Re: And one other thing...

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Posted by Steve from ppp-56.COL.cableone.net on October 09, 1999 at 11:45:14:

In Reply to: Re: And one other thing... posted by Jacl Skellington on October 09, 1999 at 09:33:02:

: : : : : All this Akubra talk has gotten me confused...what exactly is the consensus on what the proper brim dimensions were? I'm fortunate in that I'm a size 58, so I can go by the originals- if anyone knows them...

: : : : : Cheers,
: : : : : Abner

:
: Just a quck note... I had my Bushman cut to 2 3/4`s all the way around( this is only because my head is shapped funny so by fedoras look floppy if I don`t have the right size..like the Nazi spy on the clipper who lowers his paper in Raiders.) Any way, for what it`s worth, the hat shop people seemed somewhat nervous about cutting it any shorter than that because of the crown being so high. They said that it would ruin the look of the hat if the brim went down to 2 1/2 anywhere. Now they were not experts on Indy`s fedora but they did know their hats so take it for what it`s worth.
: Since the hats in the second two movies had smaller crowns, the brims were fixed at the "correct" brim measurements that include 2 1/2 on the sides. Since the originial Raiders hat had the high crown and they didn`t plan mass producing them for the public, they gave it a slightly larger brim. The variation of the look on film probly just varies as my bushman brim sometimes looks huge and sometimes looks small...depending on the light.
: The shop owner was telling me that most hats from the late twenties and early thirties had large 2 3/4 brims. During the late thirties, the homeburg came back into style, and in the 1940`s the wide brims had a slight revival. In the 50`s, when men`s hats were going out of style, the look was modernized with small brims aka Clark Kent from superman. Thus its revival in the eighties and nineties has narrowed the brim sizes down to 2 3/4 to accomodate for the smaller cars, doors, carrying it around, etc etc. No one wants to carry around this big bulky hat..except cowboys..D`OH!
: Looking at some pics I had of Indy from Raiders, he said he would bet his shop that the Raiders fedora was wider then 2 1/2 inches and it appeared to have the same size cut all the way around. He said, "This one looks 2 1/2 here on the sides" and lo and behold he was looking at a pic from Last Crusade. He then jokingly said that the only way to be absolutly sure would be to find who has the ORIGINAL hat and ask them to measure it. In my newspaper clipping of Mr. Ford donating his hat and jacket to the smithsonion, it was after Last CRusade to my guess is the hat shown publicly is from Last CRusade. So where is the Original Mr. Ford himself wore? He also said that Herbert Johnson probly unknowingly is giving out the dimensions for the brim from what was more commercialized...the slightly smaller hat from the second two movies..which is what everyone compares them to when they take them out of the box. They probly don`t even consider or remember the very first hat`s dimensions as it was not considered to catch on. Then he said but I`m just some old geezer down in texas so what do I know. It`s just a possibilty of what could have happened!...........Hmmmmm.....food for thought! Jack

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All of this makes good sense to me. A few years ago when I first started my search for an Indy fedora, I visited my local western hat shop. I showed the owner parts of the first 2 movies. At the end of our viewing, he surprised me by asking which fedora did I want? At this time I thought they were all the same, so I was probaly a little cocky in my response. He, being a good natured fellow, dismissed my attitude and ended up ordering me a Stetson Temple. I wasn't happy with the tapered crown, and visited him once again. I was a bit more humble this time. I wanted a fedora like the one in TOD. We settled on a Nostalgia and I was more or less satisfied. But I wanted a taller hat and ended up ordering a custom made hat from The Custom Hatters. I love this hat! It is just too expensive to own more than one. When I talked to Gary of Custom Hatters, he told me that his repros came with a 2 7/8 inch brim. I asked him about the dimensional cut, and he stated that the Raiders hat didn't have this cut. Look at the movie he said. I cut the brim down to the dimensional specs and I am pleased with it, but I copied the TOD fedora which does have the dimensional brim. After all of this talk I think that when I recieve my bushman, I will have it cut to maybe 2 3/4 and 2 7/8 to just see if it resembles the Raiders hat. I will post my impressions. Steve
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