It is said that Tommy Tucker fell from a tree one fine afternoon in 1942 in the backyard of the Bullis’ house, in Washington, D.C., while he was still a blind and hairless baby. Zaidee Bullis, a childless mother and wife to a dental surgeon, adopted the tiny squirrel and made him a family pet. She fed him, bathed him, and put him to sleep on a tiny bed. But what Mrs. Bullis liked the most was dressing him up. Tommy Tucker had about thirty different costumes, and although Tommy was a boy, all his outfits were female for the simple reason that his tail would not fit in pants.

“Tommy has a coat and hat for going to market, a silk pleated dress for company, a Red Cross uniform for visiting the hospital,” wrote LIFE magazine when he appeared on print in 1944, complete with a gallery of photographs —the same ones on this page— taken by Nina Leen.