– “How would you like to spend a few hours watching pretty young women wearing stockings?” My beautiful wife certainly knew how to get my attention. It was an invitation she knew I’d never turn down and my curiosity was not the only thing aroused by her query.
“Whom do I have to kill?” I joked.
But she wasn’t kidding.
So on Saturday evening I spent from about 8pm until 11pm watching five beautiful young women under the age of 25 walk, stand and sit not 20 feet from us in a variety of FF stockings. Garter bumps, glimpses of creamy white thigh and several quick views up the skirt were in abundance. It was heaven!
Where was this gentleman’s club you may ask? Well, it was entertainment for adults. It was also college theatre.
It turns out that one of my wife’s charities supports a summer arts program for various colleges here in the US. As a benefactor, she received tickets for a production of the Agatha Christie play, “Witness for the Prosecution. ” Since I generally do not attend theatre my wife chose as her sales pitch the benefit of this period piece whodunit that she believed would most appeal to me; stockings. And she was right.
A reception for benefactors was held after the performance and I got the opportunity to ask several of these young thespians how they enjoyed dressing in the styles of the forties and fifties. They said they loved the elegant feel of the “old clothes”. “It makes you feel very proper and important” one young lady offered. And another young actress told us she had been converted to stockings as a result of having to wear them for her role.
The young woman in charge of costumes told us that they had gone through more than six dozen pairs of stockings so far during the run of the play. I feared that that would not bode well for the reliability of stockings and therefore discourage young women from wearing them. After all, dreaded pantyhose would have lasted longer than that.
“How many performances have you done?” I asked. “Six, so far. ” was the answer.
“Isn’t that a rather large failure rate for stockings?” I asked.
“No sir,” the young costume mistress replied. “The stockings wear quite well. It’s just that the girls – all the girls – keep taking them home with them! ” It was then that I noticed that the young woman speaking with us, though not an actress, was also wearing stockings that night.
I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that some unsuspecting young college men are going to be introduced to the joys of women in stockings while dating some young college actresses (and prop people) this summer. It was also nice to know that some of the money we had donated was going directly onto the legs of women in the under 25 age group. By supporting summer theatre we were directly sponsoring women wearing stockings!
– Sounds like it is time to organise a road tour of the play! The shows that we produce always have authentic costuming for the period. It is my belief that the audience can “tell” if short cuts are taken by the costume designer.
– Witness for the Prosecution is only one of many plays set in the golden age of stockings. I understand that most of the Agatha Christie plays are in this period. Arsenic and Old Lace was of this period as was The Man Who Came to Dinner. I’m sure other forum members can suggest more plays. I’m not a theatre person. I encourage you to keep your eyes peeled for others and to share them with us.
– This is an interesting thread. I have been reading scripts for a community theatre group that I spend my spare time with. One of the scripts was the mid-30s British musical Me and My Girl. There is a portion of the book at the back that lists costume requirements. They are quite specific as to requiring garter belts and stockings for all of the female cast.
