TNT’s Dallas Styles: J.R.’s Wristwatch

June 14, 2012 by 21 Comments

Watch out

The most poignant moment in “Changing of the Guard” finds Bobby visiting J.R. in the nursing home, where the older brother sits motionless and speechless, a captive of his own depression. Director Michael M. Robin ends the scene with a tight shot of Larry Hagman’s hands, and that’s when we see his character is wearing an elaborate gold wristwatch. Emblazoned on the band: the initials “J.R.”

The first time I glimpsed the watch, I didn’t like it. This didn’t seem like something J.R. would wear. After a tip from a reader (see below), I realized J.R. did in fact wear this watch – or at least one similar to it – during the original “Dallas’s” later years. For much of the show’s run, though, he was among its least flashiest dressers, favoring boring business suits and nondescript neckties.

Regardless, this isn’t who J.R. is anymore. When TNT’s “Dallas” begins, his career is over. He’s lost his fortune, his family and any semblance of his youth. J.R. is old now.

The watch symbolizes this. Yes, wearing a timepiece with your own name stamped on it is pretty gauche, but maybe it’s the only way J.R. has to hold onto his identity. It reminds him of who he used to be.

The wristwatch may offer a reality check, too. Watches are clocks after all, and maybe seeing “J.R.” on his wristband helps him understand the sad truth: Even J.R. Ewing can’t control the passage of time.

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Dallas Styles: The Colors of ‘Return Engagements’

May 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Green, green glow of home

When “Return Engagements”begins, Miss Ellie is sitting in her missing son Gary’s bedroom, leafing through pictures he drew as a child. It’s a fitting opening. At times, this episode looks more like a Crayola production than something Lorimar made.

The actors and sets in “Return Engagement” are splashed with bright colors, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The hues seem to offer clues to help the audience better understand the Ewings and their predicaments.

The most striking examples are found in Val’s stylish living room, which brims with blues and greens. The sofa is navy, the walls are aqua and leafy plants abound.

The soothing blues let us know Val’s life is less turbulent than in her previous “Dallas” appearances, while the greenery suggests her fortunes are rising. We don’t know what Val is doing professionally these days, but this doesn’t look like the home of someone scraping by on waitressing tips.

Blue is also used to signal Miss Ellie’s changing moods. When a saddened Ellie looks at Gary’s childhood drawings, she wears a light blue blouse. At the end of “Return Engagements,” when true-blue Ellie delivers her moving monologue and admits she didn’t do enough to help Gary and Val keep Lucy, she wears a navy suit.

Peachy, but not so keen

In “Return Engagements,” we also learn Gary and Val have renewed their romance, making her apartment their sanctuary during his secret visits to Dallas. Perhaps to signify the couple’s enduring love, the show makes Val’s bedroom wall-to-wall peach, a symbol of immortality in Chinese mythology.

Other uses of color in this episode: In the first act, J.R., his morals as muddied as ever, is covered hat to boots in brown, while jealous Kristin sports a green polo shirt when she finds J.R. cozying up to Sally Bullock.

Speaking of the Bullocks: Crotchety Mr. Eugene and gold-digging Sally don’t sport anything particularly bright in this episode, but that’s OK. With personalities as colorful as theirs, who cares what they wear?

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Dallas Styles: Jock’s Bathrobe

May 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

‘Ellie Saves the Day’

Is it a coincidence Jim Davis wears a bathrobe during some of Jock’s most vulnerable moments on “Dallas?”

In “Survival,” Jock is clad in a beige terrycloth robe when he overhears Miss Ellie’s confrontation with a Dallas Press reporter and learns the plane carrying J.R. and Bobby has crashed. The usually rock-like Jock crumbles upon hearing the news. “Damn it, Ellie,” he says with wet eyes. “Both of them. Why?”

In “Ellie Saves the Day,” Jock is wearing a different robe – this one appears to be dark blue with white dots – when he learns J.R.’s risky Asian oil deal has brought the Ewing empire to the brink of collapse. It’s a moment of reckoning for Jock. At one point, he buries his face in his giant hand and tells Bobby, “I trained J.R. and taught him everything he knows. Gave him the fever for big business. But I never taught him when to stop.”

The bathrobes are crucial props in both scenes. Davis cuts such an imposing figure, it’s hard to forget he was almost 70 when “Dallas” began. The robes help the actor humanize his character, reminding us Jock is in his twilight, even if he doesn’t look or act like it.

Appropriately, the bathrobe also helps Ellie – and “Dallas” viewers – come to terms with Jock’s loss. In the fifth-season episode “Acceptance,” Ellie finally stops denying Jock’s death and walks into his closet, where she tenderly touches his clothes. Hanging among them: that blue-and-white-dotted robe, reminding us once again that Jock really was mortal.

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Dallas Styles: Sue Ellen’s Jeans

May 22, 2012 by 6 Comments

Forever in blue jeans

Sue Ellen is “Dallas’s” classiest dresser, so when she wears jeans in “Rodeo,” it’s worth noting. Yes, there are practical reasons for this particular wardrobe choice – what else would one wear to a rodeo? – but the denim carries symbolic value, too.

Jeans have signified defiance since James Dean popularized them in “Rebel Without a Cause,” and rebellion is what Sue Ellen seems to have on her mind at the Ewing Rodeo. She spends the afternoon flirting with dashing cowboy Dusty Farlow, which drives J.R. nuts.

But Sue Ellen isn’t just trying to annoy her husband. She’s finally recovering from her disastrous affair with Cliff and considering letting down her guard with Dusty – which is the message the rest of her “Rodeo” outfit sends.

Sue Ellen’s tan vest and knee-high boots match her complexion, making them an extension of the character’s flesh. Metaphorically, Sue Ellen is baring herself.

The whole look is timeless, and Linda Gray has never looked better. If she wore this same outfit on TNT’s new “Dallas,” she’d be just as fashionable as she was when “Rodeo” aired in 1979.

If only her relationship with Dusty proved as durable.

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Dallas Styles: Lucy’s Pigtails

May 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Cute!

Pigtails were a fashion trend on television in the 1970s. Melissa Gilbert famously wore them on “Little House on the Prairie,” but the style wasn’t just for kids. Louise Lasser was almost always seen in tight braids on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” while Suzanne Somers sometimes sported double ponytails on “Three’s Company.”

Lucy hops on the pigtails bandwagon during “Dallas’s” third season. The look makes her trendy, but there are probably practical reasons for this, too. Charlene Tilton mostly wears the style during outdoor scenes at Southfork, where the tight braids undoubtedly protected her hair from the Texas wind during location shoots.

Lucy’s pigtails also reflect the show’s inability to decide if the character is a girl or a woman. In “Secrets,” Lucy is wearing pigtails when her mother Valene tries to comfort her, only to have Lucy smack away Val’s hand. This is a childish act, yet Lucy is no child. After all, the scene takes place on the college campus where she is a student.

The pigtails hold other symbolic value. In the “Secrets” scene, Joan Van Ark wears her hair in two loose ponytails, so having Lucy mimic Val’s style offers a subtle reminder of the characters’ connection.

Whatever the reason for Lucy’s pigtails, one thing is certain: Tilton looks darn cute in them. Still, I wish “Dallas” would have treated her character more like a grownup – hairstyle and all.

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Dallas Styles: Digger’s Hat

May 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

He’s back, and he’s brought a hat

In “The Silent Killer,” Digger Barnes makes his first appearance on “Dallas” since “Double Wedding,” which debuted almost a year earlier. “The Silent Killer” also marks the debut of Digger’s hat, one of the character’s signatures.

The hat looks like a cheap fedora. Notably, it isn’t a Stetson, the chapeau style favored by most of the men on “Dallas.” This makes sense. After all, Digger has spent his life kicking around oil fields, not cow pastures.

“Dallas” completes Digger’s blue-collar look by dressing him in work shirts – either blue or white – along with white socks and dark pants and shoes. This is the look he sports most often during “Dallas’s” third season.

My favorite detail, though, is the eyeglass case he keeps in his front shirt pocket. When I was growing up, my dad carried his glasses in the front pocket of his work shirts, too, so this detail rings true to me. (Dad also favored white socks with dark pants, which I found horrifying when I was a teenager. Now I think it’s endearing.)

Interestingly, Digger’s glasses always remain in his pocket; we never see him wear them. This is too bad. If any “Dallas” character needs help seeing things more clearly, it’s poor old Digger Barnes.

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Dallas Styles: Cliff’s ‘Winner Look’

April 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

Dashing!

“Dallas’s” second-season episode “For Love or Money” establishes an interesting facet of Cliff’s character: He may be the show’s biggest cheapskate, but he’s willing to splurge on nice clothes.

The first time we see Cliff in this episode, he’s being fitted for a new suit at The Store while his sister Pam, a Store employee, watches and teases him.

Special delivery

“I am impressed,” she says. “Did you get tired of your underdog look?”

“Underdog?” Cliff responds. “That’s out. Now it’s the winner look that’s in.”

The conversation alludes to the events of an earlier second-season episode, “Election,” when Cliff loses a race for state senate because he isn’t willing to play dirty like the Ewings, who backed his opponent.

After the loss, Cliff resolves to do whatever it takes to beat the Ewings. He begins an affair with J.R.’s wife Sue Ellen, then becomes the state’s land-use chief, a position he uses as a platform for revenge.

In “For Love or Money,” Cliff’s new suit – a three-piece, pinstriped number – symbolizes his attempt to emulate his wealthier enemies.

Cliff is wearing the vest and pants at the end of the episode, when his secretary buzzes him in his office to announce J.R. wants to see him. Cliff quickly and somewhat nervously dons the jacket and adjusts his shirt cuffs before opening the door to his archrival. The implication: He wants J.R. to see him as an equal.

This dynamic continues during “Dallas’s” later years. Cliff remains a tightwad – he lives in modest homes and never loses his affinity for Chinese takeout – but his sense of style never suffers.

The result: Ken Kercheval becomes “Dallas’s” sharpest-dressed actor. Flamboyant pocket squares becomes one of Cliff’s signatures, and in the next-to-last episode, “The Decline and Fall of the Ewing Empire,” the character achieves his longtime ambition of taking Ewing Oil away from J.R.

Finally, Cliff isn’t just dressing like a winner. He is one.

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Dallas Styles: Ray’s Plaid Suit

April 23, 2012 by 2 Comments

Good men wear plaid

When “Dallas” begins, J.R. isn’t the only shady character at Southfork – so is his buddy Ray. The two men try to break up Bobby and Pam and go carousing in Waco, all while Ray is secretly having trysts in the hayloft with Lucy.

Perhaps realizing two cads are two too many, “Dallas” turns Ray into a hero during the second season. The evolution doesn’t happen overnight – on his way to redemption, Ray has a one-night stand with Sue Ellen – but it’s soon clear Ray is becoming a new man.

The character grows more honest and reliable, and much more honorable. In other words, Ray becomes a lot like the cowboys who preceded him in prime time. Think Marshal Matt Dillon, but without the badge.

To underscore this change, “Dallas” tweaks Steve Kanaly’s wardrobe. The orange hunting vest and heavy jacket he wears during the first season are replaced by a more traditional cowboy uniform of plaid shirts and blue jeans.

The transformation continues in “Triangle,” when Ray falls for Garnet McGee, an ambitious country-western singer who cheats on him with J.R. It’s the first time we really root for Ray, which is pretty remarkable given all the smarmy stuff he’s done in the past.

In one of “Triangle’s” pivotal moments, Ray brings Garnet to a nighttime party at Southfork. The scene is a plot device to introduce Garnet to J.R., who is instantly smitten with her, but the show also uses the sequence as another opportunity to remind us of Ray’s cowboy bona fides.

The character comes to the party dressed in a gray plaid suit with a blue string tie, not unlike the ones Colonel Sanders used to wear in those Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials. Ray’s outfit is thoroughly western, letting us know he’s a cowboy even when’s off the clock.

It’s a little surprising Kanaly is given a gray hat to wear in this scene instead of a white one, which is the color of choice for most western heroes.

Then again, no “Dallas” character is all good or all bad – and even though Ray is becoming a better man, he’s far from perfect – so maybe a gray hat is the best choice after all.

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Dallas Styles: Miss Ellie’s Pearls

April 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Don’t mess with Mama

The second-season episode “Survival” features one of my all-time favorite “Dallas” moments: the scene where Miss Ellie points a shotgun at a snoopy newspaper reporter and orders him off Southfork.

The confrontation demonstrates how the Ewings, a thoroughly modern family, cling to old values like defending their land. The shotgun, a symbol of the American frontier, is a crucial prop in the scene – but so are the pearls around Ellie’s neck.

Until characters like Peg Bundy and Roseanne Connor smashed the stereotype in the 1980s, pearls were one of television’s most enduring symbols of motherhood. Donna Reed and Barbara Billingsley wore them while doing housework and mediating domestic disputes in 1950s sitcoms, and Barbara Bel Geddes continued the tradition when “Dallas” began in 1978.

Miss Ellie wears pearls a lot during the show’s second season, when “Dallas” is establishing her character as the show’s wise matriarch. The white beads help reinforce the pearls of wisdom Ellie is forever dispensing to her family.

But the necklace is never more important than it is in “Survival,” when Ellie answers the front door at Southfork to find a reporter seeking comment about the crash of the Ewings’ plane with J.R. and Bobby aboard. Ellie doesn’t take kindly to this intrusion, ordering Ray to fetch the shotgun from the hall closet.

Without the necklace, Ellie is just a little woman holding a gun. Add the pearls and she becomes wife, mother and fierce protector of her family.

Ellie doesn’t wear her pearls as often in “Dallas’s” later years (although Reed sports them when she plays Ellie during the show’s eighth season) and we never see the character wield a shotgun after this episode.

That’s OK, because at that point, we know not to mess with Miss Ellie.

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Dallas Styles: Sue Ellen’s Pins

April 18, 2012 by 4 Comments

‘Black Market Baby’

Sue Ellen sports some interesting accessories during “Dallas’s” second season, particularly during her scenes with Cliff.

She meets him in “Black Market Baby,” when she has a big fabric rose pinned to the lapel of her burgundy jacket. The fake flower is an ideal symbol for the beginning of Sue Ellen and Cliff’s relationship, when they pretend to like each other. In fact, their mutual disdain for J.R. is really the only thing they have in common.

‘Election’

In “Election,”Sue Ellen runs into Cliff again when the Daughters of the Alamo sponsors a debate between him and Martin Cole, his opponent in the state senate race. This time, she wears a pin that resembles a bird’s wing – several feathers, fastened together at what appears to be an amethyst base.

It might seem like Sue Ellen is telegraphing her eagerness to spread her wings, leave J.R. and find happiness with someone else. But remember: she’s wearing only one wing – and that’s not going to get her very far.

Neither is her relationship with Cliff.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: ,
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