Here’s a real New York detective story — or actually, more of a police officer story. A sergeant story. Sergeant Krupke, to be exact, and the search for his perfect 1950s uniform.
You remember Officer Krupke. He’s the hapless foil for the high-spirited gang of teenagers of “West Side Story” and the target of a celebrated quasi-profane lyric that sent us all into conniptions way back before actual profanity got much of a hearing in public.
Last summer, with a revival of the acclaimed 1957 Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical heading for Broadway (previews began Monday at the Palace Theater), the costume department started researching the authentic uniform for Krupke.
Directed by the nonagenarian stage legend Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book, the production includes some notable updates, namely a new bilingualism that adds Spanish flavoring to what is, after all, the Shakespearean tragedy of a famous love undone by New York ethnic hatreds. The revival strives, too, for a timelessness somewhat removed from the original 1950s setting.
But not when it came to Krupke’s uniform, which had to be genuine 1957. Or so the assistant costume designer, Michael Zecker, was told.
“They wanted film-level research,” said Mr. Zecker 41, recounting what was to become an arduous scholarship project. “Honestly, I was a little taken aback.”
Pictures he found at NYPL weren't good enough.
That quest then took him to the Police Academy at 235 East 20th Street, where new officers are trained. “But the library didn’t have anything like that,” Mr. Zecker said. “Just information for police officers today.”
With growing desperation that he could ever lay his hands on a 1950s police manual, he sent an e-mail message in September to a librarian at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a unit of the City University of New York, at 899 10th Avenue at 59th Street.
‘We are trying to be as accurate as possible and I’m trying to locate a uniform manual from the 1950s with instructions on how to wear the uniform and accessories properly,” he wrote. “If you don’t think you can help me, perhaps you know someone who could. I bet there is someone out there who is an expert in the field!”
There was.
Within a day, his e-mail inbox dinged with a response:
Your question about police uniforms in the 1950s was referred to me. The Rules and Procedures of the NYPD, ch. 25, has every specification for uniforms and equipment that you would ever need for realistic historical detail. I have the 1956 edition, which is the one you want given that WSS opened in 1957.
The uniforms section covers everything from ‘prescribed uniforms’ through “seasonal uniforms” to insignia, cap devices, etc. I have the manual, which is loose leaf in my office. The R & P, combined with period photos, which we also have, should do it for you. Please let me know how you’d like to proceed.
It was signed by Larry Sullivan, associate dean and chief librarian.
Dr. Sullivan was also able to come up with a perfect model in a ’50s uniform: Lloyd Sealy, a ground-breaking police commander, in his time the highest-ranking black officer in the New York Police Department, for whom the John Jay library was named; he died of a heart attack in the library in 1985 at age 68.
Cecil Layne/Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice An undated photo shows Lloyd George Sealy, smiling in center, most likely at his 1959 promotion to police lieutenant. (Updated; for details
And what was that hard-won data conveyed to Mr. Zecker for “West Side Story”?
The matter is addressed in a document on police uniforms — read it here [pdf] or in the document player at the end of this post.
Under Seasonal Uniform Changes (remember, the story takes place in “the last days of summer”), Section 15.1 Subsection C provides that, unless otherwise authorized by the chief inspector, between 12:01 a.m. June 1 and 12:01 a.m. Oct 1:
Sergeants, patrolmen and motor vehicle operators shall wear the regulation shirt, black tie, tie clasp and black belt with dark buckle, preferably gun metal. Sergeants and patrolmen shall wear the shield over the left breast and precinct numerals or letters on both sides of the collar, one inch from edge.
The cap (7.0) was to be worn “squarely on the head, with center of visor directly over the nose.” The tie (13.0 c) was to be knotted in a standard four-in-hand (no bow ties, please), and the shoes and socks (13.0 i, j,) were to be, naturally, black.
As for the shirt (13.0 b): “regulation blue military shirt with 24 ligne removable brass buttons.”
Ligne?
A button measure, Dr. Sullivan said. A ligne was one-fortieth of an inch.
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