Tights are not pants. Apparently, some tights are not even tights.

November 3, 2011 9:44 AM

In what movie(?) does a little brother draw lines on the back of his sister's legs to fake a pair of silk stockings?

Years ago (probably early-mid 90s) I was watching something on TV (probably a movie, though it could have been a TV show) with my mom. The movie was set sometime in the past (or it just could have been an old movie); probably during WWII if I had to guess. The only scene I remember is of a chick (high school aged, I think) getting ready to go out on a date. She has a small boy (little brother?) draw lines on the back of her legs going up her calves, in magic marker(?), to look like the seams of stockings. She says something like "make sure you get them straight!" and he says something like, "yeah, yeah." I think the girl may have been wearing a navy blue polka dot dress, but I could just be making that up because polka-dotted dresses are awesome.

I remember this particularly because I had to ask my mom what was going on and I got a little history lesson about women's fashion. "Why is he drawing on her legs?" "To make it look like she's wearing hose." "Hose don't have lines on them." "They used to be sewn together with a seam that would run up the back of the leg." "But then why doesn't she just wear hose?" "Because they're expensive." "But you get yours at walmart for a dollar a thing." "Well, back in the [decade]s, they were made out of silk and much more expensive." "Why does she even want to look like she's wearing hose?" "Because it makes her outfit look more put-together." "But she has nice legs already." And so on.

Anyway, any idea what this movie was? It's been bugging me for a while now and googling it has proved useless so far.

Wow! Almost 200,000 AskMe questions, what what! Thanks for all the memories, guys!

posted by phunniemee to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Best answer: Hope and Glory?
posted by Madamina at 9:49 AM on November 3, 2011 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Hope and Glory! A movie about life in London during WW2.
posted by girl scientist at 9:50 AM on November 3, 2011

Best answer: That sounds familiar to me, and I saw Hope and Glory, so I'll vote for that too.
posted by pyjammy at 9:50 AM on November 3, 2011

I think it was done in the Palin movie "A Private Function"
Also I recall something like this in "1941"
posted by Gungho at 9:52 AM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Sounds like it must be Hope and Glory, then! I'll have to give it a watch.

Thanks!
posted by phunniemee at 9:53 AM on November 3, 2011

Best answer: Yes, it is totally Hope and Glory, one of my favorite movies when I was a kid.
posted by Foam Pants at 9:58 AM on November 3, 2011

Best answer: Years ago I caught one scene from a movie that really disturbed me at the time, and I've tried to find out which one it's from a few times with no luck.

Thanks to this I've confirmed that it's Hope and Glory that contains this scene, where a boy threatens to "shoot" another by hammering the firing pin of a bullet that has been clamped in a vice.
posted by CaseyB at 10:08 AM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think there's a similar scene in Woody Allen's Radio Days but I cannot confirm at this moment.
posted by bijou243 at 10:18 AM on November 3, 2011

Best answer: Yep, Hope And Glory. I remember this very scene; she's getting him to draw them all the way up her thighs and he complains "who's going to see it all the way up there?" And she grins slyly and says "they'll see it when I do the jitterbug," and does a dance step and her skirt twirls up....

...Yeah, if this scene sounds familiar, it's definitely Hope And Glory.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:40 AM on November 3, 2011

BTW, the reason they didn't have silk stockings is because silk was an essential war material, used to make parachutes. Almost no one had silk stockings then - it was unpatriotic.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:43 AM on November 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

...which is why people froke out when the German pilot parachuted in with a silk parachute.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:30 AM on November 3, 2011

Hmmm... I have never seen Hope & Glory and I know this scene. Could there be a similar scene in Biloxi Blues?
posted by amanda at 11:32 AM on November 3, 2011

On further thought, clearly the hive mind is together on this. Perhaps I did see that movie on some endless HBO rotation. Nevermind!
posted by amanda at 11:35 AM on November 3, 2011

I've thought about this movie a lot since I saw it on cable years ago, probably around 1989. Thanks for asking this!

fishing via ordnance, cricket, poison jam, hand caught in the door, inappropriate grandpa talking about prostitute boobs, the word "fuck", bullet in the vice

I remember this being such a good movie, but I haven't seen it since the late '80s. I'll have to give it another go and see if it holds up.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:44 AM on November 3, 2011

FWIW, my grandmother and others have told me everybody did this drawing on the legs thing, because of the wartime rationing of essential supplies. I may be mistaken, but I believe the materials for hose were better used for parachutes.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 5:31 PM on November 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Chaussette and the Pussy Cats is correct. If the action was during WWII, silk hosiery was unavailable, rayon stockings (were awful I am told), and the "new" nylon hosiery was very hard to find. Nylons were used as bribery as were soap, and chocolate, and cigarettes, besides the parachute thing.
posted by Cranberry at 11:40 PM on November 3, 2011