Santa Pantless at the North Pole 

"Your previous "pantless" fellas in recent posting have nothing over Santa Claus. These stick-ums of Santa at my daughter's Christmas Party open house surprisingly featured Santa first wearing tartan trousers. Then in the next scenes, he has lost his clothes, revealing red union suit underwear under his coat!  

Go figure... Andrea, Duluth, MN"

Thanks, Andrea.  Santa Claus is the consummate union suit fan, wouldn't you say? One does wonder how he lost his clothes?!  Thanks for sending. Hope you and your daughter have a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas

 Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

RC, in his Union Suit, boots, cap, gloves and Manplow, is ready for whatever winter throws at him!  

Television's 1990's Home Improvement, Tim the Toolman Taylor, would be proud of RC decked out in those red long johns of his and that gigantic, snow removal implement! What a tool!  Not sure what his neighbors think!?!?!

Pantless in Sandhurst

Last week I received the following email from George Blair of London, England:

Dear Chris: For my whole life I've worn long, combination underwear and have enjoyed your excellent publications regarding such. My name is George Blair and I reside in London. 

Sometime back you included a posting in your quite fabulous blog of three military men standing on stage without their trousers. The bottom of their combinations showed beneath their military jackets. Are you aware of just whom these partially dressed young men might be or where their photo was taken? If not, you and your readers might wish to know more about the thespians in that photograph.

Happening on an article, I was able to identify them as “officer cadets” performing in a humorous theatre presentation, toward the end of their course work at the renowned Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in England. Their performance and the photo are from the early 1990's, apparently. The photo was taken by photographer, Patrick Ward.

The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, commonly called simply Sandhurst, is located at Sandhurst, Berkshire, United Kingdom. This institution is a British army officer training centre, very similar to your West Point Army Academy in America. It was founded in 1947 shortly after World War II when the Royal Military Academy (RMA), founded in 1741 and located in Woolwich, and the Royal Military College, founded in 1801 at Sandhurst, merged. The RMA trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers regiments from 1741 to 1939. Some, not doubt, were sent to the colonies to fight in Colonial America's Revolutionary War. Imagine that!

My grandson now attends Sandhurst, in his first year. And while he wears long underwear quite often, he steers clear of combinations. In fact, he believes his grandfather's combinations are rather humorous and old fashion.

At any rate, the photograph was not a spoof or taken from a movie, but of real live cadets peforming a skit. These thespians reminded me of your recent posting, “Why Be Shy,” of university student, Mr. Payne, when he appeared on stage in his combinations as a freshman at William and Mary College. 

By the way, I am older and admittedly somewhat old fashion so continue to call my combinations, "combinations."  I am fully aware that you and most other Americans, including Mr. Payne, call your one-piece, long underclothing, "union suits" or (shudder) "onesies."  Whichever one refers to them, it's fabulous to note that they are still worn and admired across the globe.

All the best from across the pond as we say,

George Blair

Greetings George, great hearing from another Combinations / Union Suit Fan from Great Britain. I have several "combination" friends who live across the pond with whom I communicate via email. I'm privileged to add you. Thanks very much for identifying the photo of those young men sans trousers which I had previouly posted but unknown to me. I had not a clue as to who they were. So very much appreciate you identifying them.

As you referenced in your email, I now use "trousers" when speaking and emailing with my British acquaintances. On my very first trip to your wonderful country, I learned the hard way not to use the term "pants" for trousers. Early on, I made some reference to my "pants," meaning my trousers, to good friends  and their other guests who reside there. I received immediate robust chuckles and raised eyebrows for that faux pas! I suppose it was not good form to even be talking about my pants. I was informed later, discreetly, that I had spoken about my underwear and not my trousers. I can only imagine what you Brits would call my boxer shorts. That was an embarassing misstep!  But I swallowed hard and was determined not to repeat that!

Calling our Union Suits / Cominations "onesies" makes me cringe. Something you and I have in common. 

Below, I've re-posted my March 5, 2023 Union Suit Fan entry and the cadets' photo, you've so kindly identified:

Pantless too! 

These soldiers couldn't find their pants. But duty calls.... 

Thanks to Kyle of Olympia, WA for emailing me this "pantless" photo of what appears to be eastern Europian soldiers wearing white union suits!  

And I added the following on March 15, 2023: 

Luke of Atlanta emailed me the following "pantless" photo of two celebrities he found on line. They too wear white union suits. Guess who?

On December 10, 2019, l had posted this jewel of possibly two bachelors' parties...  maybe it's the grooms and groomsmen partying without their trousers!  Or maybe it was just a bunch of guys out on the town, proud of their long underwear:

Pantless in Seattle....

Cool Weather Greetings, Union Suit Fans!

Wishing you well and sure hope you had a great Thanksgiving, especially all my buddies in the northeast over in Buffalo, Watertown and upstate New York... getting all that snow. That is some "lake-effect" you all have to deal with. Yikes!

As we enter the holidays and colder union suit weather, I wanted to re-post one of my earliest submissions to Union Suit Fan. The posting below is from December 8, 2016, and is of a poster popular during World War II. It urged Americans to conserve energy by turning down the thermostats in their homes, offices, factories, or where ever they worked. And most important, to pull on their long, red flannel underwear. 

Thinking back, I don't know if my grandpa and four uncles, as farm boys in the 1940's, ever laid eyes on this poster. I do know they all wore union suits. Grandpa wore them year round. Folks now should do the same. I have been for a month or so and have managed to keep the thermostat down. In fact, I'm wearing a red union suit now as I post this. It's similar to the one featured on the poster. How about you? Keep 'em buttoned.... Chris

                                                     Union Suits - YesterYear

World War II Poster of Long Red Underwear urging
U.S. Citizens to dress warmly and turn down the heat!

Rationing and Energy Conservation Office 

of  War Information 1943

The image shows long red underwear ("union suit") in the position of a man lounging, advocating everyone to wear their Long Johns for the war effort. 


This Entry Added March 7, 2017:

Richard of Traverse City, MI sent me this 1946 political cartoon drawn by John Collins. It is about the same era as the Long Underwear Poster above. It is titled "Uncle Sam's Union Suit."  Thanks, Richard.

Added December 22, 2016:

Ty of Odessa, Texas, a retired oil field worker and a Union Suit Fan, saw my recent post of button down long underwear on a World War II poster urging U.S. citizens to pull on their union suit underwear and turn down the heat. 

He remembered his copy of an old 1974 Petroleum Independent magazine featuring this very poster on its front cover. Ty said that he was so inspired after receiving this issue of the magazine, he immediately went out and purchased a couple of red Union Suits for himself to wear! He reports that he has been wearing them ever since. His two boys and a grandson wear them too. Thanks Ty for forwarding this photo of your magazine's cover.

Office Boy Robbed !! 

Union Suit Fans: After my last posting, I received an email from another Iowan resident:

Chris: Like R.K. Davenport, I'm a home grown Iowa boy. And like him and you, I wear union suits, for me about nine months out of the year. I'm also a history nut and a graduate of the University of Iowa. 

Recently an old advertisement in the University of Iowa student newspaper from 115 years ago got my attention. The newspaper began publishing in 1868, if you can believe that! The clothing ad is from the May 20, 1908 issue and titled: Wise Talks By The Office Boy.

The print is small and a bit difficult to read. Perhaps your viewers can enlarge. It's about an office boy, Muggsy, who has a "hard luck story" to tell. He related that he had gotten all dressed up in his new "brown, stylish suit, a college model, and $2.50 hat," which he purchased from the Coast & Sons Clothing Shop in Iowa City. Muggsy said he "looked the part of a swell dresser." 

On the way to pick up his girl, whom he had not seen in a week, he was confronted by four toughs who demanded his clothes, leaving him stranded on the street in his long underwear! He said "after they got me down to my union suit, a fellow put on the clothes..." Generously, the boys gave him a barrel to wear so he didn't have to continue on his way in just his underwear. What would his girl friend think?

Muggsy stood there hollering, drawing a crowd, until "a copper came up" and took him away. Cheerfully, he said, he's "not a quitter" and will get another suit just like the one he had.

This clothing ad is very different from those of men's clothing stores of today. I wonder if it really appealed to college boys back then. Did many of them relate to Muggsy running out to purchase a suit from Coast and Sons to wear over their union suits?! 

Sam Scott, Iowa City 

Thanks Scott. It's a small world what with Iowa, Iowa City and West Branch coming into such prominence in this blog after 100 years. You raise a very good question as to whether this appealed to the college boys who may have seen the ad in the student newspaper. That clothing store certainly appeared to think so. I appreciate you taking the time to share this unusual newspaper advertisement...Chris

Here's a copy of a postcard, front and back, that I found on-line featuring the Coast & Sons clothing store:

I'm always interested in receiving e-mails and photos from blog viewers like R.K. and Sam and the many others who have contributed over the years. I know you have a worthwhile union suit story to share, so don't delay in forwarding it to me. These make for a much more interesting blog when coming from you! ...Chris

                                                               cayersnd@gmail.com

Presidential Underwear and Grant Wood Revisited

Union Suit Fans, yesterday I received this email from R.K. Davenport.... 

Chris: Having grown up on a farm near Iowa City in eastern Iowa, I've been a fan of union suits nearly my whole life and a fan of your blog for a couple years now. My 13 year old son is a 4th generation union suit wearer. He sleeps in either his red union suit or the one with dinosaurs on it. It keeps him warm when playing junior hockey too and other Iowa outdoor activities. 

After reading your latest posting on "Presidential Underwear" from this past August, the one about Abraham Lincoln's museum and his union suit, I went back and looked at your other presidential long underwear postings. 

In 2018, you posted a lithograph, "Midnight Alarm," by artist Grant Wood and then added additional artwork of his sent to you by one of your readers. It was a painting purported to be of President Hoover's "boyhood home" in West Branch, Iowa. The painting was on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

This summer, my wife and I with our 13 year old teenager and his two younger sisters visited West Branch and the Herbert Clark Hoover Library and Museum, his boyhood home which you can tour, as well as the surrounding neighborhood. All are within walking distance. Here are some photos of his little home taken by me:

This is the house where Hoover was born and actually lived as a boy. It looks nothing like the home pictured in the aforementioned painting by Wood displayed at the Whitney. 

You can see his home was comparatively modest compared to the one featured. It is only one story with a couple of bedrooms. And, nowdays, there is no clothesline and certainly no union suit hanging out to dry. 

What house do you suppose Grant Wood was depicting?

...R.K. Davenport

Great detective work, R.K. I found on the internet that President Hoover's home is just as your pictures show. So Grant Wood's painting is someone else's, apparently another family's mid-nineteenth century home. Perhaps he took license to create an addition to Hoover's house in his imagination. I wonder though if an addition was added by a subsequent purchaser and then torn down in the years when the library and boyhood home were established.

Here below are my comments, followed by those from Joe of NYC, regarding Manhattan's Whitney Art Museum's display of Grant Wood's painting in question. It's from my posting of April, 2018 in Union Suit Fan:

...Spencer, I thank you for this insight into Grant Wood's lithograph, “Midnight Alarm,” and for bringing it to my attention. This lithograph is sure to be of interest to Union Suit Fans. I appreciate you taking the time to share. 

Coincidentally, the same week I heard from you, I received an email featuring additional "Union Suit" art by none other than Grant Wood. Although not as prominent as the farmer descending the stairs in his Long Underwear, it never-the-less depicts a Union Suit. In this instance, President Herbert Hoover's Union Suit hangs from a boyhood farm house clothesline. Not surprising, Hoover was from Iowa as was Wood. No doubt, both men wore one-piece, button-down Long Johns. Perhaps Wood did have an interest in men's underwear, why not?

Joe of New York City emailed, “On display today at the Whitney in downtown Manhattan is a Grant Wood exhibit: Best known for AMERICAN GOTHIC, he also painted the above titled “THE BIRTHPLACE OF HERBERT HOOVER, WEST BRANCH, IOWA." 

And why am I sending this? Well, cropped a bit, look at what is on the President’s clothesline!  Keep ‘em buttoned, Joe.”

Yep, sure enough, there is Hoover's Union Suit. Thanks, Joe! ...Chris

You can read all about the presidential Union Suits of John F. Kennedy and Calvin Coolidge in my posting, “Presidential Underwear,” May 26, 2016. In another posting, “Presidential Underwear, Abe Lincoln's Union Suit?” dated July 27, 2016, I discuss the possibility of Lincoln and his sons wearing Union Suits back in the mid-1800's...  

A search of the internet gives us a bit more information regarding the two story house. Here's what I uncovered:

The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover

West Branch, Iowa, 1931 Grant Wood  Oil on masonite

PURCHASED JOINTLY BY THE MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND THE DES MOINES ART CENTER; WITH FUNDS FROM THE JOHN R. VAN DERLIP FUND, MRS. HOWARD H. FRANK, AND THE EDMUNDSON ART FOUNDATION, Inc.   

On View in Gallery 323

Grant Wood, born and raised in Iowa, was the foremost artist of the American Regionalist movement, which focused on the human condition and the values of a rural environment. This well-organized landscape, with its linear precision and repetition of forms, emphasizes the order and harmony of country life. A group of Iowa businessmen commissioned this painting to present to President Herbert Hoover, who was born in the white frame cabin situated immediately behind the two-story house in the middle of the scene. The president, who had stressed his humble origins during his campaign, refused the painting because the inclusion of the larger, later house obscured the cabin. Wood eventually sold it through a dealer.

If Joe, or anyone else, can shed any light on the diffences, please let me know.

...Chris

Buckeye's Missed Opportunity for a Halloween Costume Submission!

As you may remember from past postings, Buckeye is always sure to send me his annual Halloween Costume creation. However, the holiday slipped up on him this year. You could say he got caught with his pants down. Regarding his failure to send me his latest holiday garb, he emails:  

"Happy Halloween, my friend. 

My apologies for the dismal failure this time. However I did resurrect my zombie outfit and wore it to work today for a whole bunch of people who hadn’t seen it before. It’s not every day a guy gets to work all day in a (mostly) exposed union suit. One of the technicians told me "that’s how you always look." Wondering if maybe he has X-Ray vision. Hmmmmm ... Buckeye Mike"

We'll anxiously await Buckeye's next years' Halloween outfit. It will surely be a winner.  

His previous Halloween Costume:

It's Halloween, So...

you know what that means! It's time for another Custom Costume Carnival...What will you be wearing tonight?

G. Gordo Liddy

The Masked Marcel

PennyEyes

Orange Blooded
Bronco Super Fan

Ted Bear

Wrestlin' Willie

Artic Arnie

Ahhh Man!  I'm to sick to go Trick or Treatin' Tonight!

Thanks Ron, Michael, RC, Donald, Chris, Josh, Jeremy, Trevor, and Paul.

 

Happy Halloween to you from Us Union Suiters!

My Theatrical Release

Ronald Payne's guest contribution, which was posted last week in this blog, reminded me of my stage debut in a union suit as a high school boy. My theatrical career was short-lived but the other boys and I had a ball!  If you are a long time viewer of Union Suit Fan, you might remember me posting this on December 15, 2016, the first year of my long underwear blog. 

Here it is again..... 

Me and My Union Suit

Here's a photo my mom took of me in long winter underwear
back when I was in High School.
I wore this "costume" of long underwear, boots, and cowboy hat
in a school play entitled "A Country Christmas Carol." 

I forgot all about this picture of me in my union suit until my sister, 
sorting through a bunch of old family photos, mailed this to me recently!

Merry Christmas Everybody!   .... Chris



A week or so later, I added this note to my original posting, based on emails I had received.....

The post of me in my Union Suit in high school received more emails than any other post I have done. Thanks to Paul, Ernie, Rich, and Sarah, among others. I appreciate all of you for responding! Sarah commented that me being "tall, dark, and skinny," I must have had the role of Slim Pickens.

Well, no. Actually, "A Country Christmas Carol" was a take off on Charles Dickens' story about ole Scrooge. Ms. Dietrich, my English Literature teacher, had written an adaptation with a country bent. Instead of night shirts, she had us boys wear our long underwear! I was given the part of the "Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come" and wore the white Union Suit as shown in the post photo above. The boys that played Scrooge and the "Ghost of Christmas Present" wore red Union Suits and the boy that was the Ghost of Christmas Past" wore a grey Union Suit.

All four of us, I believe, were at first reluctant to appear on stage in just our long underwear and boots. But we did and to our surprise the play was a big hit with fellow students, teachers, and our parents! An article and photos of us in our Union Suits made the student newspaper as well as the year book.
I guess for awhile we were local "celebrities."

(Regrettably, I have no photos from the student newspaper or year book
from that time...Chris)

Comments:

Anonymous September 20, 2017   

I am a 16 year old boy who last spring was one of the brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in our high school musical. In one scene, six of us boys woke up in our union suits to have breakfast but not before our older brothrs wife wanted our underwear to wash. We than switched to wearing blankets and danced around. Its cool to see you in a union suit too for your high school play... Bailey from Grand Rapids, MI 

Why Be Shy?

How I Came to Stop Worrying and Love the Union Suit

   By Ronald Payne, Guest Contributor

I grew up on a Dairy Farm in northern Virginia during the 1950s and like other boys who lived on a farm I was expected to do at least some farm chores. I was excused from helping with the milking (I was scared of the cows that were so much bigger than I was) but other chores like gathering eggs, feeding livestock and driving a tractor during haymaking season were a part of my growing up. This necessitated wearing work clothes which I hated. I didn’t want any part of a farm identity (I wanted to be a sophisticated city kid). I was afraid I’d be seen in farm work clothes by other kids.  When winter came around I drew the line on wearing long underwear.  My Dad wore the two piece variety, but I thought “long johns” were just too embarrassing. If I had to be outside in snowy cold weather, I’d happily wear coats and sweaters, but no way I’d ever wear “long johns”. 

Even worse than the two piece variety in my eyes were union suits. I saw a TV episode of “Restless Gun” in which John Payne was forced to strip down to his union suit and march back into town while everyone laughed. I couldn’t imagine anything more humiliating. The local clothing store had union suits so I knew some people must wear them, but I certainly wasn’t going to be one of them!

When I went to High School I was required to take gym class (which I hated) and for the first time I saw guys my age wearing union suits in the locker room. And these guys were popular athletes!  Girls liked them and other guys looked up to them.  Sure, these guys would kid each other about their “hillbilly drawers”, but they seemed to enjoy laughing at themselves and didn’t show the least embarrassment about being seen wearing union suits in winter. I guess that was when I began to change my attitude about long underwear, especially union suits. I kind of wanted to be like those guys who could be relaxed and confident even while wearing a union suit. In fact I realized that these guys had created a bond by kidding each other about wearing “hillbilly long johns”. I developed a secret wish to wear a union suit so I could be like those other guys and join in with kidding and being kidded about “farm boy” long johns.

The problem was--I’d made such a big deal about refusing to wear any sort of long underwear that I couldn’t bring myself to admit to my parents that I now wanted to wear long johns. Even if I bought a union suit on the sly, I knew that living in a small town word might get back to my parents. Also I was convinced that if I took a union suit to the store check out, the lady who would ring it up would probably imagine what I’d looked like wearing it!  

In ‘67 I went to college at William and Mary. The college laundry provided a list with check boxes for the student to tick-off what items were in the laundry bag. Guess what!  Right under “Undershirts” and “Underpants” was “Union Suits”. So some college men must wear union suits!

Winter of my freshman year I finally got my first union suit. Boy, did I enjoy the feel of it under my clothes at football games! Or when walking around Williamsburg on a snowy Sunday. I always had a smile when I checked the “Union Suit” box on my laundry list.

I was a Theater major and that Spring I got a part in an original student musical.   It was about a small town rube from the nearby town of Toano who gets lost in the “big city” of Williamsburg. There he runs across the newly constructed college computer that was programed with the personality of woman. The computer falls in love with the rube and makes him a senior majoring in Home Economics.There was a scene in which my character moves into his dorm room that he shares with a hippie and a jock. While preparing for bed he undresses to reveal –yes—that he’s wearing a union suit. So in this play, for the first time I was seen in a union suit.   And as the hippie character starts to sing a made-up folk song, my character starts to dance to it—a Charleston!  There I was doing a Charleston…on stage…in a union suit…in front of hundreds of my fellow students…three nights in a row…and even in front of my parents who came down to see their son starring in a college show.  I still remember hearing the laughter rolling across the theater.  But it wasn’t derisive laughter. It was the kind of laughter that showed that the audience liked me.  And I got a big round of applause at the end of the number.  

To top it all off—in that year’s college Year Book there was a picture of me…in the show…in my union suit.

That proved to be my inoculation against any sense of embarrassment or shame about wearing a union suit. People who saw the show somehow assumed it was my own union suit that I was wearing (it wasn’t--it belonged to a fellow cast member). But after that I joined the ranks of guys for whom a union suit was a normal part of their winter wardrobe.

 And that is how I came to stop worrying and love the Union Suit!

                                       ....Ronald Payne 

What better way to kick off another Union Suit Wearing Season than this account from my long underwear pal. Ron enjoys the warmth, comfort and look of union suits nearly as much as I. My fascination with our one-piece wonder just happened to begin about 10 years earlier than he, when I was a boy. 

Here's a much younger Ron, on stage, in his union suit. Photos taken from his William and Mary College yearbook. I'm willing to wager that none of us, including me, have danced the Charleston in long underwear, on stage, in front of hundreds audience members. Come to think of it, I haven't danced in front of any crowd in my union suit. Kudo's to Ron!

Ron's first guest contributions to my Union Suit Fan blog was November 14, 2019 in his story titled "A Thespian Union Suit Fan: Growing Up, Part I and An Innocent Rube, Part II."  You can still find these very entertaining postings herein...just scroll down to the aforementioned date in 2019. You'll enjoy his chronical.

Thanks, Ron... Chris