Little Joe is Responsible for My Wardrobe
I am of the generation that watched, and
had a crush on, Little Joe Cartright from Bonanza! I mean, he was dreamy!
You could show me a picture of “Little
Joe” without his head and I would know it was Little Joe Cartright from
Bonanza! His signature outfit of tan, khaki pants, light red shirt, short,
pea-green jacket, and a light beige cowboy hat.
I did not realize how successful the show
“Bonanza” was back then. I remember watching and crushing on Little Joe for a
long time, but I never realized it aired for 14 seasons.
A Facebook article caught my
attention, “Unbelievable Facts About ‘Bonanza’ That You Never Knew”.
I wondered what facts I never knew! (Castleton,
Alissa Laderer, 2023).
I read through and discovered the
cast of the “Cartright” fictional family wore the same exact outfits from
Season 4 to 14.
As a minimalist connoisseur and a huge
fan of Michael Landon’s Little Joe, this caught my attention.
According to the article, it cut costs on
the actors’ wardrobe for several reasons:
The standardization of their wardrobe made
it easier for using “stock footage” for many of the action scenes. Watching
Little Joe gallop across the plains in his signature wardrobe was standard in
almost every episode.
I wonder how many times I saw the same
scene over and over without realizing it.
A standard wardrobe also made it
easier to duplicate the wardrobe for stunt doubles. There was no need to check
what was being worn in a particular scene—although maybe his jacket would have
been off or on.
This would have made all the
Cartright family highly recognizable, each in their signature clothing. “Pa”,
Hoss, and Adam all wore the same outfits for every show.
Even though I was a fan, I never
realized this.
But what does that mean for me?
Well, decades ago I had a friend who
announced she was “switching colors”.
When I inquired, she explained that
for years she only wore gray, yellow, and white.
However, she had decided to change up her
wardrobe and was planning to switch the colors that she exclusively wore.
I thought about the common sense in
her decision. This allowed her to mix and match her clothes and have a variety
of outfits she could wear, and not have one pair of pants that went with only one
shirt or blouse.
Brilliant!
I guess I never really thought about
it, and after three years in the Army with nothing but camouflage uniforms,
brown t-shirts, and green socks, clothing choices were never a big deal for me.
I wore what I had.
My closet looked the same, and one
of my brown t-shirts went with any of my camouflage uniforms.
And similarly, all of my green socks
worked well with this same ensemble.
And foot covering choices were
limited as well. Should I wear combat boots A or combat boots B?
If I was in a hurry, it was whichever
pair were already spit shined!
The limited wardrobe made my
decision-making easy. The most time I spent getting dressed in the morning was
hands down my undergarment choice—since those clothing items were not assigned
to me.
But now that I had learned THIS, this-new-color-coordinated-wardrobe-gameplan,
this certainly was going to change the way I looked at my wardrobe!
And it did. I knew that I looked
best in “cool” colors, and I liked how I looked in red, black, white and
purple. Gradually, I began focusing my wardrobe purchases on those colors.
It is not that I do not own any
other colors, but those are mainly the clothing colors I buy. I can easily mix
and match my pants and shirts, because those colors all complement each other.
I saved both time and money keeping
my wardrobe simple.
I would never go as far as the
fictional Cartright family, but I did minimize my clothing choices.
And you know, maybe that is not as
crazy as it sounds.
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