The Longjohn Flap      

In Season 1, Episode 19 of the long running popular TV show, M*A*S*H, a severe cold front hits the U. S. triage camp in Korea. Fortunately for Hawkeye Pierce, his dad had sent him a suit of warm one-piece underwear just in time for the winter weather. The union suit was far superior to the regular army issue long johns typically provided to the troops. Just before bed time, Hawkeye strips down to the "double-weave, semi-woolen, sensuously soft" long underwear. 

Seeing him, Trapper John, coughs pitifully and reminds Hawkeye of the terrible cold he is experiencing. He asks for the warm union suit. Finally, kindhearted Hawkeye is convinced that Trapper needs the underwear more than he to keep from getting pneumonia. He pulls off his new underwear and throws them over to Trapper.

The next night Trapper looses Hawkeye's long underwear to Radar in a poker game. After wearing them for only one night Radar nearly gives the union suit to a good-looking nurse but decides instead to trade them to the camp cook for a leg of lamb and mint jelly dinner. 

Before the cook can wear them, Frank appears in the kitchen to warm up by the stove. There he conducts a surprise inspection and, finding the kitchen unhealthy, threatens the cook. The cook decides he doesn't really want the union suit after all and offers then to Frank who takes them and doesn't pursue his threat. With the acceptance of the long johns the cook is not reprimanded.

Back in the tent Frank shares with Hawkeye and Trapper, he quickly pulls on the underwear. The boys see him buttoning up and are understandably seething mad that their nemesis has ended up with the union suit. Frank sleeps with a baseball bat to protect his recently gotten gain.

The next day Hotlips Hoolihan realizes Frank is wearing civilian long underwear and demands he give them to her. He does, but before she can wear them, they are stolen from her tent!

The thief turns out to be Klinger who had heard that Frank was wearing the warm underwear. He ordered Frank by gun point to strip and give them over. Apparently he was going to don them under his skimpy dress. Frank informs Klinger that he has given the union suit away. Klinger realizes that they are now in Hotlips' tent so steals them with his bayonet. But guilt overcomes the cross-dresser and in a confession decides to give them to Father Mulcahy. 

Father wears them to bed but soon thinks better of it and so the next day gives the union suit to Colonel Henry Blake, Commanding Officer. Surely, Henry will get them to their rightful owner.

Just as Henry is happily buttoning up the prized underwear, Hawkeye and Trapper appear in his office to report the missing union suit. 

They can't believe Henry is wearing Hawkeye's underwear. They want them back. During the discussion, Henry has an attack of appendicitis. The boys insist that Henry get operated on immediately. Henry at first refuses.

They take Henry to surgery still in the long underwear and begin to immediately operate. 

Henry and the union suit are saved and Hawkeye gets the underwear back from his grateful commanding officer. Presumably, Hawkeye retains his long johns for the remainder of his time in Korea.

Thanks to CBS and the long underwearing Cast.

Coming in May: Laurel and Hardy, Union Suit Fans!

Watch for Them!

Les Claypool, Bass Guitar Player and Song Writer,
and the Flying Frog Brigade: "Buzzards of Green Hill" ‌‌

When performing, it's hard to determine which Les Claypool enjoys more: wearing one of his many unusual masks or his long red underwear. If you're a fan, you know he loves both. Over the years he's one of the premier performers who wears union suits with his trademark hat on stage and in videos. In fact, I know of no other performer who appears more often in his red union suit than he. Claypool is truly a Union Suit Fan in the Limelight! 

In this September, 2002 Purple Onion album video, The Les Claypool Flying Frog Brigade's “Buzzards of Green Hill,” Claypool has something to say. It was the first release of the Frog Brigade's original compositions.  

Wearing his signature red union suit and black hat, Claypool inexplicably holds up a number of lyric cue cards with music blaring in the background. But it's great fun!

The Rolling Stone magazine gave the album a rating of three out of five and declared, in part, the song "allows the master bass player to give full vent to his weirdness.... sure to please hardcore fans." And this from The College Music Journal: "Claypool's bass-spanking and carnival barker delivery warp the songs like the inside of a funhouse mirror." 

Les and Ler, Union Suit Fans

Larry “Ler” LaLonde performed in his union suit before Les Claypool regularly performed in his. LaLonde preferred white underwear while Claypool chose red.

The boys rocked the house with their band, Primus of San Francisco, California, featuring Claypool, bassist and vocalist, Tim “Herb” Alexander, drummer, and LaLonde, guitarist. Claypool formed the band with two other men in 1984. When those two departed in 1988, Alexander and LaLonde joined. In "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver," LaLonde demonstrated that he was an avid Union Suit Fan in the Limelight. 

Released in 1991, “Jerry” was the first single from the album, Sailing the Seas of Cheese. The song, written by Claypool, was based on a daredevil driving boy he knew in high school named Jerry. Jerry was a speedster, racing around town in his souped up auto. He sped around carving rubber doughnuts in congested teenage hangouts like the local dairy queen, around the high school, and up and down the main drag. He eventually met his end (at least in the song) wrapped around a telephone pole. Even as Claypool and LaLonde later performed frequently in their union suits, it is neither known nor documented whether Jerry ever drove around in his.

Here are some shots of LaLonde in his signature Union Suit:

 

Before Jerry Was A Race Car Driver, Bud Camden was a race car driver!

It's not commonly known if Primus' Jerry ever raced his car around town while dressed only in his union suit. But Wyland “Bud” Camden certainly did. At the West Side Speedway in Wichita, Kansas on September 7, 1941 race car drivers stripped to their one-piece long underwear during the “Underwear Derby!” This Saturday night novelty race was also known as the “Striptease Race.” Camden was the second favorite driver behind Emmett Taylor.

Each race that night consisted of two drivers who quickly drove their cars around the track for two laps. Screaching to a halt, the men exited their cars and were required to strip down to their union suits before getting back into their cars to continue the race. 

Bud Camden takes off his clothes except for his union suit and steps into his race car during the "Underwear Derby." Emmet Taylor is partially shown in his white union suit just over Camden's left shoulder. 

Driving around for two more laps in their long underwear, the men stopped once again, ran from their cars to where they had left their clothes and speedily got dressed again. To complete the Underwear Derby, the men then had to run the final lap around the race track on foot. 

Bud Camden Hops into his Car
wearing just his Union Suit! 

Camden was the fastest man to drive, strip, drive some more, dress, and then run to the finish line ahead of all the other drivers that night. Taylor was disqualified possibly because his rear drop seat became unbuttoned, but that is purely conjecture.