1970s Children's TOS Tunics

Around 1975 I got a child's gold command shirt, short sleeved with a great ribbed collar.

(While in 7th grade I dug it out of the closet to wear to ST:TMP. Had to slouch BAD, it was so short, and of course I had my Life cereal/Nestle's Quik gut by then. Great decision. Other junior high kids were really "impressed.")

It is one of the great annoyances of my post-internet life that I cannot find any pics, evidence, ref.'s to these shirts. The other colors, I think, were red and green (a real green, forest green, not Theiss-avocado!). Do any of you remember/know of this kids' apparel? I salvaged the insignia (now on my sweet, mustard-colored polo shirt awaiting May 9), so I know MINE existed. It was some kids' brand like GrrAnimals, but not really that brand.

Thanks. My first thread. Please be gentle.

 

Don't recall that one. Are you sure it was the real deal and not one that someone made for you? My first TOS uniform shirt was a homemade job for Halloween 1975 -- a gold sweatshirt, homemade silver Starfleet chevron and sleeve rank insignia, all courtesy of my mom. I recall at the time being quite happy with her work because I couldn't find a 'real' TOS uniform. Also, AMT had issued a model kit with phaser, communicator and tricorder, all of which I assembled in time for trick-or-treating....

 

Thanks for replying and Yup, it was store bought. Short sleeves, though. I remember the store and the other colors to choose from. One of the colors was wrong (i.e., not one of the colors in TOS). I'm pretty sure the green was in place of Science blue, but it might have subbed for red. Long time ago.

And you're referring to AMT's "Exploration Set." I had two of the three parts while wearing the shirt to TMP in '79. As if the too-small Kirk shirt wasn't enough, the plastic phaser and tricorder really helped my status in Jr. High. Any Metro Detroiters reading this? This was at 12 Oaks Mall. "Freaks and Geeks" was probably there getting some stock footage in advance.

 

I remember these and actually had one that was gold, if I recall correctly. They may have been sold through JCPenney. A few years later, when the first film came out, one of the higher end department stores sold uniform shirts from the film. I had one that was Kirk's short-sleeved white command shirt.

 

I had all three colors, they were made by Donmoor. I can't find pics either (except for one of me in it in an old photo album in my closet). But yep, they did exist and they were amazing. The insignia were perfect.

EDIT: Found a picture of a gold one

http://www.ioffer.com/img/item/473/869/01/DSCF0157.JPG

 

That's the one that I had. The patch had little gold foil as the background that held up for a long time under repeated washes before finally coming off. The fabric was pretty sturdy, too, for a kid's shirt, a little stretchy but thicker than some polo shirts I have now.

 

You have solved one of the mysteries of my life! Thanks a lot.

(Now if I could only see a picture of a 1969 flat, stuffed, Mattell pillow with a pull-string. It was a psychedelic dog - painted like the owl in the Tootsie Pop commercial and it said things like, "You'd cry too if you were painted blue," and, "Nobody loves me." Must have been when acid first infiltrated the toy-making ranks. It existed - I'd just like to see a picture.)

Anyway, thanks again for clearing up the shirt mystery!

 

Now that I know the brand, Donmoor, I'm finding more about the kids' '70s shirts online. Here's a link to another forum if this is allowed (I'm new at this).

http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/forum/index.php?topic=4705.0

They get into the whole Kirk-avocado thing, but also talk re. the true-green shirt Donmoor made. Then they extrapolate who might have worn such a green shirt in Starfleet. There's a picture of the green shirt on one of the pages somewhere. Have fun.

 

As a really small tyke around this same time I wore a child's TOS shirt for Halloween one year along with a Captain Kirk mask that was sold separately by another company. I think it was a gold/yellow command shirt as far as I can recall. I also got a ST:TMP child's t-shirt with a command emblem/delta on it around age five in late 1979 or early 1980. Had that thing until my adolescence when it got torn up and all I could salvage was the iron-on delta shield.

 

Here's me in mine, circa 1976:

 

DAVID SPADE?!

 

I had one of these too, I had a Gold one and my next store neighbor had a blue one, his brother had a green one (Which we used to pick on him about, since there was no green on the show :P )

I am looking for a pick of me in mine, the only one I can remember is racing down one of those old Alpine sled slides on Camelback Mountain! (All Kirk Like and scared out of my eight year wits )

 

You're a jerk, that's a great pic!

 

Yeah, I had a green one. At the time, I didn't really think about what service division it was supposed to be...

 

I was just joshing.

I liked it too. You should see MY pics from the mid-to-late 70s. I look like someone shrunk Luke Skywalker down to a midget with Down's Syndrome.

 

I'd like to think that any photographic evidence of me in the 70s had been lost in a fire somewhere, but alas, I'm sure my mother has them tucked away somewhere. Leisure Suits should have been considered child abuse.

 

I had the Captain's gold shirt, and the red Engineer's shirt. C.1975. Never got the Science blue, because a friend had it. I still have them, albeit in a clset at my Mom's house. They are each about as big as my hands held together.

It's funny you mention this. I was thinking about them the other day as I was browsing these.

 

I'VE STILL GOT MINE!! The string broke a long time ago, but I've still got the poor thing. I'll get a pic the next time I dig into the storage unit.

Oh, and I also had one of those shirts. Kinda wish I'd gotten the long sleeve one, but at the time, I opted for the short sleeve because the long sleeve had ribbed cuffs, like the collar, which I knew was inaccurate, and no rank stripes. It wasn't until they were off the market that it dawned on me that it'd be a simple matter to fix the cuffs.

 

Is that (the depressed dog, "Puppy Patter") NOT one of the strangest toys evah? A depressed, psychedelic dog. Wow. I'm glad you still have yours. There are Mattell collectors out there. Thanks for the reply on this non-Trek sideline. Although, I CAN kinda picture him in "The Way to Eden."

"Steppin in to Eden. Yea, brother. You'd cry too, if you were painted blue, Herbert."

 

Sometime in the late 70's, I ordered a pattern from the Lincoln Enterprises mail order catalog, along with the Command Insignia patch. Then, my girlfriend(who is now my wife)'s mother made it from the pattern. We were actually able to find the rank braiding in the fabric store, and it looks exactly like what they used on the show. I wore it for a Halloween party. Because it was based on a so-called "official" pattern, and we were careful to buy the correct fabric, it looked very authentic, even though it's homemade. I just wore it with black slacks and black boots. I also had the AMT exploration set, phaser/tricorder/communicator, and brought that to the party as well.

I have no actual pics from that party, but I still have the tunic. Although, I doubt I could fit in it now.

Years later, my wife bought the first season TNG uniform pattern at a fabric store, and made one for me and my son(who was 8 at the time) and we both wore them when I took him out for trick-or-treat.

I still have both, but alas, probably cannot wear them, due to midlife expansion.