Of the many things from Ivy’s heyday that would seem laughably absurd today, the contents of this post probably top the list.

The 1964 film “Ride the Wild Surf” centers around big wave riding in Hawaii’s Waimea Bay. Pictured above are the three male leads, who’ve just stepped off the plane from California and gone straight to the beach.

That’s right: The mainlander on the left embarked on his surfin’ safari wearing a cream jacket with white pants, necktie and pocket square, and loafers with no socks.

Chase Colton (played by Peter Brown) is quickly nicknamed “Ivy League” by his love interest (Barbara Eden) for looking “so scrubbed and solid and superior.” Colton is pictured above with his less sartorially distinguished surf buddies, played by Tab Hunter and Fabian.

Turns out Colton attends a small private college in Southern California founded by his grandfather. Since sharing the founder’s last name gets him nothing but hazing from the other guys, Colton wants to transfer back east where he thinks he — and his sunbleached hair and deep tan — would be more anonymous.

At the big luau Colton gets two shirts ruined by Eden, then complains that he’s down to his last clean oxford-cloth buttondown.

So much for blending in with the locals. — CC

In honor of March Madness, which begins today, Ivy-Style pays tribute to Bill Bradley, the 1965 National Player of the Year for Princeton. At the time, the school had produced more American presidents than basketball All-Americans.

Bradley made the cover of the December 7th, 1964 issue of Sports Illustrated, complete with classic Princeton haircut. (Shot above comes from the same issue): (Continue)

One of the good things about living in LA (I’ve forgotten the others) is the chance to see movies before anyone else does.

To wit, several weeks ago, while on assignment for the Rugby blog, I took in a screening of “The Express,” a biopic about Ernie Davis, star running back for Syracuse University from 1959-1961 and the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. The film opened this weekend.

While not as sartorially inspired as “School Ties,” another movie about football and prejudice in the ’50s, “The Express” is at least not as bad a football movie as “Leatherheads.”

Style standouts in the film include the team’s crested blazers (pictured above in action at the school dance), and its traveling bags, which look like vintage doctor’s bags (back when doctors made house calls), except made of wool chenille, like a letterman’s jacket.

Finally, for a taste of what college football was like when it was an expression of culture rather than commerce, here’s Syracuse from 1956, with Jim Brown, Ernie Davis’ predecessor, carrying the pigskin. — CC