Raymond Chandler's Marlowe and Borsalinos

[Benzadmiral]

This has bugged me since before I knew what a Borsalino was. In the opening pages of Chandler's second Philip Marlowe novel, "Farewell My Lovely" (1940), Philip Marlowe encounters a giant of a man named Moose Malloy:

"A man was looking up at the sign too. . . . He was a big man but not more than six feet five inches tall and not wider than a beer truck. . . . He wore a shaggy borsalino [sic] hat, a rough gray sport coat with white golf balls on it for buttons, a brown shirt, a yellow tie, pleated gray flannel slacks and alligator shoes with white explosions on the toes. . . . Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food."

(I just had to quote that last line.)

So my question is, what was it about a orsalino hat that would have made it immediately recognizable at a distance of ten feet? Was it the "shagginess"? Was there a particular shape or crease, or ribbon width, for which a Borsalino hat was famous? Or did Chandler simply pick a brand name out of the air and assume the reader would know what he meant? Inquiring minds, etc.!

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

I don't think Chandler was saying that Borsalinos per se are "shaggy." I think he was saying that Moose Malloy's Borsalino was shaggy.

My guess is he picked the Borso because it is a foreign brand and added to the bad guy's "otherness" as in not being like other good New Yorkers.

 

[Feraud]

The fuzzy Borsalino was in keeping with the outrageous nature of Malloy's outfit. Moose was a giant violent man in loud clothes.

 

[skyvue]

I had a similar curiosity about a line in The Big Sleep, in which states that he's wearing socks with clocks on them. Somehow, I found that hard to take at face-value and wondered if clocks referred to something other than ... well, pictures of clocks on his socks.

I saw an old movie the other day (I've been on a bit of a movie jag of late, and can't remember which one it was), and there was a reference to socks with clocks on them.

Were clocks a recurring motif in sock design in those days?

 

[carouselvic]

In this country all hats are called Stetsons. In Europe all hats are Borsalinos.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Here's a VERY shaggy Borsalino. Don't know whether to wear it or walk it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-AUT-BOR...pt=US_Hats&hash=item4156245e4b#ht_7532wt_1026

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

Somehow I think that PETA would be mad looking at that hat. I wouldn't wear it. I'd wear a full faced Coonskin cap, but not that. Personally, it falls into the whole, just couldn't wear it group. It's not a fur hat, which I would wear (Coonskin), and it's not a fedora which I do wear, it's a furry fedora, which is similar to a taco pizza or Vegetarian meat products. (You want a taco, buy a taco, you want a pizza, buy one...).

Later

 

[rlk]

As with most dogs, the problem is with the owner not the animal...

But regarding the novel, the Borsalino was a prestige luxury brand noted for colors and finishes more adventurous than most makers. This signifies both conspicuous display of wealth and ostentatious style.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Here's a VERY shaggy Borsalino. Don't know whether to wear it or walk it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-AUT-BOR...pt=US_Hats&hash=item4156245e4b#ht_7532wt_1026

I suspect it might need a flea treatment in the near future.

Skyvue, I think I've read somewhere that "clocks" were -- and maybe still are -- merely a word for any kind of design, as opposed to a plain sock. So stripes or dots or whatever would have been called "clocks." Somebody check me on that, though.

 

[skyvue]

Skyvue, I think I've read somewhere that "clocks" were -- and maybe still are -- merely a word for any kind of design, as opposed to a plain sock. So stripes or dots or whatever would have been called "clocks." Somebody check me on that, though.

Now that you mention it, I think I might have heard the same thing (though I'd obviously forgotten having heard it when I posted above).

Me, I'd very much like to have some socks with clocks -- two hands, numerals, the whole shebang -- pictured on them.

 

[Rudie]

Socks with clocks

Clocks are a design on the side of the socks, often a vertical row of squares with a dot in the middle. Here's an example of socks with clocks (the third from the left):

 

[Chasseur]

Socks with clocks are socks with a verticle design on the side of the ankle. They actually go back to the 17-18th Century or so.

You can see these often on jeff Bridges in the film "Tucker".

Oops I see someone beat me to the punch...

 

[Picker]

As I tell my writing students, Chandler, as the writer, is God creating, for all practical purposes. The writer chooses and crafts every word, action, and detail. He could have also chosen to specify the brand name of the man's shoes if he wanted. Details add specificity which automatically add interest. Remember Jack Nicholson's character's remark, "Damn Florsheim shoe," in Chinatown? It made for a much more colorful and memorable remark than "Damn shoe." Chandler's specific detail created so much interest, apparently, that here we are discussing it decades later.