Michael Mallory
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 283
- Location
- Glendale, California
I will no doubt be burnt in effigy for even suggesting this (then again, given heating costs, I welcome the warmth), but if you're looking for a hat that looks like a vintage Bogie for little money, go for a Golden Gate lite-felt crushable at about $40. (Pause for the villagers to get their torches and pitchforks.) It's cheap processed wool felt with a machine block and a parody of a Cavanaugh edge, but it's got the right shape -- stovepipe crown and slim brim -- and it looks pretty decent with a trenchcoat. It won't last forever -- or much longer than a couple years, probably -- but if what you're looking for is the Bogie silhouette, this is an option. If the "Masked Marvel" look is more your taste, get a Dorfman-Pacific "Zoot" for, again, about $40, which beats the Stetson Mallory all to hell (speaking of Mallory getting beat all to hell, what's that I hear outside...an angry mob of Optimo customers?). I like expensive hats as much as anyone, but I've always held the belief that $25-dollar-a-day gumshoes and post-war average joes got their clothes at the army surplus store instead of 5th Avenue men's shops.
Hey, something was thrown over the tree branch outside my window...uh oh, it's a rope...gotta go...
Hey, something was thrown over the tree branch outside my window...uh oh, it's a rope...gotta go...