The flamboyant attire worn on stage by Australian rock'n'roll star Johnny O'Keefe has been recalled of late. He was into gold lame jackets and bright suits . The Powerhouse Museum Collection in Sydney has his "famous" red suit , said to have been made by his mother , trimmed with leopard print velvet cuffs and lapels . Known as the Wild One , because of a signature song of his , he was big time in Australia , the US and New Zealand .
Recent media articles about O'Keefe , his wardrobe and the dazzling red suit , failed to mention that he had kitted out in gangster like clobber the crusading editor of the Northern Territory News , James Frederick Bowditch , for a trip to Seattle to see the Boeing jets being built .
When O'Keefe was performing in Darwin , he and Bowditch hit it off . Jim mentioned he was soon to go to America and he was asked what he would wear.
Bowditch replied he had a pair of long pants and would borrow a jumper and coat as his normal attire in the tropics consisted of a short sleeved shirt, shorts and long sox. No , said the Wild One . Out of his stunning wardrobe he plucked a double breasted, pin-striped, blue black suit , with wide lapels and padded shoulders . Then came a mauve suit , a $1000 Spanish leather coat, shirts, ties and built up shoes . Even provided were gold cufflinks which had been presented to O'Keefe when he appeared on the Johnny Carson Show in the US. No editor in Australia could possibly match this outfit .
So attired , the unexpectedly sartorially elegant editor from Darwin first flew to Sydney, joined the other media scruffs , and took off for the US of A. Not only did Jim rock the locals , he also had nervous Qantas officials doing something like the stomp on cigarettes . His wardrobe got lost along the way , but that is a very long and complicated story .
