The Bing Crosby Tuxedo
Singer Bing Crosby was a huge fan of Levi's® jeans and jackets, which was something we were pretty proud of at the time. Then, in 1951, we heard a very interesting and slightly disturbing story. It seems that Bing was in Canada on a hunting trip with a friend, and one night they decided to stay in a Vancouver hotel. Both men were dressed completely in denim (Levi's® denim, in Bing's case) and the desk clerk didn't recognize the famous crooner. But that wasn't the worst of it. This clerk did not feel that men who wore denim were appropriate guests for his establishment and refused to rent them rooms. (Eventually, the bellboy recognized Bing and the chagrined manager gave him and his friend a room).
Bing had a big ranch in Elko, Nevada. He told his neighbors about his experience in Canada, and they in turn contacted the company, because they thought we should know what had happened to Bing. Imagine the outrage when company managers heard about this. You have to remember that in the 1950s, jeans were not the fashion item they are today, and there were a lot of people who thought denim should only be worn when riding horses or tending to ranching duties. You certainly didn't wear jeans to go out to dinner or to walk into the lobby of a snazzy hotel.
Soon after we heard about the hotel incident, a few designers put their heads together and created a denim tuxedo jacket for Bing. It was made of the sturdy denim used for the 501® jeans, and decorated with a lovely corsage of red Tabs, held onto the lapel with a cluster of shiny copper rivets. Inside the jacket was a huge leather patch printed with a "Notice to All Hotel Men" stating that denim is a perfectly appropriate fabric and anyone wearing it should be allowed entrance into the finest hotels.
We presented the tuxedo jacket to Bing at the 1951 "Silver State Stampede" in Elko, Nevada, where he was honorary mayor. He was so tickled with the tux that he wore it to many of the press appearances for his next film, "Here Comes The Groom." The company made dozens of copies as display and PR materials, and many of these have found their way into the vintage clothing market. The Levi Strauss & Co. Archives has a number of them, and they are occasionally worn by company managers at very special events.
The original tux, as well as one made for the town's mayor, are in the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko.