Word: zoot
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Zoot suitists deprived of drape shapes, reet pleats and stuff cuffs by WPB edict have a new decorative theme with which to express themselves in San Francisco and Oakland. War-working jalopy jerks find love stripes, painted diagonally across the doors of their hot irons,† the quickest way to let hep twists know what kind of wolf is giving them a gander. One stripe indicates single male on the scout. Two stripes-going steady but still stuff seeking. Three stripes-practically engaged, looking for no pickups. Four stripes-in the saddle, all soaped up, or married...
...best thing in it is Victor Mature's exuberant portrayal of a heavyweight champion, a character compounded largely to Max Bear and Mature himself, with Saroyanish overtones. He hides buzzers in his palms when shaking hands, wears zoot suits, and is in general a card. Parodying himself with boyish abandon, Mature seems much more at home than in such heavy stuff as "One Million B.C." The main function of his co-star in the proceedings, Betty Grable, is, as always, to exude femininity. She does this unremittingly and well...
When possible, gloves should be transparent: if workers cannot see their hands, they feel confined and prefer to work gloveless. Improper living outside working hours often precipitates a dermatosis and doctors are increasingly fretful over the zoot-suit-swing-shift aspect of war industry...