1904 Marine uniform.

Baltimore Ed · March 10, 2021, 07:22:39 PM

Anyone have a line on an outfit selling reproduction 1904 US Marine uniforms as used in The Wind and the Lion? My nice 1896 Krag rifle and Colt DA.38 would work. Haven't put together a new uniform in a while.

Niederlander · March 10, 2021, 08:39:41 PM

I absolutely LOVED that scene! Saw it the first time in OCS. I think they showed to us in a class. The uniforms there would have been from the 1900 Regulations. What Price Glory has the fatigue shirt. Enlisted uniforms are easier that officer uniforms. Modern trousers from e-Bay can be modified fairly easier. The Krag belt would be khaki, and I believe What Price Glory still has them. Lots of good pictures on the web of that period. The first thing to do is figure out exactly what you're going for and work from there. I'll help with anything I can.

Drydock · March 10, 2021, 08:54:27 PM

Ned is our resident Jarhead expert. He'll get you set up.

Always loved that scene. Didn't they use a squad of real Marines to film that? (Though personally I would have avoided all that rifle and bayonet stuff and been one of the sailors with the Maxim gun!)

Niederlander · March 11, 2021, 07:22:20 AM

I think I read where they did use real Marines for that. (Watching them, they'd just about have to be to pull it off.) I liked how they had a detachment of Sailors with them, which would have been entirely correct for the period. I need to watch that movie again, it's one of my favorites!

Drydock · March 11, 2021, 08:23:20 AM

Yep. Back then they knew better than to let Marines play with automatic weapons.

Baltimore Ed · March 11, 2021, 08:39:13 AM

I'm right down the road from Jacksonville and Camp Lejeune so could modern dress blues be altered and used? Sure that I could find something in my size there. I've had bad luck getting military tunics through the mail over the years. While my RE British tunic was custom made [by the older husband and wife that had a huge tent of military gear at EOT many years ago] the 1912 summer uniform and RCMP tunic were mail order and sent back for bigger sized coats. At 6'4 and long armed but a svelte 240 [?] clothing that fit has always been problematic.

smoke · March 11, 2021, 03:28:21 PM

Quote from: Niederlander on March 10, 2021, 08:39:41 PM
I absolutely LOVED that scene! Saw it the first time in OCS. I think they showed to us in a class. The uniforms there would have been from the 1900 Regulations. What Price Glory has the fatigue shirt. Enlisted uniforms are easier that officer uniforms. Modern trousers from e-Bay can be modified fairly easier. The Krag belt would be khaki, and I believe What Price Glory still has them. Lots of good pictures on the web of that period. The first thing to do is figure out exactly what you're going for and work from there. I'll help with anything I can.

You got movies at OCS?

All we got was a trip to 8th and I to watch the silent drill team. Cattle cars and angry NCO's.

What about the USMC Tunic at S&S? It is the 1885 model but it seems close?

Niederlander · March 11, 2021, 04:29:54 PM

They showed us that scene in some class as a motivator. Not sure about the 1885 blouse. The modern one is fairly close. I do know on the 1900 the collar is rounded instead of square. I'll have to look up my old research notes. The photos I've seen of Cuba and the Philippines show them in the khaki trousers and blue field shirts for the most part. I think they found out fairly quickly the blue blouse got pretty hot.

Bat 2919 · March 11, 2021, 05:10:06 PM

Quote from: Baltimore Ed on March 11, 2021, 08:39:13 AM
I'm right down the road from Jacksonville and Camp Lejeune so could modern dress blues be altered and used? Sure that I could find something in my size there. I've had bad luck getting military tunics through the mail over the years. While my RE British tunic was custom made [by the older husband and wife that had a huge tent of military gear at EOT many years ago] the 1912 summer uniform and RCMP tunic were mail order and sent back for bigger sized coats. At 6'4 and long armed but a svelte 240 [?] clothing that fit has always been problematic.

The people you spoke of at EOT were Buck and Leta Berbeirch who owned Coon Creek Old West https://www.cooncreekoldwest.com/coon_html/Home.html Buck passed away but Leta made me a uniform just last year. I haven't spoke to her recently but give her a call at the number on the website and see if she is still making uniforms.

Baltimore Ed · March 11, 2021, 05:59:52 PM

Thanks Bat, Coon Creek is correct. A very sweet gal, measured me and built a tunic that fit like a glove.

Found another photo.

Robert Swartz · March 13, 2021, 01:55:08 PM

Quote from: Bat 2919 on March 11, 2021, 05:10:06 PM
The people you spoke of at EOT were Buck and Leta Berbeirch who owned Coon Creek Old West https://www.cooncreekoldwest.com/coon_html/Home.html Buck passed away but Leta made me a uniform just last year. I haven't spoke to her recently but give her a call at the number on the website and see if she is still making uniforms.

Coon Creek still lists a lot of stuff. My wife got me one of the blue 1880's shirts in cotton for Xmas. It came a couple days after. Wife said the lady she spoke with wanted to get it sent before but admitted she was at the mercy of the mailman.

Bat 2919 · March 13, 2021, 10:17:37 PM

Quote from: Robert Swartz on March 13, 2021, 01:55:08 PM

Coon Creek still lists a lot of stuff. My wife got me one of the blue 1880's shirts in cotton for Xmas. It came a couple days after. Wife said the lady she spoke with wanted to get it sent before but admitted she was at the mercy of the mailman.

I didn't mean to imply Coon Creek had gone out of business. Coon Creek maintained a huge stock (enough to fill a very large vendors tent) and Leta was every bit as knowable as Buck about period clothing and equipment.

Robert Swartz · March 14, 2021, 09:44:18 AM

Quote from: Bat 2919 on March 13, 2021, 10:17:37 PM
I didn't mean to imply Coon Creek had gone out of business. Coon Creek maintained a huge stock (enough to fill a very large vendors tent) and Leta was every bit as knowable as Buck about period clothing and equipment.

/

....no and I hope my post wasn't taken that way. Sorry if it was. Just wondering about their offerings, does Miss Leta do all the sewing or does she perhaps contract some of it out. I know a couple current sutlers that do this. One is a lady from Missouri, she deals in F&I/Colonial period clothing. Her husband also passed away but she kept her business up and employs a couple other ladies to make goods. Another is a purveyor of fine clothing from the 1800 thru the CW in Kentucky. He has contracted out his sewing to a bunch of Amish seamstresses. Here closer to home, I had a cousin that used to make side money. Sewing shirts and hunting frocks for a local supplier of shooting goods and buckskinner supplies.

Bat 2919 · March 14, 2021, 11:05:23 AM

Quote from: Robert Swartz on March 14, 2021, 09:44:18 AM
/

....no and I hope my post wasn't taken that way. Sorry if it was. Just wondering about their offerings, does Miss Leta do all the sewing or does she perhaps contract some of it out. I know a couple current sutlers that do this. One is a lady from Missouri, she deals in F&I/Colonial period clothing. Her husband also passed away but she kept her business up and employs a couple other ladies to make goods. Another is a purveyor of fine clothing from the 1800 thru the CW in Kentucky. He has contracted out his sewing to a bunch of Amish seamstresses. Here closer to home, I had a cousin that used to make side money. Sewing shirts and hunting frocks for a local supplier of shooting goods and buckskinner supplies.

I believe Leta makes the bespoke uniforms based on the before and mid project conversations we've had about the sewing she's done for me. I've never asked about the stock shirts, trousers and jodhpurs but they're simple enough in construction that they could be made by just about anyone with basic sewing abilities.

US Scout · April 16, 2021, 09:05:33 AM

Quote from: Niederlander on March 11, 2021, 07:22:20 AM
I think I read where they did use real Marines for that. (Watching them, they'd just about have to be to pull it off.) I liked how they had a detachment of Sailors with them, which would have been entirely correct for the period. I need to watch that movie again, it's one of my favorites!

I heard they got volunteers from Marine Barracks Rota, but many of the military extras were from the Spanish Army.

Also, one of my absolute favorite movies. "Men prefer to fight with swords, so they can see each other's eyes! Sometimes, this is not possible. Then, they fight with rifles. The Europeans have guns that fire many times promiscuously and rend the Earth. There is no honor in this - nothing is decided from this."

US Scout
Bvt MajGen, Retired
GAF

Books OToole · April 16, 2021, 09:32:00 AM

I have a director's cut of that movie. If I remember correctly, they used a handful of real/active duty Marines and the rest of the Company was made up of Spanish Special Forces troops. (Movie was filmed in Spain.)

GREAT Movie. Capt. Jerome is the epitome of a Marine Captain.

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