Jack McBrayer as Kenneth Parcell, dressed as Leap Day William, on 30 Rock, Episode 6.09: “Leap Day”
Vitals
Leap Day William, as portrayed by Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), Jim Carrey, and John Cullum
New York City, February 29, 2012
Series: 30 Rock
Episode: “Leap Day” (Episode 6.09)
Air Date: February 23, 2012
Director: Steve Buscemi
Creator: Tina Fey
Costume Designer: Tom Broecker
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy Leap Day! Though the concept of a 366th day in the year dates back for millennia, the quadrennial observance of February 29 had long been ignored by movies and TV shows. Enter the alternate universe of 30 Rock, where Leap Day is a beloved holiday with its own traditions that include eating rhubarb and wearing blue and yellow… lest you be greeted with “poke your eye, pull your hair, you forgot what clothes to wear!”
The concept was developed after the 30 Rock writing team realized that the January 2012 start of the series’ sixth and penultimate season meant bypassing the usual holiday-themed episodes set around Halloween and Christmas.
“When you’re that deep into a show, especially a show that just devours narratives, holidays are a huge relief because they give you an easy starting place,” writer Luke Del Tredici explained to Devon Ivie for Vulture. Luckily, the writers soon recognized the opportunities of leap year being a significant holiday in the 30 Rock universe, retconning that lead character Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) was ignorant of the observance in 2008 as she evidently spent that leap day on a Michael’s crafting cruise.
Recognizing the need for a mascot sharing the generally benevolent but somewhat sinister undertones of his spiritual cousins Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, 30 Rock introduced Leap Day William, a mustache-twirling, begilled dandy who emerges from the Mariana Trench every four years to trade children’s tears for candy.
What’d He Wear?
As seen across its three major incarnations, the canonical Leap Day William look consists of a bold blue single-breasted suit, yellow shirt, blue-and-yellow striped bow tie, yellow-banded blue straw boater, and an odd waistcoat along the yellow-to-brown spectrum.
Kenneth Parcell
As one would expect of NBC’s most enthusiastic page, Kenneth Parcell fully embraces the opportunity to don his Leap Day William costume, outfitted from head to toe in the in-universe traditional garb of blue and yellow, complete with white dress gloves and spats.
Kenneth’s blue suit matches his exuberance, made from a bright shade of blue polyester somewhere between blueberry and sapphire. The suit follows a typical design with its single-breasted, two-button jacket and flat-front trousers. He wears a light yellow cotton shirt with a front placket and button cuffs, and his gold waistcoat fastens high on his chest with blazer-style buttons of crested gilt. His yellow silk bow-tie has blue-on-blue stripe sets, alternating between a wide light-blue stripe with four narrow navy stripes and a wide navy stripe with four narrow light-blue stripes. He completes the look with white dress gloves, white spats over his black shoes, and Leap Day William’s signature blue boater with a yellow ribbon band.
Even Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) embraces Leap Day tradition with his gold-and-blue striped tie. Of course, it’s just the allotted limit for Jack as he explains in an earlier episode that, “where I come from, if you have more than two colors on a tie, it means you’re looking for a certain kind of bar.”
Even after dressing for work in his page uniform and putting on his wig taking off his bald cap, Kenneth still shows his Leap Day cheer by dressing his jacket’s breast pocket with yellow and blue silk pocket squares.
Jim Carrey
Like any holiday worth celebrating, Leap Day has its own movie: Leap Dave Williams, starring Jim Carrey and Andie MacDowell. Seemingly a pastiche of both The Santa Clause and Carrey’s own Liar Liar, Carrey “stars” as uptight lawyer Dave Williams, who involuntarily transforms into the real Leap Day William after an ice fishing accident.
Of course, this means Dave dresses like William in a navy suit, yellow shirt, striped bow tie, and boater, though his costume slightly differs from what Kenneth had worn, most significantly as Dave wears a bright yellow cable-knit five-button cardigan as his intermediate layer. His suit is a darker navy with jetted—rather than flapped—hip pockets, the shirt has more of a spread collar, and his silk bow tie has balanced yellow and blue stripes, separated by narrower navy stripes.
While in his home, Dave cycles through a series of canonically correct blue boaters with yellow ribbons, though the brief shot of him by the seaside has a pale-blue ribbon instead.
Even being limited to filming all of his scenes for the episode in one day, Carrey was reportedly an enthusiastic and creative collaborator on building out his characterization for the fictional movie-within-a-show, including insisting that Dave Williams rip off all but the trousers of his blue-and-yellow clothing as he cathartically runs home during the final act of Leap Dave Williams.
The Real Leap Day William?
After a disappointingly inexpensive (relatively speaking) experience at Benihana, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) encounters a mysterious yet familiarly dressed old man (John Cullum), suggested to be the real Leap Day William.
Naturally, he wears the requisite blue suit and yellow-ribboned straw boater, though the rest of his layers are more subdued than what Kenneth and Jim Carrey had worn, with a pale-yellow striped shirt, a yellow silk bow tie with rust stripes, periwinkle stripes, and periwinkle paisley drops, and a brown wool six-button waistcoat.
How to Get the Look
Jack McBrayer as Kenneth Parcell, dressed as Leap Day William, on 30 Rock
As Dot Com’s track jacket and Liz’s Hawaiian shirt illustrate, any blue and yellow is appropriate for Leap Day, but celebrants hoping to channel today’s favorite Mariana Trench-dwelling candy distributor should dress to the, uh, gills.
- Blue suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
- Flat-front trousers with plain-hemmed bottoms
- Yellow shirt with front placket and button cuffs
- Yellow-and-blue striped silk bow tie
- Yellow or brown single-breasted waistcoat/vest
- Black leather shoes with white spats
- Blue straw (or straw-textured) boater with yellow ribbon
- White dress gloves
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series… and do something crazy! Real life is for March.
And make sure to catch Leap Dave Williams during its daylong marathon on USA!
The Quote
I saved Leap Day and connected with my son and I solved a big case from earlier!
The post 30 Rock: Leap Day William appeared first on BAMF Style.