The first real suit I ever got was for my Bar Mitzvah. My mother would hear of nothing less than to go downtown to Barney’s Boys Town and get me something special for my special day. Probably unbeknownst to my mother, I was a bit overweight at that age and had to go into a special department and try on a short men’s suit, which were called euphemistically Husky — a.k.a fat. Getting a suit was great; getting a husky suit that had to be altered with a take it in here and a let it out a lot over there, not so much fun when you’re a husky 12 year old. By the early 1960’s suits had been refined to the point where we had short, tall, and in my case, Husky.
Since that time I have had many suits — some off the rack, others made to measure, as they say, and have always enjoyed wearing a well fitting suit with shirt and tie to match.
That first very special suit purchased in 1959 was one hundred dollars, which at the time was not inexpensive. In fact, take a look at the Robert Hall Commercial showing a suit that could be had for thirty one dollars!
