USA: Costumed to Serve

Drive-in chains were more successful if they had a theme, and if both their architecture and the costumes of the car hops were immediately recognizable. It seems that none of them chose to have middle-aged males dressed like penguins and looking shifty, the European style of that period. Most had youthful females, and vied with each other for originality and daring in their costumes. Girl Robin Hoods, with feathers in their green caps, would be the lure at one place, while another would offer cowgirls with fringed skirts, and the hops at another establishment were costumed ‘like the dandies of the Old Dominion—long tailed coats of blue material with gray collars and white bow ties; gray pants, white dickeys with standing collars; low crowned gray top hat worn at a rakish angle and a gold fob with a ribbon’.