Richard Benjamin with Ali MacGraw in Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
Vitals
Richard Benjamin as Neil Klugman, listless library employee and Army veteran
Westchester County, New York, Summer 1968
Film: Goodbye, Columbus
Release Date: April 3, 1969
Director: Larry Peerce
Costume Designer: Gene Coffin
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This springtime casual Friday feels like an appropriate time to address another request to cover Richard Benjamin’s style from Goodbye, Columbus, released 55 years ago this week on April 3, 1969, just two days after Benjamin’s co-star Ali MacGraw celebrated her 30th birthday.
Arnold Schulman received the film’s sole Academy Award nomination for his screenplay, adapted from Philip Roth’s polarizing novella of the same name, though MacGraw’s performance received considerable accolades, including a Golden Globe and Laurel wins as a “Most Promising Newcomer”, prior to her most prominent stardom the following year as Ryan O’Neal’s co-romantic lead in Love Story (1970).
Goodbye, Columbus‘ storyline and style drew comparisons to The Graduate (1967) as both films featured an aimless and awkward college graduate romancing an attractive and well-to-do young woman against her parents’ wishes. In this case, it’s Army veteran and Rutgers alum Neil Klugman whose understandable attraction to the vivacious Brenda Patimkin finds him sitting through an uncomfortable first meal with her judgmental nouveau riche family.
What’d He Wear?
Given the impromptu nature of Neil’s invitation for dinner with the Patimkins, he’s still dressed for his afternoon by the pool in his loose-fitting polo, everyday khakis, and well-worn white sneakers. Though this may be among the less sophisticated of Neil’s costumes, the simplicity affirms it as a reliable and relatively timeless approach for warm-weather days that call for cool and casual yet presentable comfort.
Neil’s light-blue short-sleeved polo shirt is softly knit with a subtle silky sheen, suggesting a synthetic cloth like rayon that was becoming increasingly popular through the 1960s. The shirt’s straight hem allows it to be worn effectively untucked, and Neil keeps both clear plastic buttons at the top undone.
The main courses at the Patimkin table are repression, classism, and hypocrisy, illustrated by Brenda’s mother (Nan Martin) ignoring the boorish behavior of her husband Ben (Jack Klugman) while chiding Brenda’s spoiled little sister for the innocuity of having her elbows on the table or the family constantly berating their Black housekeeper.
Neil wears the usual beige cotton flat-front slacks from his rotation. Now a menswear staple, this style had grown in popularity after World War II when returning servicemen normalized wearing their khaki chino-cloth trousers in civilian life. Neil’s straight-leg slacks have side pockets, back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs), as well as belt loops that he wears with a black leather belt.
Neil shoots some after-dinner hoops with Brenda’s little sister Julie (Lori Shelle).
Neil keeps the outfit casual with his white CVO-style sneakers, a comfortable and resilient style introduced by Sperry in 1935 along with the brand’s signature siped sole designed to provide traction on wet surfaces. I’ve seen “CVO” defined as either “Circular Vamp Oxford” or “Canvas Vulcanized Oxford”—both applicable definitions with the former referring to its shape while the latter refers to the lightweight canvas uppers and vulcanized rubber soles. Worn with white ribbed cotton socks, Neil’s CVO sneakers are oxford-laced through four sets of white eyelets.
Brenda smirks mischievously while slyly wrapping her foot around Neil’s and pushing their thighs together under the table.
Neil continues to wear his usual stainless steel cushion-cased watch with a black gradient dial and luminous non-numeric hour indices on a steel expanding bracelet.
This overall style of a soft and solid polo, khakis, and white CVO sneakers is evidently a favorite for Neil, as he wears an almost identical shirt in mustard-yellow during a later picnic date with Brenda.
Neil: “You wanna know what my plans are for the future… I’m not planning anything! Besides, I’m not a planner, I’m a liver.”
Brenda: “I’m a pancreas!”
How to Get the Look
Richard Benjamin in Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
Neil Klugman dresses for cool, casual, yet presentable comfort for dinner with his girlfriend’s family in the generally timeless ensemble of a light-blue soft-knit polo shirt, light khakis, and white sneakers.
- Light-blue soft-knit short-sleeved polo shirt with two-button top
- Beige cotton flat-front straight-leg slacks with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- Black leather belt
- White canvas CVO-style oxford-laced deck sneakers
- White ribbed cotton-blend socks
- Stainless steel cushion-cased watch with black gradient dial and luminous non-numeric hour indices on steel expanding bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie and read Philip Roth’s source novella.
The Quote
It was a wonderful dinner.
The post Goodbye, Columbus: Neil’s Light-Blue Polo appeared first on BAMF Style.