blazer jacket, tie, and peaked cap." At age 14 years of age and a teenager, Jay might not have been too pleased with his outfit, but at the time is child star status was declining and was probably happy for any role.








HBC






Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main M alphabetical TV series page]
[Return to the Main TV page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Photography] [Theatricals]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 5:37 PM 6/2/2015
Last updated: 5:37 PM 6/2/2015