I remember the when my dad was a young junior executive - I don't even know if companies have



So he didn't have any money. But he still dressed well enough to rise rapidly through the ranks of his company, to be invited to dinner at the boss' house, and to be invited to join or even lead a number of professional organizations.



Sure, he was a great guy, and obviously really able to do what it was he was paid to do. But - and it must be said - there were a lot of other capable, personable guys in that company's junior executive program. What was the difference that made my dad the Boy Genius that everyone wanted to promote?



This was the day of the leisure suit. The guys who wore them - like the guys who wore satin-trimmed track suits - were actually the stylish ones, the ones out ahead of the pack. They were, frankly, far-out and funky - and that was considered a good thing.



Think about it. Back then, all the cool friends wore leisure suits. Jack Tripper's friend, Larry, wooed the chicks back at the Regal Beagle with his light green and burnt orange polyester twosomes. Bobby Ewing, J.R.'s younger and arguably better-looking brother, wore leisure suits in both polyester varieties and denim varieties - invariably with a Stetson. The entire cast of Welcome Back, Kotter - with the exception of Principal Woodman - wore leisure suits.



Come to think of it, until the later 1970s, when the leisure suit became a joke and gave way to the ubiquitous blazer and jeans, all the cool guys wore leisure suits. If you look back at advertisements from the era, you'll even see leisure suits in black wash-and-wear - suitable for funerals and weddings.



Eaghh.



In fact, if you look back to television shows, only the square guys wore traditional, tailored men's suits. Of course, in many cases these suits were of the hideous, nondescript gray polyester - remember that color? It was almost a pinky-gray, if such a thing is possible. Not commanding. Not memorable.



But still....but still. Those were the guys who were successful. In a high school in which the only teacher actually ever seen was Gabe Kaplan, it made sense that he was eventually promoted to principal (of course you didn't know that; nobody watched the show for that many episodes). But in the Real World (the real Real World, not the MTV one), the only thing that people would have said about Mr. Kotter in the Teacher's Lounge is, "Did I ever tell you about that goofy-ass teacher who is teaching the Sweathogs?



And back to J.R. Sure, he was a manipulative bastard, and sure, he got shot. As an aside, I don't remember Who Shot J.R., though I do remember that Bobby was dead for a