Union
Suit Fans in the Limelight
Countless
actors over the years have appeared in movies and on television in
their Union Suits. Two enormously popular thespians from the past Suit the
bill, Clark Gable and Percy Kilbride.
In
MGMs 1950's Boom
Town,
it's evident in short order that Clark Gable (1901-1960) and Spencer
Tracy (1900-1967) are antagonists
from the get go. Within the first ten minutes these Titans of the
Screen have a verbal altercation, are shot at, dive into a deep
watery mud hole, and end up sharing a room in a saloon / brothel, stripped to their long underwear. Thus, their continuing dust up
begins in this rather convoluted romantic drama / comedy in which the
boys go from oil “wildcatters” to moguls.
Boom
Town
was Gable's second highest grossing film in terms of ticket sales.
His highest? Gone
With the Wind,
of course. Here,
filmed in Bakersfield, CA, are some memorable scenes of Big John
McMasters (Gable) and Square John Sand (Tracy) in
the classic, Boom Town, courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Tracy appears in his
two piece long johns while Gable has stripped to his Union Suit (Click on or tap any photo to enlarge).
Union Suit ----- Union Suit ----- Union Suit ----- Union Suit ----- Union Suit ----- Union Suit ---- Union Suit ----- Union Suit ----- Union Suit
Percy
Kilbride (1888-1964), actor, was best known for playing a country
bumpkin riding his Union Suits to stardom. He appeared in a number of
movies and shorts as Pa Kettle playing opposite Marjorie Main as Ma Kettle. They were brilliant together in those films as a married couple with 14 rambunctious children. Kilbride appeared in his
Union Suit so often it can easily be argued that he was at least partially
responsible for Union Suits becoming a comedic article of clothing.
Who doesn't laugh at a guy caught in his long, one-piece
underwear, having buttons all the way up the front and an essential escape hatch
in the rear?
In
1950's Universal-International Pictures Ma
and Pa Kettle Go to Town,
Kilbride wins a jingle-writing contest and a trip to New York City. There
he is taken for an organized crime figure, is charged with poisoning
monkeys, is mistaken for an underwear mogul, and gets mixed up with
dangerous gangsters.
In
one favorite scene, Pa walks out of his hotel suite's bathroom in long underwear. He is conversing with Ma when the phone rings.
Answering, it is a case of mistaken identity. The caller believes he
has reached the chairman of the board of a major underwear
manufacturer. Surprised at some of Pa's answers, he finally asks,
“Aren't you, sir, the Kettle in Underwear?”
Pa looks around before answering, “Yeah, but how did you know?” Pa then politely excuses himself and lays down the phone receiver. He proceeds to the window of his room located about 50 stories up, high above the big apple. He looks out and, after deciding that the phone caller must have actually seen him standing there in his union suit, pulls down the window shade before returning to the phone to resume the conversation.
Pa looks around before answering, “Yeah, but how did you know?” Pa then politely excuses himself and lays down the phone receiver. He proceeds to the window of his room located about 50 stories up, high above the big apple. He looks out and, after deciding that the phone caller must have actually seen him standing there in his union suit, pulls down the window shade before returning to the phone to resume the conversation.
Kilbride was enjoyed by millions of movie goers from the 1940's thru the 1950's for appearing in films where he seemingly was always running around in his Union Suit. Following is a scene with him in tattered long underwear along side Ann Sheridan and Jack Benny (in boxer shorts). At the end of this 1942 movie, George Washington Slept Here, the men were attacked by thousands of locusts which devoured their clothes and a good portion of their underwear:
From decades ago Clark and Kilbride were Union Suit Fans in the Limelight!
