Ward's casual shirts

[vitoscotti]

Except for Ward's collared casual shirts the characters mostly wear different color clones of previous outfits. Ward's casual shirts have slightly different cuts, and styles. Though on work days Ward will wear his white dress shirt and tie the rest of the evening (and will even BBQ with).

June's house dress and pearls have little style change. Just different color.

Larry has his own style thing with light trim, baggy, never fitted jackets, baggy pants.

Beaver and his friends all wear cuffed jean pants. Wally did early but he and his friends don't when older except for Lumpy.

Mrs Mondello and Ms Landers wear clone dresses.

Odd the boys dont wear collarless tshirts around the house. Always collared shirts. Even when playing baseball with friends. Even the garbage man's kids don't wear relaxed shirts.

Then, the exaggerated use of formal attire. No male ever eats at a restaurant without a suit jacket. June wears white gloves to visit the Rutherfords. Same when Ms Landers is invited to a casual dining night at the Cleavers. Ward laughs at Fred for wearing Bermuda shorts when hosting a casual gathering.

Ward appears to come from working class parents which make his yen for formal attire odd. Even Ward's sweat shirt & pants are a perfect match.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Except for Ward's collared casual shirts the characters mostly wear different color clones of previous outfits. Ward's casual shirts have slightly different cuts, and styles. Though on work days Ward will wear his white dress shirt and tie the rest of the evening (and will even BBQ with).

June's house dress and pearls have little style change. Just different color.

Larry has his own style thing with light trim, baggy, never fitted jackets, baggy pants.

Beaver and his friends all wear cuffed jean pants. Wally did early but he and his friends don't when older except for Lumpy.

Mrs Mondello and Ms Landers wear clone dresses.

Odd the boys dont wear collarless tshirts around the house. Always collared shirts. Even when playing baseball with friends. Even the garbage man's kids don't wear relaxed shirts.

Then, the exaggerated use of formal attire. No male ever eats at a restaurant without a suit jacket. June wears white gloves to visit the Rutherfords. Same when Ms Landers is invited to a casual dining night at the Cleavers. Ward laughs at Fred for wearing Bermuda shorts when hosting a casual gathering.

Ward appears to come from working class parents which make his yen for formal attire odd. Even Ward's sweat shirt & pants are a perfect match.

It was also a different era where people generally dressed neater and more formally. The show however, does exaggerate this. I accept the fact that many 50s and 60s show tend to sugar-coat and exaggerate reality. The truly progressive shows began to roll out a decade later.

[vitoscotti]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

It was also a different era where people generally dressed neater and more formally. The show however, does exaggerate this. I accept the fact that many 50s and 60s show tend to sugar-coat and exaggerate reality. The truly progressive shows began to roll out a decade later.

LITB isn't reality. It's a 1/2 enjoyable escape from reality. Critiquing how fantasy sily it is enhances its charm.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Then, the exaggerated use of formal attire. No male ever eats at a restaurant without a suit jacket. June wears white gloves to visit the Rutherfords. Same when Ms Landers is invited to a casual dining night at the Cleavers. Ward laughs at Fred for wearing Bermuda shorts when hosting a casual gathering.

Well, the Madison Avenue influence had done a masterful job of creating American's "keep up with the Jonses" obsession with status, as a tool to drive client sales. So perhaps the show's producers felt some obligation (to either their sponsors, or to their own sense of insecurity) to perpetuate the "grand life" mythos.

I mean if you're going to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince the general population that they must either spend, or risk spiraling helplessly into insignificance....you hardly want to put unkempt heroes in front of them and risk setting an example of indifference, do you?

Gotta tow the freight, "walk the walk" etc. There is a Currier and Ives ideology in need of perpetuating.

Or perhaps, since a central theme of the show was to portray life through the eyes of the kids, perhaps the exaggerated formality was a plot device intended to capture the child's perception that their parents were a little on the stiff side?

[Tankeryanker]

To me, the Cleavers dress like the country club set and there is nothing wrong with that. A collard shirt seems to be more appropriate than a non-collard shirt. Here is part of a dress code from a country club in California.

"A Member should dress in a manner that is inoffensive to others. Gentlemen may wear proper Bermuda-style golf shorts. Gentlemen must wear collared shirts and the shirts should be tucked into trousers. Ladies may wear sleeveless or collarless blouses provided that they are conservative and tasteful and of a type commonly considered standard golf attire. Collarless golf shirts are permitted."
https://www.dbgc.hk/icms/template?se...0&article=5628

Here from another club in the area. https://www.dbgcc.com/dining-social
"Semi-Formal Coat and tie for gentlemen and cocktail attire for ladies."

All of this describes what the Cleavers wear on most days.

[vitoscotti]

Ward's talking down women was tolerated in 50s tv. June's relative had a baby. He finds out it's a girl, and grimaces. June can't open the mail. Saves it for Ward. She can't pay bills. Ward is in charge of all finances. Even writing checks. The writers have Ward as a great guy. But, a tyrant in some aspects of male superiority. I'm sure many women paid the bills in real-world 50s households, and displayed well rounded intelligence. My mom paid all the bills. Had an equal say in family matters. And we didn't wear suits and ties going to Denny's level restaurants.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

LITB isn't reality. It's a 1/2 enjoyable escape from reality. Critiquing how fantasy sily it is enhances its charm.

Just because I don’t feel it’s completely realistic doesn’t mean I dislike the show or that it diminishes the show’s charm. Virtually all the 50s and 60s sugar-coated reality. Also what I said isn’t necessarily a criticism-it was an observation-nothing more and nothing less.

[vitoscotti]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

Just because I don’t feel it’s completely realistic doesn’t mean I dislike the show or that it diminishes the show’s charm. Virtually all the 50s and 60s sugar-coated reality. Also what I said isn’t necessarily a criticism-it was an observation-nothing more and nothing less.

I didn't take it as a criticism.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Ward's talking down women was tolerated in 50s tv. June's relative had a baby. He finds out it's a girl, and grimaces. June can't open the mail. Saves it for Ward. She can't pay bills. Ward is in charge of all finances. Even writing checks. The writers have Ward as a great guy. But, a tyrant in some aspects of male superiority. I'm sure many women paid the bills in real-world 50s households, and displayed well rounded intelligence. My mom paid all the bills. Had an equal say in family matters. And we didn't wear suits and ties going to Denny's level restaurants.

This type of gender stereotyping was typical of 50s shows. Again not a criticism just an observation.

I accept that these shows were a function of their times, and view them accordingly.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

This type of gender stereotyping was typical of 50s shows. Again not a criticism just an observation.

I accept that these shows were a function of their times, and view them accordingly.

Hmm, I was aware of my world by the late 60s so I base my observation from there forward. My Amom graduated high school in 55 and went on to get a Ph.D. While I was growing up, she worked as a music teacher for two school districts so it was more than part-time but less than full-time. Then got a master's and taught junior high for a while and music full-time at the high school level. She contributed more money to the house than Adad did.

She did not do the bills as my Adad had majored in economics and enjoyed doing them. Only one hand in the pot you might say. He invested the extra money very, very, well.

Amom did the shopping and had to stick to a budget. I think it was done on a credit card, but maybe it was done by check. There was no cash as that is harder to keep track of what you spent it on. Adad was a stickler as to what it was spent on. He was brutal about it.

Their system had nothing to do with stereotypical anything. It just made sense to let the money man handle the money and the music woman handle the music.

and they mostly did dress like Ward and June.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

Hmm, I was aware of my world by the late 60s so I base my observation from there forward. My Amom graduated high school in 55 and went on to get a Ph.D. While I was growing up, she worked as a music teacher for two school districts so it was more than part-time but less than full-time. Then got a master's and taught junior high for a while and music full-time at the high school level. She contributed more money to the house than Adad did.

She did not do the bills as my Adad had majored in economics and enjoyed doing them. Only one hand in the pot you might say. He invested the extra money very, very, well.

Amom did the shopping and had to stick to a budget. I think it was done on a credit card, but maybe it was done by check. There was no cash as that is harder to keep track of what you spent it on. Adad was a stickler as to what it was spent on. He was brutal about it.

Their system had nothing to do with stereotypical anything. It just made sense to let the money man handle the money and the music woman handle the music.

In your situation this worked out very well- the shows rarely showed the woman handling the finances.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

In your situation this worked out very well- the shows rarely showed the woman handling the finances.

But would the majority of women be handling the finances? To me, it's more about art imitating life.

Even now with no restrictions baring women, the math and sciences are still dominated by men compared to the humanities which are full of women. There is a reason why so many women go into law, there is no math requirement. It sure is one of the reasons I went in that direction.

[CosmicCharlie]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Well, the Madison Avenue influence had done a masterful job of creating American's "keep up with the Jonses" obsession with status, as a tool to drive client sales. So perhaps the show's producers felt some obligation (to either their sponsors, or to their own sense of insecurity) to perpetuate the "grand life" mythos.

I mean if you're going to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince the general population that they must either spend, or risk spiraling helplessly into insignificance....you hardly want to put unkempt heroes in front of them and risk setting an example of indifference, do you?

Gotta tow the freight, "walk the walk" etc. There is a Currier and Ives ideology in need of perpetuating.

Or perhaps, since a central theme of the show was to portray life through the eyes of the kids, perhaps the exaggerated formality was a plot device intended to capture the child's perception that their parents were a little on the stiff side?

Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm based in New York City from 1835 to 1907 headed first by Nathaniel Currier, and later jointly with his partner James Merritt Ives. The prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored.

Original Currier & Ives prints are very valuable. Some have sold for $100,000 or more. Well executed reproductions of Currier & Ives images also bring high values with prices in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars each.

[CosmicCharlie]

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

To me, the Cleavers dress like the country club set and there is nothing wrong with that. A collard shirt seems to be more appropriate than a non-collard shirt. Here is part of a dress code from a country club in California.

"A Member should dress in a manner that is inoffensive to others. Gentlemen may wear proper Bermuda-style golf shorts. Gentlemen must wear collared shirts and the shirts should be tucked into trousers. Ladies may wear sleeveless or collarless blouses provided that they are conservative and tasteful and of a type commonly considered standard golf attire. Collarless golf shirts are permitted."
https://www.dbgc.hk/icms/template?se...0&article=5628

Here from another club in the area. https://www.dbgcc.com/dining-social
"Semi-Formal Coat and tie for gentlemen and cocktail attire for ladies."

All of this describes what the Cleavers wear on most days.

collared shirt vs collard greens LOL

[CosmicCharlie]

Ward wearing his tie during dinner at home after work ? not realistic? I'd say so