The notion that "clothes make the man" has been around for much longer than you might think and many famous people have talked about it.
It's also what today's movie, "Skinner's Dress Suit" from 1926, is about.
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| Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
Here's the plot (spoiler alert):
Mr. and Mrs. (Honey) Skinner, a perfectly ordinary couple living in the suburbs of New York.
Honey thinks there's nothing her husband can't do and she also thinks he deserves a raise and should ask for one.
The boss refuses. Skinner, however, doesn't have the heart to tell Honey who has already prepared a feast with a cake saying "success". She starts spending the money right away, on a dress suit for her husband and a dress for herself, so they can attend an important party.
Not knowing anyone, they feel very awkward at the party at first, but Skinner has been taught the "Savannah Shuffle" at work and passed it on to Honey by phone, so the Skinners quickly have everyone's attention by teaching them the dance.
Encouraged by his gain in social status, Skinner asks for a raise again. Unfortunately, a renewal for the firm's biggest contract with a Samuel Jackson has just fallen through. Not only is the raise denied, no, this time Skinner even gets fired by the senior and junior partner.
Just then he gets notified about his overdraft, the tailor comes to his house to take the dress suit back, and the furniture shop wants to pick up the furniture the Skinners bought.
Nevertheless, Honey and he go to the Ames affair at the Hotel Ritz, but Skinner can't forget about his problem.
Also at the Ritz but not invited are Jackson and his wife who wants nothing more than join in. Seeing Skinner, she thinks he must have a high social status and urges her husband to go and meet him.
After they enter the ballroom again, Jackson dances with Honey and Skinner with Mrs. Jackson. Jackson is so impressed that he offers Skinner a half million dollar contract which leads to the partners turning up at his house the next day and offering him a partnership in the firm.
This isn't a slapstick thigh-slapper. The most physical comedy are the dancing scenes and they are really very funny, especially the one in which Skinner teaches Honey over the phone and then gets caught by his boss, but also the part when he's dancing with Jackson's wife after hearing about the contract. I feel with her, that could be me hanging in his arms like a sack of flour. Unfortunately that particular scene was much blurrier than most of the others, but I think you get the idea.
Reginald Denny and Laura La Plante had a wonderful chemistry as the Skinners.
Skinner loves his wife and wants to do everything to make her happy and she idolizes him, so she honestly thinks he's such an asset to the firm that the bosses can't do anything but give him a raise.
Denny liked to be involved in the movies he made, in fact he was credited for several storylines and he had recommended La Plante for this movie after working with her before.
He was also responsible for the steps of the "Savannah Shuffle", a mix of "Charleston, the Gaby Glide (named after the famous dancer Gaby Deslys), and a duck waddle".
It wasn't just them who made this such a sweet and fun film.
My favorite of the supporting cast was Lucille Ward as Mrs. Jackson for the way she looked at her husband, but also the subtle flirting with Skinner.
There were not that many intertitles except a few ones that were absolutely needed or witty, yet it was not a problem at all to follow thanks to the visual quality of the scenes and the acting.
I really had fun with this one and I'm glad I found it on the same channel as "The Patsy", also with a score of jazz tunes from the time.
The film is an adaptation of the 1916 novel by Henry Irving Dodge (there is also a movie from 1917, but I couldn't find that one). "Skinner" was such a successful figure that there were several stories around him and also several films which I couldn't find, however.
I read the book and there are some differences.
Skinner doesn't get a raise, but he never gets fired. His bosses absolutely recognize the value of his work, but keep quiet about that for different reasons.
For example, Perkins, the junior partner, doesn't like his clothes. Unlike others in their neighborhood, the Skinners save as much money as they can and skimp on expenses like clothing. Honey can make over her own clothes, but Skinner's are downright shabby and it just doesn't make a good impression.
When McLaughlin and Perkins first see him in the dress suit and shortly after in a new business suit, they are afraid that the "worm will turn", and if they give Skinner a raise, won't everyone else want one, too?
They also wonder how Skinner suddenly can afford all that and why would he want to? They think it's a sign that he's speculating thanks to tips from his new friends (who might even want to lure him away from the firm!) - he's even paying more for the Pullman wagon now on his commute - and we all know where that leads ... first losses and next embezzlement!
So they come up with a cunning plan. They send Skinner to the Midwest, so they can have his accounts checked without him being around. Although they know it's hopeless because everyone else has already tried, they tell him to do his best to get Willard Jackson's account back for them.
What they don't anticipate is that Skinner actually doesn't just have new clothes now, he also has a very sharp mind and a cunning plan of his own which gets him the account and the partnership in the firm.
There's also no Jewish tailor in the book (who - not unusual for the time - is portrayed as a bit of a caricature, but we have seen worse), no note from the bank, no furniture people.
So the book is not that funny, but it allows Skinner more to grow beyond clothes and social status on his own merit's. It was a good read and I already put the other three Skinner books on my reading list.
Sources:
1. Jeffrey Vance: Skinner's Dress Suit. Essay. On: San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2022
2. Skinner's Dress Suit (1926). On: Silentfilmcalendar.org
3. Fritzi Kramer: Skinner's Dress Suit (1926) - A silent film review. On: Movies Silently, November 5, 2017
4. Laura ?: Tonight's Movie: Skinner's Dress Suit (1926) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review, On: Laura's Miscellaneous Musings, October 18, 2020
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