Boy Gives Away Clothes; Goes Home in Union Suit

Sherman, Tex., Dec. 22, 1916,- Howard Brown is just the age to interpret everything literally. He recently heard a sermon on the text: "It is more blessed to give than receive." The words "even the coat on your back" stuck in his mind.

His mother was horrified when Howard returned from school in his union suit - minus his shirt and trousers. He had met a little boy in rags who was cold, he explained, and had put the sermon into practice.  

  

Thanks to Clay from Dallas, Tx who forwarded this article regarding his great grandfather who as a 12 year old boy generously stripped to his long union suit underwear to literally give away the clothes off his back to a less fortunate little boy. "Boy Gives Away Clothes; Goes Home in Union Suit" read the headline accompanying this newspaper article which first appeared in the Sherman Texas Democrat. The story was carried in newspapers across the nation just in time for a heart-warming story at Christmas time. What a great kid young Howard was!

Have an article, story, or favorite photograph regarding union suits? Be sure to email those to me for publication in Union Suit Fan. Only your first name and home town will be referenced in this blog.

Attention Union Suit Wearers:
Before Stepping Out in Your Long Johns,
Do What He Does...
Check that Your Flap is Buttoned !

Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders:
                         Union Suit Fan

Actor Norm Macdonald in a Union Suit
KFC Commercial

Colonel Sanders, southern gentleman, no doubt
wore long-handled Union Suits under his
Famous White Suit

Humorous Commercial Featuring
Long Underwear

 
Presidential Underwear

Abe Lincoln's Union Suit?


Regarding the image depicted here, Honest Abe and his four boys may possibly have worn Union Suit Underwear. But like most men and boys in the early to mid 19th century, Abe and his sons probably wore separate long-handled, ankle length "drawers" and long sleeved undershirts. Although Union Suits could have been made by wives and mothers on an individual basis in Lincoln's time, Mary Todd Lincoln probably did not have or take time to sew Union Suits for the five males in her famous family.

Some believe that "Union Suits" became popular and got the name because Union soldiers, from drummer boys to generals, wore this type of long underwear in Civil War times. But no one knows for sure. Union Suits, drawers and undershirts combined into one garment, were not mass manufactured in the United States until the 1870's, after Lincoln's time. 

The one-piece underwear which buttons up the entire front of the suit and with a buttoned flap in the rear became very popular with men and boys beginning in about 1875 or so. Union Suits, of course, are still popularly worn to this day by men and boys today, including me.

Jack and the Beanstalk 
           See Previous Blog

Jack confronts the Giant's Wife in a scene from Fairie Tale Theatre, 1983

As reported in my previous blog Ryan posed the question as to whether I had seen a televised theatre presentation of "Jack and the Beanstalk" wherein Jack, a poor boy, climbed the stalk and had adventures in his red Union Suit. You know the story which scholars date back (in some fashion) 5,000 years. Thanks to the emails sent to me by Shane, Gary, and others, I was able to identify this play presented by Fairie Tale Theatre in 1983. It was shown September 8, 1983, Season 2, Episode 4. It starred Elliott Gould as the boy-eating giant and his wife, Jean Stapleton. The boy, Jack, was played by Dennis Christopher. Jack did indeed climb the beanstalk in his long underwear having been awaken by its growth in to the sky. Following are photo clips of Jack and his adventure courtesy of Fairie Tale Theatre:

The rustling noise of the magical vine wakes up Jack:

He peers out his attic bedroom window in the bright morning sunshine....

 

And decides he should find out just where this beanstalk goes 

and so begins climbing without getting dressed. 

Up Jack goes in his nightclothes, long red union suit underwear: 

He climbs seemingly forever:

Jack Wearing Only His Union Suit
Wonders To Where He Has Climbed.

 A Fairy Warns Jack About the Boy-Eating Giant.

Unfazed and Seeminly Unaware that He Is In His Underwear,
 Jack Approaches the Giant's Home
 and Speaks to His Wife.

Jack Tells the Giant's Wife He is Hungry
and is Allowed to Enter.
 
Later, Jack steals the Giant's Gold!

Jack, Still in His Union Suit,
Arrives Back Home and Describes
His Adventures to His Mother.

Jack is Triumphant! He and Mother are Rich!