For Union Suit Fans and wearers of long underwear, California Dreamin' may not bring to mind the Golden State as the Union Suit Capital of North America (which it isn't) but wearing such is quite acceptable and necessary there during certain times of the year. And for performers in the limelight, union suits are just the thing.

Presenting the Poontang Wranglers, Union Suit Fans in the Limelight, a slightly off-beat, good time California band! And, these Wranglers don't wear jeans....

Few typically equate Southern California as Union Suit country. But for the washboard scraping, jug blowing, handsaw stroking, ukulele playing Poontang Wranglers band, that's just what you get. Musicians wearing union suits, singing up a storm. Up to eleven men and women have a great time traveling around the state, performing in their long red underwear. They never leave home without 'em.

This amusing, silly-looking and not quite seriously sounding band features Michael Lucas on washtub bass and Henry Rosenthal on ukulele among others. They've enjoyed playing to crowds from backyards to bookstores; from Los Angeles' Mann's Chinese Theater to The Golden Gate area of San Francisco. And, always decked out in their red underwear.

As I mentioned, union suits, or any long johns for that matter, are not the first thing you think of when Southern California comes to mind. 

Yet, think E.T., the Extra-Terrestial. In the1982 Universal Pictures movie, young Elliot spends much of the time at his Los Angeles home  running around in his thermal underwear pj's looking after his new friend, E.T. 

Before visiting the L.A. area and seeing this movie for the first time, I wondered aloud, "what's a little boy living in sunny California doing wearing long thermal underwear?!" I found out on my very first trip to California albeit a few hundred miles north of L.A. Turns out I was quite uncomfortable in the cool, nippy Bay Area because I hadn't packed any long underwear. 

Now each time I visit my son and his family in California, I'm sure to pack a couple of union suits. And, I wear them. You should too on your visits.

As for the union suited wranglers, you can find any number of their strange and wild underwear performances on YouTube including these selections. Listen and enjoy, just copy and paste...

https://youtu.be/rafp7O54N_M?t=128

https://youtu.be/HRBruvQ4ZVA

https://youtu.be/zsgCXf-pFSo

Elliot in his Thermal Underwear PJ's 

                                         Epilogue

"A Piece of the Action," Part X, the 1968 Star Trek Episode, completes my ten part series of "Undressed Under Duress."  Hope you enjoyed these stories of poor, stressed unfortunates reduced to wearing only their Union Suits. I had fun researching and developing each one.

These features were first introduced earlier this year by four hombres standing in their long underwear, stetsons, garters and boots with arms raised over their heads at gun point.

Were you wondering who they might be and from whence they appeared? Well, my good pal and union suit fan, Joe of New York City, told me these desperadoes appeared in a Republic Pictures series entitled "The Three Mesquiteers."  The 1937 episode was "Wild Horse Rodeo" about a beautiful horse called "Cyclone" and the rodeo champion who came back home to track down this wild stallion. You'll have to watch the show to find out why these cowboys, played by Art Dillard, Jack Ingram, Henry Isabell, and Max Terhune, ended up stripped to their union suits. 

A further observation before we put this series to bed:

Did you notice some of the men in my postings were wearing faded pink or salmon colored union suits? For instance, Silverado's Paden, Chisum's Deputy Morton, and the High Chaparral highwaymen. Here's one explanation...

With men being men in those days, have you ever wondered why the guys riding the chaparral wore pink or salmon union suits? Doesn’t the idea of pink long underwear seem odd? Well not really. For a start, union suits were most likely dyed red when new. At least, history suggests this. There are several reasons for it.

First, because white underwear would soon go grey and unsightly with the dusty work of the ranch so red would look better. Red dye was commonly found in those days and used for many things.

Another reason union suits were dyed red was because it was believed that red flannel kept a person warmer than any other color. Maybe this is because red is a warm color. Who knows, but that was the general belief. So I suppose we can forgive the fellas of yesteryear for wearing pink union suits.    ... Anonymous

Be sure to buy, rent or stream these movies / television shows. Support Union Suit offerings. I guarantee you'll find them as entertaining as I did! And, keep 'em buttoned... Chris Ayers

Part X of Undressed Under Duress  -  “A Piece of the Action”

In this January, 1968 CBS Star Trek television episode, Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) and two members of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, beam down to a very familiar planet. Here people look and act just like U.S. citizens of yesteryear. Their mission was to uncover the disappearance of a Federation space ship, the Horizon, which had disappeared one hundred years previously. This Star Trek second season installment was written by David Harmon and Gene Coon, and directed by James Komac.

The Star Trek crew was invited down by Bela Okmyx, crime boss, who told Capt. Kirk he had information about the disappearance of the Horizon. Upon arriving, Kirk and company discovered the society had patterned itself after 1920's Chicago. Well dressed citizens here carry around Tommy guns as they walk nonchalantly down a busy street. The city is ruled by different mob bosses. Members of various gangs feud resulting in a number of them summarily shot and killed on the streets of this unruly city.

Having arrived by transporting from the Enterprise, Kirk and company are met and held by gun point by a couple of gangsters who work for the city's primary boss, Bela Okmyx. Bela soon demands Kirk help him overcome the other city crime bosses so he can take over. When the boys of the Enterprise refuse, they are held captive by three rather dumb, poker playing mobsters. Capt. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy out maneuver Okmyx's henchmen, getting the upper hand. Kirk and McCoy turn the gangsters' Tommy guns on the gang themselves, demanding two of them strip down to their underwear and hand over their clothes. In this 1920's time period, the gang members are, of course, wearing union suits. They spend the rest of the show in their long underwear...

Kirk, playing the role of a mob boss himself, rounds up the other mob bosses with the help of Spock and McCoy. Talking tough, he convinces the gang leaders to stop the senseless murders and work for the Federation. Far fetched even for Star Trek? Yes. But, take a look at “A Piece of the Action.” The episode is interestingly entertaining for Union Suit Fans. 

Artist's Rendition of this great union suit episode: