The Comical side of Suspenders and Braces

Suspender straps are made from various materials, including boxcloth, cloth, and elastic. Most suspenders use elastic material. This flexibility and stretch is helpful when bending, rotating, and shifting throughout the day. But stretch has its downside: it snaps and gets caught in things. As such, suspenders and braces can be used for humor and comical relief. How many vintage films have you seen where a man bends down an his rear suspender straps pop off and are now dangling over his head? Or someone pulls back a strap to test out the stretch? Or when suspender buttons pop off and the victim's pants fall down.

Here are some examples I’ve come across where braces help get a laugh.

Tintin in "The Crab with the Golden Claws"

After crashing their plane in the middle of the Sahara desert, Tintin and Captain Haddock set off to find civilization. The beating sun causes them to strip their layers of clothing, with Haddock revealing that he is wearing a pair of Y-back braces.

Captain Haddock wears black braces

The heat eventually gets to Haddock, and he suffers a heat stroke. Haddock imagines Tintin as a bottle of champagne and starts wrestling him to the ground. During the skirmish Haddock’s front braces surprisingly pop off. Haddock comes to his senses for a moment, but then sees a mirage and makes a dash for it. With his front buttons popped off, this leaves his braces dangling behind him. Snowy the dog dashes off in pursuit of Haddock. The closest thing Snowy can grab to slow Haddock down are his flapping braces, which Snowy does.

Snowy trying to slow down Haddock

But it’s futile. The rear brace buttons pop off, Haddock tumbles over, and Snowy receives the full impact of the snapped braces in his face. Ouch! Now Haddock has to wander through the desert with sagging pants.

Laurel and Hardy in "Bacon Grabbers"

Classic comedians, Stan and Oliver, are trying to enter a house through the second floor using a ladder, but it doesn’t quite reach the top. Oliver decides to elevate the ladder up to his waist, so Stan can reach the second floor. While wrestling and juggling of the ladder, the ladder ends up sit on Oliver’s waistline, on top of his brace buttons. As with Tintin, Oliver’s four front brace buttons conveniently pop off very quickly from the strain. While Stan is being obstructed with a dust broom, Oliver’s braces are now dangling behind him. However, his jacket is still on, which would inhibit the straps from falling below the waistline. But for the sake of the joke, the straps are now dangling below.


A curious dog comes out of nowhere and starts tugging on Oliver’s dangling brace straps. However, the rear buttons are remarkable strong and remain attached to the pants, unlike the front ones – but that’s all for the gag. Oliver is left holding up the ladder and holding up his pants, which are being dragged down by the dog’s grip on his braces. All for the comical moment.

A dog finds Oliver's dangling braces

These two comical moments are the norm - braces pop off and the loose straps are used for the ensuing gag. The next example is different and probably more common.


Ginger Rogers in "Monkey Business"

In this 1952 movie Cary Grant plays Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a research chemist trying to discover the fountain of youth. He is under the supervision of Oliver Oxley. Barnaby’s wife, Edwina Fulton, is played by Ginger Rogers. Barnaby accidentally digests a dose which temporarily causes him to act like a teenager. After recovering, Barnaby is quick to retest his theory of the mixture and Edwina willingly joins in. Barnaby’s boss, Oliver is also very curious to see the results and wants to watch. That sets the scene for Barnaby, Edwina, and Oliver together in the laboratory with all eyes on Edwina. She takes the mixture, but doesn’t react immediately. Barnaby and Oliver begin discussing if it will take effect or not.

Stepping back, Oliver Oxley is a middle-aged man with a large midsection. Similar to Oliver Hardy above, he is wearing a customary 1950s work outfit - a 2-piece dark suit with a white dress shirt and spotted tie. This was the standard style for office men during the 50s, worn by young and old alike. His pants are high-rise with the waistline coming above his navel. He wears a pair of inverse-U braces to hold his pants at a constant height - a belt not be effective to hold up the pants of this portly gentlemen. This is all evident because Oliver's left hand is in his trouser pocket, pushing his suit jacket back and displaying the inverse U-tabs of his braces. I'd also guess that his brace straps are polka-dotted to coordinate with his neck tie.

The camera angle focuses on the discussion between Barnaby and Oliver, with Edwina sitting on a chair to the left. During the scene you can see Oliver’s diaphragm expand and contract as he inhales and exhales. His pants waistband is larger than his waist -  but thanks to his braces - his trousers do not slip down. Instead, his braces keep the waistline at a comfortable position throughout his breathing. His brace buttons are positioned perfectly along his waistline to support his waistline and pants. He looks very comfortable and calm, with his hand in his pocket, unaware that his loose waistline is an important part in the next joke.

Edwina sitting down and looking at Barnaby and Oliver

Turning back to Edwina, she would be familiar with men’s pants style of her day. She would know that the waistline of pants have room between their stomach and waistline, and, most importantly, are held up by braces. In fact, she would see that Oliver is wearing braces. As the youthful mixture takes effect, Edwina looks at Oliver’s waistline. She could have pulled on his braces, but that would have been too obvious. Instead she looks around and finds a nearby bucket of small fish.

With Barnaby and Oliver deep in discussion the camera angle changes to focus on Edwina. She scoops up a small fish from the bowl and brings it to Oliver’s waist. She pulls his waistline back at the front as he exhales, and drops the fish down the inside of his pants.

 

While still pulling his waistline, she looks up to see if Oliver has noticed, which he hasn’t, for the sake of the joke. 

Edwina lets go of the waistline, which gently slips back into place, thanks to the tension of Oliver's braces. One would think that the pullback of Oliver's waistband would alert him to look down, but he's oblivious for the sake of the joke. It could also be that because Oliver is wearing inverse-U brace tabs instead of inverse-V braces tabs. As a result, when Edwina pulls on the waistband, the inverse-U braces adjust and slide along the arch, so Oliver does not feel the change in tension. If he was wearing inverse-V brace tabs, the tension would have pulled his front brace straps forward slightly as the brace buttons are pulled together.

 

Oliver is unaware that a fish is now in his pant leg, much to Edwina's anticipation. As an aside, compare the above screen shot to the one below, you can notice the change in Oliver's diaphragm when he inhales and exhales. The larger, more comfortable waist size of Oliver's pants are adequately supported by his braces.

As the fish begins nipping on his leg, Oliver starts to twitch. It’s a humorous moment and makes the transition from adult-Edwina to youthful-Edwina seamless. All thanks to a pair of pants worn with braces!

Here's the full sequence in a gif:

 

Ginger in "Ginger" Cartoon Magazine

This 1951 teenager magazine focused on braces in a short story:

If you think about it, there are a series of conveniences that would not ordinarily happen - the skirt has buttons already to attach the braces, the rear strap gets caught in the tree branch, and the skirt and slip remain up on the tree when Ginger jumps down. Ordinarily, the braces would pop off or the branch would break, and the skirt would follow Ginger down the tree. But that's all for the laugh.

Poppy (1936)

This vintage movie has Poppy attempting to connect his rear braces to his waistband - but after he's put his pants on already. Watch here from the 3:37 to 4:26 mark. Being a larger man, he struggles to hook the buttons on. It doesn't help that he's wearing a gloves. He tries and they snap back up, startling him. It's good comic relief. One of the comments also mentions that they like the suspenders snapping.


Discussion:

• What scenes from movies or television shows have you seen that use suspenders or braces to get a laugh?
• Do you have any memories of comical moments with braces?

When Women First Started Wearing Braces

At the end of the 1800s, women started wearing pants - both for comfort and relating to the jobs they did. As a result, women began wearing braces to hold up the pants. Alligator clips (today's "clip-ons") had not yet been invented - all "suspenders" were button-on braces. 
 

Women wearing pants with braces during the gold rush

I came across on article from 1892 in The Chronicle that comically explained some downsides to women wearing braces.

Source: The Chroncile: Spokane, Washington
Thursday, July 28, 1892

THEY WEAR GALLUSES
Something About the Latest Mannish Fad in Feminine Attire
How to Meet an Emergency

She cannot successfully chase a busted suspender up her own back, and like men she must ask somebody to pull them down

Suspenders are becoming more and more in evidence on the shoulders of women. Even the stout women are wearing them. Leaving out of consideration, says the New York World, the cost of material for a very fat women’s suspenders, it does seem to be thoughtful that they ought not to wear them. Suppose they should become detached from their rear fastenings, what would happen! When, following some great emotion, or some violent muscular effort, a pair of suspenders, like a runaway balloon, break loose from their moorings and raise to the point just below any women’s shoulder-blades, it is useless for her to try to seize them with her own hands. She can twist and wiggle and make faces and thrust her tongue in her cheek and distort herself into all the shapes of a marionette, but she cannot grasp those suspenders. Generations of men have tried to do it. Ever since the first pair of trousers the stronger sex have purpled their faces and dislocated their shoulders in the same mocking, useless, oath-forcing attempt. And shall women succeed now in a day?
 
So what’s to be done if a women’s suspenders break lose in the back, say at Twenty-third street and Broadway? Will she fly to the haven that every women seeks when an accident, visible or invisible, happens to what she wears – will she go into a shop? It will, indeed, be a courageous women who will walk into a shop with the explanation, “Excuse me a moment, I want to button my suspenders.” But even if she be brave enough to do that, to endure the scornful smiles, to face the withering looks of the sales ladies whose suspenders are never unbuttoned until they so wish, here, if she be alone, is she going to button her suspenders?
 
Men have been trying to solve that problem for lo! these many generations, and, as they give everything they own and a great many things they don’t to women, women might as well have the benefit of their experience at once. The commonest thing for a man to do in such an emergency is to unbutton his vest, throw his coat taile over the back of his head, walk up to the first man he sees, turn his back to him and ask his help. If he knows the other man he says, “Old fellow, I’ve busted my gallusses. Yank ‘em down, will you?” If he does not know him, he is, of course, more distant – that is, in his speech. He may say something like this: “Oblige me, sir, by drawing down my suspenders. As you see, they’re broken.” And the other fellow, who it’s ten thousand to one, wears suspenders himself, has a fellow feeling and obliges.

Now, there is, perhaps the simplest method and the easiest to learn. Any women can say: “Oblige me sir, by drawing down my suspenders. As you see, they’re broken.” It may be that the man’s hand will tremble a bit, but there will be a fellow feeling still, and he certainly will oblige.

Menswear by Ralph Lauren - black pants with braces

If a man’s suspender button’s fly off when the rupture between his suspenders and his trousers comes he has as a last resort that may be stated at first as being the most discomforting – to a man. He can take off his suspenders and walk on the heels of his trousers. But a women would hate to take off her suspenders, for, strangely enough, she wears them for show, most unostentatiously, proudly, delightedly, with an air that plainer than words: “Be kind enough to observe, I have taken another step toward the emancipation of the sex.” Some women, indeed, choose the gaudiest colors for their suspenders. If a man were to wear suspenders as loud as theirs he would not be able to hear himself think. For example, all Philadelphia was delighted the other day by the sight of a red headed girl wearing red suspenders and a pair of red shoes. Men, on the other hand, hide their suspenders. If they don’t wear sashes to conceal the awkward end of the ugly straps.
 
If man does not take off his broken suspenders he makes an effort to repair them. Human ingenuity has exhausted itself in this direction. Men have used twine since twine has been made and tied their suspenders down. But, then again, men have had advantage of the fact that their suspenders were hidden. What women would walk down the street with her suspenders tied to her silk dress? She’d pin ‘em first, but pins would not hold on a man. Instead of pinning his suspenders he has always nailed them, if need be, with tenpenny nails. But its doubtful if the expedient of cutting, with a jack knife, a new buttonhole in a $100 gown will be generally adopted by women. Whatever they do, however, when their suspenders rise to their shoulder blades they will find it better than to grasp them. The women who pursues her suspenders up her own back will, after assuming a number of ridiculous postures, wind up by standing on her head, a position repugnant to polite society.
 

The lady has a popped right-side exterior button

Here is another important point: Women may as well come to the same conclusion as have men, that it is useless to try to repair a broken pair of suspenders when the leather in the metal ring tears. They may be sure that when that leather attached to the ring in the back from which the suspenders radiate gives way it’s all up with the suspenders. They may sew that leather, they may clamp it, they may reinforce it with steel chains if they like, but it won’t hold anything thereafter. That’s one of the mysteries of suspenders. Another is that a buckle from one pair of suspenders was never known to fit another pair. So it will be useless, if they wear “real, true” suspenders, for women to preserve their buckles except as curios. The buckles may be gravel like those old Italian cups and dagger hilts, they may be heavy with gold, but they will never fit any other suspenders than those with which they were bought. The suspender manufacturers take care of that.

Yet another mystery of suspenders lately developed is, what do a women’s suspenders support? But, of course, that must remain a mystery. A very interesting and peculiar fact is that no women has been seen with her suspenders hanging from her waist. Walk into a newspaper office, for example – if you can – on one of these days when the mercury is soaring. There sit the men, their shirt sleeves rolled up, their suspenders kicking around their heels, perspiring; there are the women, cool and imperturbable, their suspenders where they ought to be – that is, where they ought to be on the men. But there must be moments when a women’s suspenders hang from her waist. Fancy the graceful sweep of her arms as she raises them, try to imagine the lovely curves as she carefully puts them in place.

Olive Borden in The Country Beyond (1926) with popped suspender buttons

The first and most natural result of the women’s appropriation of this article of apparel is that some young men are now embroidering suspenders for their sweethearts. That is almost too painful for contemplation. But, if they will do it, the young men should be very careful in their choices of mottoes to embroider. Suppose such as weak minded youth should embroide “I Love You” in blue silk on his girl’s suspenders, and then the suspenders should break after the word “love.” That would double the young women’s woes, for not only would she have a pair of broken suspenders to grapple with, but also the question, “Whom does he love?” Perhaps nothing could unite them – the suspenders. Again, although blue is always the color of true affection, the young man must observe his lady love’s complexion and her habit of dress before choosing the silk for his embroidery. Thus there will be many with such symphonies in colors, as that girl in Philadelphia with red hair, red suspenders and red shoes.

Discussion time:

• What do you think about women wearing braces or suspenders?
• Do women face different issues than men when wearing braces?

 Note: all photos are used solely for non-commercial use and to illustrate braces in fashion. No plagiarism is intended.