Herman Munster Worn Suit by Fred Gwynne -Western Costume

Was there a more beloved 1960’s TV character than Herman Munster?

The Munsters was a hilarious sitcom, Herman has gone down as one of the most iconic cast members ever created for television! The show only aired from 1964- 1966 and was about a family that was a comedic revival of the cult classic horror films made in the 1930’s and 1940’s such as Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy and The Wolfman.

This Fred Gwynne worn suit is very rare like most TV shows from this time period. Munster items simply don’t surface for the collecting community. For all of us who watched the Munsters over the years, they were beloved by millions.  This certified and documented men’s two-piece suit was worn for the iconic series by Fred Gwynne. The jacket is made of a heavier period gray wool material. Immediately you notice the sleeves are very short, 21.5” from the shoulder which is extremely short for any suit of this size, but just like Herman Munster wore them on the show. The inside pocket was sewn on after the jacket was made, one would assume it was added for a reason. There has never been a button or buttonhole on this jacket. Inside the collar is the Western Costume Co. label with F. Gwynn hand written above for the costume dept to know who wears what. This jacket is extremely oversized due to the “body suit” Fred Gwynne had to wear to look like a monster such as a chest enlargement.

The pants like the jacket is made of the same heavy gray wool material. The differences between “store or custom-made pants” is even more glaring. The zipper is not in the middle of the pants but on the left side…yes, I mean the left side of the body. The inseam is barely 30”. I am 6’5” and my inseam is 38”, this is exactly how Herman wore his pants on the show. Today we would call them “floods” The waist button and the zipper is an unheard of 11” long.

Two reasons for this; one he sweated a lot and had to change clothes during the shoot. The second reason, think of the body suit he had to wear under the suit itself. This gave him the room to be able to get in and out with ease. The inside of the pants by the waist was never cut and finished. Like the jacket, the label is on the inside of the paints on the waist.

It is the red Western Costume company stamping and his name hand printed in full “Fred Gwynne” In order to show this Herman Munster worn suit came from the set of “The Munsters” we are qualifying the tagging and stamping on the suit.

Many of the costumes during this era had a mix of sewn-in Western Costume tags, with Gwynne sewn or written on the interior of the costume and or stamped Western Costume tagging with the actor’s name hand written. The inconsistencies of Western Costume tagging are well documented through the years. Recently, there was an episode on Pawn Stars Does America (see the video) also documenting the Western Costume Stamping vs. the Western Costume sewn-in tagging. Once again, the Western Costume stamping is strong enough to verify the authenticity of the suit coming from the set of “The Munsters”

We went further and spoke directly with Western Costume. In speaking with them they also confirmed during this era that they used both stamping and sewn-in tagging.  According to Western Costume, there is no documented information as to what type of tagging was used for any 1950s-60 TV Shows.  During this time, many costume designers needed back-ups and Western Costume would quickly provide what was needed and used Western Costume stamping to identify what was owned by them.  Furthermore, double stamped Western Costume tagging is not uncommon. Western Costume would utilize stamping inside their costumes to denote it came from them. They utilized stamping as it was easier to use the stamp and quicker to deliver the costumes to the set. We have provided some examples of Tagging through the 1940-1960’s of Western Costume that had various types of stamping.

Clearly you can tell this is a stage-built suit, not “finished” and nothing like what you would locate and the finest of men’s stores. Like most props and clothing, they look great on screen but when examined in person they are always crudely made. The stitching is not tight as a fine suit would have been and like all clothes from this time period that were made for Hollywood they were “pieced” together to personally fit the actor. One major issue with Fred Gwynne is well documented ”The Munsters” costumers had a lot of issues on set as Fred Gwynn would sweat profusely and they would have to put AC hoses up his costume to try to cool him off. This is why a fast quick change was so important and may explain the reason for the inside pocket to possibly hold a battery pack?

After reviewing the tagging on the costume, speaking with Western Costume Archives, and qualifying the stamping on the interior of the suit, we can unequivocally state that this suit was used and worn by Fred Gwynne during the shooting of “The Munsters”.