I just discovered that one of the minor channels in my area has been showing The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, a black and white series from the early 1960s. Loads of familiar faces that wound up in other TV series a little later. Also, just this week alone, Robert Redford has been on twice. I know Hitchcock liked blonde women, but he must have lusted after good looking blonde men, too. I was struck by the similarity in looks between the young Redford and Brad Pitt.

I also am loving those fashions. The women either wore fitted sheaths that zipped up the back or dresses that were off the shoulder, tight waists with wide belts and full skirts. The suits had three-quarter sleeves and short jackets, with pencil skirts. The hair was flipped but not the wild messy flip of today, but smooth and wavy. Makeup was the heavy black eyeliner that also flipped up at the end, nothing on the lower lid. They just looked so very, very chic.

'Me, I absolutely loved the Hitchcock hour! One of the most terrifying examples of television: AN UNLOCKED WINDOW. Have you seen that episode?? There's this terrific storm, and all the roads are washed out, and then the phones go dead, and some maniac is loose; viewers assume the unlocked basement window flapping in the rain and wind, had something to do with it. Surprise. The 'nurse' taking care of the imperiled invalid, IS the maniac! A man, in drag, no less . . . too much!! You have to see it . . .

As for the fashions, I concur. You're looking at modified Balenciaga and Dior patterns, on those shows. Balenciaga invented the tree quarter length, sleeve . . . those suits are knockoffs of Cristobal's great ideas.

Used to love Thriller, Night Gallery, The Twilight Zone . . . many others. Always loved how Elizabeth Montgomery looked, on Bewitched. She wore some of the deepest necklines, on television . . . inches of cleavage. And, she wore them very well. btw: Bette Davis did a 'Hitchcock' hour. I've seen it . . . she did Perry Mason, too. Joan Crawford did Night Gallery . . . one of the finest episodes in that series' run.

I was watching an interview with Todd Oldham, and he said something so very true... He says that the definition of chic which reigned at the time you were born, stays with you your whole life through and secretly remains your ultimate touchstone for chic.



How true in my case! In our home we had the record album LP to the movie BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961). On the cover is that lovely, endearing photo of Audrey Hepburn in her whole Givenchy getup, the one she wears at the beginning.... the long black sleeveless floorlength with a train, the di-colored beehive hairdo, the doe-eyed eyemakeup she was famous for, the long cigarette holder (I was too young to perceive this as a Holly Golightly affectation... I took it as a serious fashion accoutrement).



On the obverse is Pat Neal in her Pauline Trigere...



This and other imagery from the early 1960's has remained my definition of chic, and this is one reason I love watching THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR (and the OUTER LIMITS and old TWILIGHT ZONE episodes).



Nowadays, anyone affecting those looks borders on camp, yet still I love them.

rasputin, in some ways, I agree with Todd Oldham. I was born in 1955. By the time I was four years old, I was already studying how people wore clothes and accessories. I have never ever, backed away from my preference, for women in cone shaped brassieres. I thought they gave women a breathtaking silhouette. Much, much sexier to me, than all the braless looks we've seen . . . or, for that matter all the phony, silicone fortified architecture for which so many celebs and stars and well to do women today, have opted.



I still love some wicked hairdos of my childhood, too . . . the long flip, the French twist, even the beehive. I thought all of those looks, were very sexy. And, depending on the skill with which each coiffe was assembled, sometimes quite chic.



Shoes, too . . . those pointed toes and stiletto heels, are still my favorites. You've seen the Jourdans that I love . . . cannot find shoes like that, today . . . my cousins had even OLDER Jourdans, from the fifties and sixties! They were savage, I tell you!! The ultimate in French seduction.



I loved how men dressed back then, too . . . they wore mysterious hats, and pocket squares in their topcoats; some of them carried cains!! Those were the days . . .

Armanis, you ruined The Unlocked Window for me! I hope it doesn't come on until months from now when I've forgotten what you told me.

Perry Mason is on right before The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, but I haven't watched it yet. I know Matlock is also on this station, but I'm not really interested. I wish they'd have The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Wow, I have that album, too! Isn't it wonderful? As for older shows, I luuuuuv I Dream of Jeannie and The Andy Griffith Show.

Perfume Me, that episode is soooooooo great, you'll love it, no matter what you remember. I've seen it five or six times. Scares the daylights out of me

I've got all the Dick Van Dyke shows, on tape. That was another show, that I loved. I thought Mary Tyler Moore wore clothes very, very well. She had a great body for clothes. Frankly, I liked her Laura Petrie wardrobe, much more than what she wore, during her own television series. I think Laura was much more chic, than Mary Richards. Loved her flip, too.
I'll tell you another, great program from the past. The Anne Southern Show. She played a legal secretary, I think . . . in New York, where else? Wore gorgeous clothes, spindly heels. Miss Southern was really good looking, back then.

I remember that show! Years ago, during the summer months, one station would bring back old b&W shows from the '50s that I'd never heard of. Car 54, Burns & Allen, The Danny Thomas Show, then there was one where Robert Cummings was a bachelor photographer, another where Julie Newmar was either a space alien or a robot. I don't have cable, so perhaps some of these are on Nick at Night. They used to be considered cheap filler for the airwaves but now many have become camp and you can buy them on DVDs.

Everyone was always so elegantly dressed, men always wore hats and suits. Even Fred Mertz would occasionaly show up in a suit on I Love Lucy, and he was retired and owned their apt. building. The Good Ole Days!

I used to watch I Love Lucy and just swoon over Lucy's clothes! Now, I'm a little young for the wide-skirt-and-swishing-crinoline look, but I really love it to this day. Even when she was sensibly dressed, she was chic, I thought.

Click to view attachmentLucille Ball, had a beautiful figure, I thought. She was one of the few women wearing pants on camera; Lucy looked great in them. I Love Lucy, is and always will be . . . my favorite, television sitcom. Hilarious, to this day. These burlap 'originals,' were based on Balenciaga's designs. btw: Vivian Vance, was younger than Lucy . . . in order to look frumpy for her co-star, Viv was directed to keep her weight at close to twenty pounds, above her desired limit.

I love my MASH reruns, and an Australian show, Rafferty's Rules.

I also wish you could buy the whole F Troop series on DVD in Australia - a great laugh, and a way to unwind.

On last night's Hitchcock, Dina Merrill and Peter Falk starred. She looked like a blonde Linda Evangelista. They have similar noses. She had her perfect blonde flip, cigarette pants, gold lame gown, etc. She was quite a good actress, too. She used to be married to Cliff Robertson, but I don't know if she's still alive or not. He is. Her mother, socialite Marjorie Merriwether Post, just died a couple of years ago, I think.

Gena Rowlands was on tonight's show. What a beauty and talent. Another Hitchcock blonde. Who will be on next? It's very interesting to see major stars in their very early days. Only another week of Hitch, I'm afraid. The station is changing its programming, darn it. I hope they have that scary episode that Armanis mentioned.

Mietros, I almost got in trouble with my future mother-in-law on an early visit. We were looking at old family slides of my future husband's family. You know, projector set up in the living room, humming loudly. I burst out laughing when one came up showing my very serious MIL in her beautiful young-married youth in the '50s, with these sharp ice cream cones jutting straight out from her blouse. Ignoring the silence that followed my laugh, I went on and on about how hilarious it was, the lone voice crying in the wilderness. DH and his family are serious midwesterners (but also Jewish, so you'd think the funny bone would still be intact), but at least they let me be me, to this day.

I was born in 1950, so now I know why I like a shirtwaist dress and a perfectly fitted suit with a skirt, not
pants. My mother started to teach me to sew when I was around 8, and we would look a pattern catalogues
together.
Another old tv show I liked to watch in the 60's is That Girl. What a wardrobe! I agree about Laura Petrie's
clothes. So chic. Women wouldn't think about going out the door until every hair was in place. Elizabeth Montgomery had great clothes in Bewitched. It's always a wake-up call for me to see how people
dressed in the old tv shows from the 50's. Especially when someone is traveling by train or plane. Women
wore their hats and heels.
One of the Disney World parks has a Lucille Ball museum. The navy blue and white polka dot dress with
white collar is there.

I think tonight is the last Hitchcock show on that station. So far, every lead actress has been blonde, in true Hitch tradition. Martha Hyer and Vera Miles were on, and that pretty boy, Jeffrey Hunter. James Mason and the guy who played Ed Rossi on Peyton Place were on an episode. I'm gonna miss this show.

As for fashions, last night's episode had Vera Miles, as a faculty wife, showing up for a faculty dinner in a strapless chiffon cocktail dress with matching scarf worn they way they did in those days, draped over the hair, flowing down and over the shoulders. Can you see anyone going to a faculty dinner like that these days? It's probably jeans all the way.