Clothing (Second edition. 1955)

[Music] [Applause] why does the cowboy we're a tough blue jeans and a rough woolen shirt why does a deep-sea diver wear a heavy water tight helmet [Music] you why do firemen wear a heavy rubber boot and heavy rubber coat most of us are not deep-sea divers or firemen or Cowboys but whoever we are or whatever our work we all wear clothing of one kind or another our clothing must protect us from the hot Sun and the summer heat light colored and lightweight clothing is much more comfortable on hot days than dark-colored heavy garments but there are days when we do need this kind of clothing when we need protection from the winter cold and from snow on other days and other seasons we need protection from the rain it's the same the whole world over and with all the world's many peoples out across the blue Pacific Ocean thousands of miles away are the Fiji Islands nature is very kind to the Fiji Islands their clothing needs are simple there's warm Pleasant sunshine the year around and the island is living out to our life most of the time nature is kind to these people of the Pacific but it's a different story in the frozen north lab here way up near the North Pole the Eskimos lived Eskimos need heavy warm clothing most of the year they wear mostly the skins and furs of animals in temperatures which go way below zero Eskimo children are warm and comfortable as they play in the snow but in a different part of the world in the desert lands of Africa the weather is hot and dry people who live here wear long robes of cotton and wool please protect them from the hot Sun and the desert wind people in other lands wear clothing very different from ours an Eskimo and its fur clothing would seem very much out of place in this group so with a Fiji Islander what does this mean that our clothing is better who is more comfortable in hot sticky weather this man in his business suit wearing a tight collar and tie or the Fiji Islanders who is warmer out of doors on a bitterly cold day this man who lives in Chicago Illinois or the Eskimo who lives in a far colder climate the people of other lands have taught us a good deal about clothing this big straw hat called a sombrero comes from Mexico our nearest neighbor to the south and where have you seen cloth is bright and colorful as its beach jacket this is very delicate needlework done skillfully and colorfully young arabian girl people of other lands often have a wonderful feeling for design and for color we can learn from them and they can learn from us let's go back to pioneer day back to the early days of the American frontier [Music] every pioneer probably missed the shot down again and lurking behind every tree there may have been Indians but not all of them were enemies in fact from the Indian the Pioneer learned to make clothing clothing a buckskin the smooth beautiful skin of the deer the woodland Indian had worn buckskin for centuries before the coming of the white man it was good clothing for life in the wilderness woollen cloth is made from the thick fleece of sheep to the pioneer women and girls woolen cloth seem better than buckskin but the rough wool had to be combed out bit by bit by hand it had to be spun into yarn on a spinning wheel and then after it was dyed it had to be woven into cloth on the handloom slowly a bit at a time in pioneer days it often took a woman weeks to make enough cloth for a simple dress the cloth was often beautiful but the work was slow and hard but today most of the work of weaving cloth is done by machines which need few workers to tend them and by freight train and truck from distant points of our own country and by ship from other countries of the world come the materials which go into our clothing from the Far West comes the wool from great herds of sheep from the crop lands of the southern and southwestern states we get cotton to make cloth and from the green forest comes material for our club chemists in their laboratories have learned to make cloth from wood pulp it is called rayon and nylon is made mostly from coal but let's see how much work goes into just one item of clothing a pair of leather shoes leather is made from the skins or hides of animals after the hides are soaked in a strong liquid a process known as tanning they must be dried these men who work with leather are called tanners after the drying process the hides are ready to be colored we can have leather of any color we wish tanning drying coloring the work of many skilled men and machines the final polishing is done on the machine that gives the leather a beautiful luster we depend on the work done by these tanners who make finished leather out of rough hides we depend on the man who stitches our shoes on another kind of machine and on the man who makes sure that our shoes fit as properly to see that they are not too tight or too loose much hard work and skill goes into making our shoes and all of our clothing for this reason it's a good idea to take care of clothes shoes need to be polished now on them the Polish makes them look better and we're longer dresses keep their shape best if they're put on hangers blue jeans and an old sweater are better to play baseball in than a blue Serge suit it's not difficult to learn to sew to mend holes and tears so that they don't become larger the materials for our clothing come from every part of the country it takes the work of many skilled hands and many machines to produce our clothing we have learned much about clothing about materials styles new ideas from the people of other lands in clothing and in many other things we depend on and learn from other people and they learn from us