+ C M Y K + INSIDE: John Raitt: ■ TELEVISION 4 An ■ ANNIE’S MAILBOX 5 appreciation 3 ■ BRIDGE 6 ■ NEWS OF MUSIC 7 THE BLADE, TOLEDO, OHIO ■ T H U R S D A Y , FEBRUARY 24, 2005 SECTION E FAST FORWARD FASHION ‘Brady Bunch’ DVD paints portrait of TV’s perfect family By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI BLADE STAFF WRITER So you say you’re 14 and your mother will not let you watch Desperate Housewives, never mind Sex and the City — and not the HBO reruns either, but those gently sanitized ver- sions that are showing in syndi- cation on TBS? BLADE PHOTOS/LISA DUTTON I totally have you beat. I know this woman from Cleve- STYLE & STATUS land, a high school teacher now, FOR CENTURIES and not an especially sheltered Cowboy boots as fashion lass, who never watched The wear may not have caught on Brady Bunch until she was with the masses until the mature enough to command 1920s, but they have had an the remote control. Garner Arness Drury element of style for centuries, She wasn’t allowed. says Don Reeves, curator of It’s just that, faced with such the cowboy collection at the a picture-perfect portrait of an National Cowboy & Western American family, her parents Heritage Museum in Okla- got all weirded out. This wasn’t homa City. how families lived, she was told, and this wasn’t how families In Europe during the worked out their problems. 1700s, for example, horse- Sometimes it was, but rarely. It men often wore boots to was all too idealized for them, Stanwyck Eastwood Boone show their status and wealth, and I have met these people, Mr. Reeves says. and they’re not recovering hip- BOOSTS FOR BOOTS This tradition carried pies or military camp aficiona- TV westerns in the 1950s and ’60s popularized through the centuries, with dos. They’re like everybody’s cowboy culture, including boots. Match the the forerunner of today’s cowboy boots emerging in parents, and though I spent a shows with the performers. childhood watching every the early 1800s, when Mexi- episode of The Brady Bunch a 1. Maverick A. James Arness can vaqueros and American seemingly endless number of 2. The Rifleman B. James Drury cowboys rode on horseback times, after sitting through The wearing boots to herd cattle, Brady Bunch: The Complete 3. Wanted: Dead or Alive C. Robert Conrad he says. The tall upper part of First Season (Paramount, 4. Have Gun, Will Travel D. James Garner the boot protected legs from briars and thorns, and the $38.99), new on DVD, I got it. 5. Gunsmoke E. Steve McQueen The Bradys are pod people. heels kept the riders’ feet in Happy, seductive, and soul- 6. The Virginian F. Barbara Stanwyck the stirrups. less. If you’re a parent, it’s easier 7. The Wild, Wild West G. Chuck Connors From the late 1860s into to explain what’s wrong with the 1880s, young men who the world than to explain why 8. The Big Valley H. Lorne Greene hired on as cowboys often your home isn’t more like the 9. Bonanza I. Clint Eastwood spent any extra wages on one where Mr. Brady and Mar- boots with decorated uppers. 10. Rawhide J. Richard Boone sha and Alice and the whole Mainstream Americans cheerful cult reside. If we’re so ANSWERS: 1-D, 2-G, 3-E, 4-J, 5-A, 6-B, 7-C, 8-F, 9-H, 10-I gained exposure to cowboy happy, you might ask, why can’t SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Cowboy boots can give anyone a western flair boots in the 1880s and we bond over measles (episode TELEVISION BY LES BROWN (NEW YORK TIMES BOOKS, $20) 1890s, thanks to Buffalo Bill 13) or learn an important lesson and his troupe in the Wild about ego after saving a child in FASHION OR FUNCTION? West shows. And an offshoot a toy store (episode 21)? Creat- of those shows — public Not all of those boots are made for gawking. ed by Sherwood Schwartz, who rodeo contests — further gives a warm, nostalgic com- While some people want cowboy boots with hey tracked outlaws with Tom “There really are no typical buyers for cow- popularized western wear mentary on a handful of style and flair, others need sure-footed work Mix in the ’20s, rode off into the boy boots,” says Lisa Lankes, spokesman through the early 1910s. episodes, The Brady Bunch gear. Many people in the horse business wear sunset with Gene Autry in the for Justin Brands, Inc., which owns Justin, Tony Performer Tom Mix and always felt true enough to make lacers such as the Justin model at ’40s, and busted a mechanical bull Lama, Nocona, and Chippewa boot mak- others helped complete the you completely jealous. left. Lacers are lace-up boots that with John Travolta in the ’80s. ers. “People of all ages, backgrounds, and sizes transformation of cowboy Especially if you were a kid. are usually about 8 inches Just last month, cowboy boots enjoy wearing cowboy boots because it’s a great working clothes into fashion- They rubbed their happi- tall and have wide, round grabbed the spotlight again, strut- look whether you’re going to the rodeo or just able western wear in the 1920s. ness in your face. There’s the ting their stuff at inaugural bash- going out to dinner. They are classic.” episode here where the Bradys toes and flat, shoelike es with the Beltway crowd. Among Western-boot retailers in the Toledo area pool trading stamps to buy heels for stability. In boots made for President Bush for agree, saying that about half of their sales are Cowboy boots are either a canoe (for the boys) or a contrast, the fashion- the inauguration are a pair hand- to people in the horse business, with the available in an array of sewing machine (for the gals), minded often crafted from alligator skin and decorated rest sprinkled among people with an eye styles and colors, such and have a card-stacking con- opt for more with the presidential seal. for fashion or a hankering for comfort and as those at top and test to decide. There’s a sadistic stylish boots such But the boots aren’t just for movie stars durability. below in Sonseeahray episode where Cindy could only as the Dan Post model at right. These boots and politicians. They’re at home almost any- “There are a lot of men who are more the Western & English invite one parent to her grade often have decorative stitching, pointed toes, where — from barnyard to boardroom. professionals — the doctors, the lawyers — Store in Perrys- school play and she’s forced by and forward-slanting western heels. An American icon whose roots extend who are coming in to wear the boots with their burg. an unfeeling school district to across centuries and cultures, their popularity dress suits,” says Kim Weisbrod, co-owner with pick the parent she loves the today touches all walks of life: men and her husband, Tom, of Sonseeahray Western most. Even at their low points, women, young and old, blue-collar and & English Store in Perrysburg. “The women, the Brady Bunch members white-collar, the practical-minded and the never fought. They learned, and fashion-conscious. See BOOTS, Page 2 at their best, behaved the way you thought your friends’ fami- lies acted when you weren’t eat- ing at their house. By chance, the day The Brady Bunch DVD landed on my desk, South Park: The Com- plete Fifth Season (Paramount, $49.99) mercifully arrived in the mail. It was a relief. I needed some reality. G THE LONG RUN: What does this say about Toledo? The longest-running films here in the last year — as in, the ones that stayed the longest in the- aters, without interruption — were The Passion of the Christ (about four months), The See FORWARD, Page 2 Ford museum plans Getting ready for the Oscars vintage fashion display By JUDIE SCHWARTZ Sarandon. This June her latest and EVELINDA URMAN novel, Starter Wife, will hit book- By RHONDA B. New York Institute. SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE stores. SEWELL Beginning March 4, Author Gigi Levangie Grazer Mrs. Grazer has attended many BLADE STAFF WRITER visitors to the Henry Ford knows about the byzantine, com- soirees with her husband of seven DEARBORN, Mich. — Museum here will be able petitive world of Oscar day prepa- years, and gave a rundown of Elizabeth Parke Firestone to view some of the late ration. Married to Brian Grazer, what a typical female Oscar invi- was serious about looking Mrs. Firestone’s collec- Ron Howard’s partner in the movie tee might undergo in order to be her best. tion in the exhibit “Vintage production Red Carpet-ready. Let the count- The blond-haired, Couture: The Fashions of company down begin. blue-eyed wife of Harvey Elizabeth Parke Firestone.” Imagine Six to 12 months before: If S. Firestone, Jr., main- The exhibit, the muse- Entertain- you even think you might be nom- tained a 24-inch waist- um’s first couture display, ment, and inated, book your hairstylist and line well into her 50s. She will showcase 50 dresses winner of makeup artist to be at your home loved American and and 200 accessories from numerous the day of the Oscars. French couture, wearing the 1920s through 1960, awards, including a best Picture Six weeks before: Add an The Bradys’ housekeeper designs by the likes of says exhibit curator Nancy Oscar for A Beautiful Mind and a extra day per week with your per- Alice (Ann B.