Jeremy Brett's "Holmes" top hat-How Tall?

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Here's something useless: How tall was Jeremy Brett's top hat worn in his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes? (The defining characterization, for many of us).
In some shots it looks relatively short, perhaps less than 6". Anyone know?

 

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Modesty is not becoming

34 looks and no posts? Come on Sherlock Holmes fans, let me hear from you. How are we going to kit out if we can't agree on the topper height?

 

[Boodles]

I'll have to look again to guess at the height.

I'm thinking that you may be right about it being a 6" or so topper.

While we're at it, I really like many of the suits worn by Edward Hardwicke. I also admire the bowlers he sometimes wears, especially the brown ones. It's the more rounded version.

 

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Suits and toppers

I'm thinking that you may be right about it being a 6" or so topper.

While we're at it, I really like many of the suits worn by Edward Hardwicke. I also admire the bowlers he sometimes wears, especially the brown ones. It's the more rounded version.

I agree Hardwicke's suits are nice. I am not so keen on the Norfolk suits they kit up in to go out of town, but there are many of the episodes where Watson and Holmes are both in gray tweed suits. The bowlers are not so hard to come by, the toppers more so. I hope we get an answer on the crown height.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Come Holmes fans... use your deduction.

 

[Mysterious Mose]

It looks like a "regular size" top hat to me. I noticed his brim's real flat. I was an undertaker for a few years, I've seen hundreds. I got a few, including a short one and an opera hat, I'll measure up. Been a Sherlockian since the Jeremy Brett series first showed, never mastered the art of deduction.

http://www.silktophats.eu/historytophat.html

 

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The Game's Afoot!

It looks like a "regular size" top hat to me. I noticed his brim's real flat. I was an undertaker for a few years, I've seen hundreds. I got a few, including a short one and a clacque, I'll measure up. Been a Sherlockian since the Jeremy Brett series first showed, never mastered the art of deduction.

http://www.silktophats.eu/historytophat.html

Mysterious Mose: We are counting on you!

 

[Mysterious Mose]

The measurements in the link I posted are pretty accurate.

My funeral felt shorty is 4.5, 1.5 brim, 1 inch band.
My Opera's 5, 2, 1 inch band
My granddad's high silk and another one I got from a retired pallbearer, both from the Interbellum, British Make, 5.5, 2, 1 3/4 inch band. I'd call these 'regular'. Brett's looks slightly taller than these. I think a 6 inch hat should be pretty accurate.
All mine have the curved brim, unlike Brett's. It looks flat.[huh]

In a book I have by Michael Harrison, 'In the footsteps of S.H.' there's a paragraph on Holmes' outfits and where he'd got them from, sadly there's nothing about hats/hatters. Nothing in the S.H. ultimate encyclopedia either. I'll keep searching. M.M.

P.S. Cool: His father forbade him from using the family name on stage because he thought acting was a "dubious" profession. So Jeremy (Huggins) took his stage name from the label of his first suit, "Brett & Co."

 

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Size Wise

Mysterious Mose: Thanks! I will also keep searching and perhaps someone acquainted with the production or costuming may post.
I have a 7, 6 and 5.5. The 5.5 looks OK but I agree the 6" looks most accurate.

For anyone wandering into this thread at this post, we are talking top hat crown heights, not anything naughty.

 

[Boodles]

MM is all over this issue.

My hat is off to you sir. The photo that MM has posted clearly shows that Mr "Brett" wears this topper a bit high on his head and so it sort of looks taller than it actually is. I'm signing onto the 6" camp.

Although I have many of the DVDs of Basil Rathbone I think I have about every one of Mr. Bretts'. He is, without a doubt, my favorite TV watching. TV for me gets no better than the occasional weekend night, home alone, a brick of good cheese, good "biscuits", good whiskey or whisky, and a couple issues of "Sheer-luck" on the tube.

I absolutely love the Norfolk suits. I enjoy the luxury of being ignorant of when a Norfolk suit is appropriate. Please don't ruin it for me.

 

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Monkey see-

My hat is off to you sir. The photo that MM has posted clearly shows that Mr "Brett" wears this topper a bit high on his head and so it sort of looks taller than it actually is. I'm signing onto the 6" camp.

Although I have many of the DVDs of Basil Rathbone I think I have about every one of Mr. Bretts'. He is, without a doubt, my favorite TV watching. TV for me gets no better than the occasional weekend night, home alone, a brick of good cheese, good "biscuits", good whiskey or whisky, and a couple issues of "Sheer-luck" on the tube.

I absolutely love the Norfolk suits. I enjoy the luxury of being ignorant of when a Norfolk suit is appropriate. Please don't ruin it for me.

Boodles, you are a man after my own heart. I do the same, perhaps with cheap wine instead of whisky/whiskey. It is a guilty pleasure of mine to lay out on the dining room table a small 'homage' to the subject of the evening's video. In the case of SH, a replica single breasted frock, the top hat, black kid gloves and a sliver handled cane and sometimes a pocket watch and chain. I just enjoy the sight of 'em as I shuffle by for another glass of plonck, imagining I have a famous visitor. I am not a well man at all.

 

[metropd]

Boodles, you are a man after my own heart. I do the same, perhaps with cheap wine instead of whisky/whiskey. It is a guilty pleasure of mine to lay out on the dining room table a small 'homage' to the subject of the evening's video. In the case of SH, a replica single breasted frock, the top hat, black kid gloves and a sliver handled cane and sometimes a pocket watch and chain. I just enjoy the sight of 'em as I shuffle by for another glass of plonck, imagining I have a famous visitor. I am not a well man at all.

lol lol That is beautiful!

 

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Missing Link

It looks like a "regular size" top hat to me. I noticed his brim's real flat. I was an undertaker for a few years, I've seen hundreds. I got a few, including a short one and an opera hat, I'll measure up. Been a Sherlockian since the Jeremy Brett series first showed, never mastered the art of deduction.

http://www.silktophats.eu/historytophat.html

Thanks for this link: it answers the time period/height question I posed on the top hat thread.

 

[Mysterious Mose]

'You know my methods, Watson' :
http://www.angels.uk.com/home.html

 

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Super Sleuth

'You know my methods, Watson' :
http://www.angels.uk.com/home.html

Well done, Mysterious Mose! Worthy of a Baker Street Irregular!