The rise and fall of manly headwear

[STHill]

Andykev is not joking. For some reason, most people don't seem to think skin cancer is a big deal.

My dad died at age 60 from a brain tumor that developed from skin cancer. I'm not trying to be an alarmist, just telling it the way it is. WEAR A HAT IN THE SUN! (Of course, I realize I'm preaching to the choir!)

 

[Phil_UK]

I agree about just how serious this is. I was in Australia back in 96 and they took it very seriously. Small children wouldn't be allowed to attend school unless they had a hat on. Amusement parks had free sun block/screen available and on water rides you either put it on, or didn't go on it, because of the heat being reflected through the water. I was there a month and its very hot there I can tell you, but I had a great time and not a single problem. I have pale skin, blue eyes. It pays to take care of yourself and your skin, well that's the one suit you can't take in to have spruced up.

Regards Phil

 

[Indybill]

I fit the blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin category too which is
part of why I find it desirable to wear a wide brimmed hat.
The fact the I love the era that these hats were popular is
just icing on the cake for me.

Regards,
Indybill

 

[Michael Mallory]

I'm playing catch-up here, but I think hats were weakened in the 1950s, which was the first time hair styles became a statement instead of a haircut (think about it: prior to that, your hat identified you, after 1950 or so, your hair did), and then the combination of JFK and the Beales pretty much did it in. For those of you who might not have been around when JFK was president, this whole "Camelot" thing isn't just a catch-phrase: people really wanted to be like him. When I was a kid my mother used to brag to other people how I had "Kennedy hair" (which, alas, has since become Eisenhower hair). As for ballcaps, I don't consider them hats. Yes, they're head coverings, but their real purpose is marketing. When you go to a store to buy a ballcap, you're really buying the logo or patch on it, not the cap. And having known enough people who have battled skin cancer, including my father-in-law, that's a perfectly valid excuse for wearing a wide-brimmed hat (if you really need an excuse). A number of years ago, I was sitting in a makeup chair at NBC and the lady who came out to do me glanced at my phiz and said: "You're not from California, you're from the midwest." I confirmed she was right and asked how she knew. "Because you haven't turned your skin into leather like most Californian's, that's how," she replied. Now that I'm staring the big 5-0 in the face, I take pride that my skin is still looks uncrisped.

 

[BD Jones]

FYI, Kennedy did were a hat at his inauguration, all though it was a top hat. Here is a pretty interesting article.
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.htm

 

[MK]

Originally posted by Michael Mallory
When I was a kid my mother used to brag to other people how I had "Kennedy hair" (which, alas, has since become Eisenhower hair).

LOL LOL LOL

You DO have a way with words my friend. No wonder you ended up in your vocation.

 

[Wild Root]

This has been a very good chat! Finding the true reason of the end of hat?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s popularity is like finding Glenn Miller?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s plane in the English Channel.

It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s not fare to pin it all on JFK. But, he did have a hand in it. I did look at the photos that give photographic proof that he did ware a hat at his inauguration. Very funny how there has been so many around that believe he didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t ware a hat to his inauguration.

Hair styles for the most part didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really change too much from the 40?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s to the 50?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s. The pompadours and such were mainly worn by kids from the "Other side of the tracks" also, Hollywood actors and members of early Rock and Roll bands. I have seen photos of men in the 1920?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s that have their hair cut just as I did in the early 90?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s! Buzzed on the sides and faded into the top where it was slicked back. So, we could blame hair fashion for taking over hat fashion, but I believe that California has mostly been a hatless state! Most of the photos I have seen from the 30?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s to the 50?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s of LA, there are only a few men in hats. And, mostly you will see them in straws. Felts were worn, just not as much as other parts of the country. Men dressed for the weather!

I would have to say that we can blame the entire decade of the 1960?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s to the loss of hat wearing men. Well, I know I would have stopped wearing a hat in the 60?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s! You all have seen the hats made in the 60?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s. They really didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t look that good.

When ever I ware a fedora, I do get stares! It used to bother me, but I said to my self too heck with it! Some Teens say: Look, a gangster! Then I say: You have a problem? Then they shut up. But, they just stare at me and I stare at them till they look away. I feel like a tough guy some times when I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m in a pinstriped suit with a tough looking lid. The whole 30?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s gangster feel comes over me and I just don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t take any guff from no punk kid see!

Most of the time I get complements from others saying that they like to see it come back.

So, sorry for the long one, but just keep wearing good looking hats and we just might spark something!

Cheers.

 

[Fedora]

All interesting info. I will repeat what my local(now deceased) hatter told me. He credited JFK with nailing the nail in the coffin. All of the Presidents, up until then, wore hats. JFK did not. He maintained that American men emulated American Presidents. Now, I am not saying that this is true, but it makes sense. He did say that his sales dropped drastically within a year after JFK took office. Of course, I recall LBJ wearing an Open Road style hat, and he came after JFK. All of the Presidents after LBJ were hatless. I agree with the sources that say hat wearing declined steadily after WW2. I think it may have something to do with young men being required to wear hats, but who knows? Those same men would have been wearing hats regardless if America went to war or not, so this rationale is suspect. I think it has more to do hair styles. I can recall the slicked back duck taled hairdos of the 50s. A hat would have messed all of that work up.LOL Of course, this fad would have faded, but then the Beatles came on board. Yep, I was there, watching the Fab Four on the Ed Sullivan Show. Wildroot Creme Oil was out, so was Vitalis and Brylcream. The dry look was in, along with the longer hair styles. You could not very well cover up the statement that long hair was intended to make. Blame it on the youth. I do. Fedora

 

[Andykev]

I have an opinotion

First, JFK is not responsible, he is just another politician who mirrowed the current trends.

I have researched and read the following:

Roof heights in cars decreased, making it harder to wear a hat in the car, which was at the time (coincidence) rapidly replacing busses, streetcars, and trains.

Men returning from WWII, where they HAD to wear a hat every day, swore NEVER to have to do so again.

Liberal ideas as we all know in the 60's began to evolve, and the hat represented the "establishment" and hence was shunned.

Long hair became the norm, and hats and long hair really don't mix (see above).

General FASHION changed, going to the casual. Mens "formal" hats don't mix well with the "new look".

Statistics from the 50's clearly show that right after WWII hat sales declined significantly.

Check the records with Danbury Conneticut, and in Philidelphia...they show the trends.


Read the book "Stetson Hats 1865- 1970. It really does a good job at relaying the history of the hat industry thru the last century.

 

[Michael Mallory]

Adding to all of the above, I think, is the fact that hats became more items of costume in the late 50s and 60s, the way they had been for comedians all along (like Laurel & Hardy's derbies, Keaton's porkpie and Harpo's top hat). When I was a kid my dad always referred to a straw boater as a "Charley Chase hat," because he grew up in the 20s when Chase was making films and Chase's signature hat was a natty looking boater. We could always tell the good guys from the bad guys on TV Westerns by the color of their hats, we knew the G-Men from the gangsters by the narrowness of their brims, and my personal hero Red Skelton could morph from one character to another with the change of a hat (sometimes even the change of shape of the same hat).

 

[Panamabob]

Wow! Red Skelton. Now I?Ǭ¥m having tremendous memories of sitting in front of the boob tube with my dad watching old black and white...what a unique person...and I think, a Hoosier, too.

 

[Darek]

Very nice thread, thanks for the great read guys.

 

[Minnesota_Jones]

I totally agree with all said. Very good points. As much as people here may dislike some caps, being ballcaps. There is a difference in a nice cap (like a Khaki aviator's cap I'll wear occationally) and a Trucker's cap (with the nylon netting on the back and the "scrambled eggs" on the brim) - ugh!

 

[schwammy]

I had a Life magazine from about 1937, and it had an article about college kids. It noted that the further west you went in the United States, the less frequently you saw young men wearing hats, until they disappeared completely in California. So, as in most things, it looks like the trend started earlier than we realize.

 

[MK]

My state is the source of many problems.

 

[Fedora]

Well, it is the Left Coast, after all. (sorry I could not resist) regards, Fedora

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Bump........Another interesting read.

 

[RJR]

Bump........Another interesting read.

+1.

 

[Redfokker]

+2 More pondering is required. Time to stare at belly button...

 

[Redfokker]

Okay, I've got the answer. I blame Disco!!