![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-07.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
In the early 1940s, LIFE magazine reported that a Mrs. Mark Bullis of Washington, D.C., had adopted a squirrel “before his eyes were open, when his mother died and left him in a tree” in the Bullis’s back yard. Here, in a series of photos by Nina Leen, LIFE.com chronicles the quiet, rodential adventures and sartorial splendor of Tommy Tucker, the orphaned — and, in 1940s America, the celebrated — squirrel.
“Most squirrels,” LIFE noted (with a striking lack of evidence), “are lively and inquisitive animals who like to do tricks when they have an audience.” They do?
LIFE then went on to observe that the squirrel, dubbed Tommy Tucker by the Bullis family, “is a very subdued little animal who has never had a chance to jump around in a big tree.”
“Mrs. Bullis’ main interest in Tommy,” LIFE continued, “is in dressing him up in 30 specially made costumes. Tommy has a coat and hat for going to market, a silk pleated dress for company, a Red Cross uniform for visiting the hospital.”
“Tommy never seems to complain,” the LIFE article concluded, “although sometimes he bites Mrs. Bullis. Mrs. Bullis never complains about being bitten.”
[Read more about Tommy Tucker in this Washington Post article]
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-10.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-11.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-12.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-13.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-14.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion A Squirrel's Guide to Fashion](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/squirrel-fashion-15.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Melinda French Gates Is Going It Alone
- What to Do if You Can’t Afford Your Medications
- How to Buy Groceries Without Breaking the Bank
- Sienna Miller Is the Reason to Watch Horizon
- Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI
- The 15 Best Movies to Watch on a Plane
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Contact us at letters@time.com