Rim hook tableaux and Kostant's η-function coefficients

Using a 0/1 encoding of Young diagrams and its consequences for rim hook tableaux, we prove a reduction formula of Littlewood for arbitrary characters of the symmetric group, evaluated at elements with all cycle lengths divisible by a given integer. As an application, we find explicitly the coefficients in a formula of Kostant for certain powers of the Dedekind η-function, avoiding most of the original machinery.