Shirts (Miscellaneous) - The
following is a list of some of the more memorable examples of shirts
being used by characters on a number of television series.
Bill Cosby demonstrated his loyalty to his Alma Mater Temple
University by having the Temple "T" logo framed and hanging on the
office wall of obstetrician Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable and by having
his television family wear Temple University tee shirts on his
sitcom COSBY/NBC/1984-92.
Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) wore a purple football jersey with
the number 10 on it when she lounged around her apartment on the
sitcom THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW/CBS/1970-77.
Sally McMillan (Susan St. James), the wife of San Francisco police
commissioner Stewart McMillan (Rock Hudson) on the police drama
MCMILLAN & WIFE/NBC/1971-77 often lounged around her home in a
football jersey displaying the number 18. The number 18 was that of
Gene Washington of the San Francisco 49'ers.
On the pilot episode of TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT/ABC/1980-83, the
series star Ted Knight wore a University of Michigan sweat shirt in
his role of cartoonist Henry Rush. The show's producer liked the
casual touch but didn't want Ted locked into advertising a single
school. The decision was made to wear a different school's sweat
shirt each week, for example, Yale, Slippery Rock, University of
Kalamazoo and Ted's own Alma Mater, the Randall School of Dramatic
Arts in Hartford Connecticut (which no longer exists).
Lt. Colonel Henry Blake played by McLean Stevenson on the military
comedy M*A*S*H/CBS/1972-83 wore a school Jersey from the University
of Illinois.
Dwight Schultz who played the crazy AWOL mercenary Captain H. M.
"Howling Mad" Murdock on THE A-TEAM/NBC/1983-87 would get together
with the prop department and make up a tee-shirt with a saying or
picture of playwrights or politicians.
Actress Mariette Hartley did a series of Polaroid commercials in
1977 with James Garner where they were teamed as a loving but
bickering husband and wife. Due to the popularity of the
commercials, many across America assumed that she was married to
James Garner. To combat those impressions, she made up a tee-shirt
with the message: "I am not Mrs. James Garner" and wore it on TV
talk shows to dispel any such rumors.
The beer-drinking loafer Onslow (Geoffrey Hughes) on the British
sitcom KEEPING UP APPEARANCES/BBC/1990-95 wore a Green Bay Packers
T-shirt during the last season.
