Collection of Beatiful Hats from the Newbie

[Wild Root]

I did not like them any more than I did the Three Stooges. Not at all.

Well K.D., that's ok. Their comedy style is more of a guy thing Slap stick is something that I really enjoy from time to time. The Three Stooges earlier work is my fave. I don't care for their later work. The Bowery Boys I have not seen to much of. But, I love Angles with Dirty Faces and I have seen some of the Dead End Kids. Good stuff! I like the whole tuff guy thing, see!

Nice hats by the way.

Root.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Thanks, I guess kids have different tastes. As I said, I did not like the Stooges, but loved the Martin and Lewis movies.

OK, here is my Snowy River Akubra. It is the nicest creamy white color, can't recall what the color is called.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I love the old Tom Mix cowboy hats and would love to be able to wear one, but you have to be a big character, and I think a big man, to get by wearing one of these in this day and age. too bad, because I also love those big old hats the cowgirls wore in the rodeos back in the teens and twenties and thirties, before cowgirls got banned from bronc riding and roping and the like. Check out their hats on the Cowgirl National Hall of Fame website.

So, I settled for a Stetson "Gus." It's a Silverbelly color. I wear it to parties and such.

karol

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Here is another shot of the "Gus" hat:

 

[Wild Root]

Kids eh? Well, is my Grandfather a kid? He's a fan LOL

I may be young, but my car isn't!

Root.

PS. I ain?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t a kid, see. Yeah!

 

[K.D. Lightner]

What a great car! What model is that? I think my daddy had one like that. Or maybe not, he mostly drove Fords back in the 40's and 50's.

Speaking of old guys, my niece was given this old photo of my parents, James and Ruth Lightner, which was taken on the streets of Des Moines, Iowa in late 1940. She took it to a mall and had it framed in a Time Magazine format. The result is what you see here.

Look at that old fedora!! My mother said she still has it and when I go back next year to be with her (my father passed away in 2001), I want to find out what it is. Probably not an upscale hat, father was a tightwad, but still, I want to see it.

to think, they went to a movie and someone took this of them when they left the theatre. Can you imagine people dressing up like that in this day and age to go to a movie??!!

karol

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Well, looks like I will have to try that one again. It didn't go through.

karol

 

[K.D. Lightner]

One last attempt to get this on the site. Life in the 40's, with my parents on the "cover" of Time Magazine:

 

[K.D. Lightner]

It worked! The last one worked, now I have sent all the photos I intend to send. At least until I get another new hat.

Sorry, guys, about the bitmap stuff. At least the Time Mag. Thanks for your advice and patience.

karol

 

[Renderking Fisk]

Thanks for thoses pics. Phenomenoal. [Jedi Mind Trick]Did you say the Akubra was your favorate?[/Jedi Mind Trick]

 

[K.D. Lightner]

As to my favorite, I guess it depends on what day it is.

The Akubra "Snowy River" is a beauty, but it is a stiff hat. It is, according to the info on the sweat band, "pure fur felt."

The Stetson "Gus" is XXXX. It is also a stiff hat as I guess are most cowboy hats. I don't wear it much around here as it turns out I moved too far west to wear cowboy hats without being stared at. How was I to know that Coastal Southern Californians think it is uncool to wear a cowboy hat. I don't understand the XX ratings of cowboy hats, but notice the ones at Wild Bills here in San Diego range up to 10X -- and those are behind glass cases and cost hundreds of dollars. Does anyone here understand the rating of cowboy hats?

The blue fedora is the one I got from GH. It is a 25X and is soft and wonderful to feel, as is the old Borsalino. I love to be able to shape and fuss with the hats. So, I think they are my favorites just because they are soft and shapeable.

Was anyone able to open the Time Magazine cover photo of my parents? The third one took, although I cannot open any of my stuff from my computer at home. Time to ditch the old Pentium II?

karol

 

[Wild Root]

Well Karol, I saw the photo and loved it! Very sharp looking folks for sure.

In reply to your question about my car, it's a 1946 Plymouth Special Deluxe four door. The body style is P-15 and Plymouth made this same car with very little change from 1946 to early 49. The P-15 was one of the most popular cars of the post war era! Plymouth made over 300,000. Of these cars by 1949. Most GI's coming home from the war wanted a new car, so they would buy Plymouth because it was cheep and it was reliable. In fact that the demand for new 46 Plymouth?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s were so high they were back ordered for months! You had to wait a wile to get your new P- 15. That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a reason why they made the same car for three years. Since it sold well, why change any thing.

The P-15 came in many different models. You had a business coupe, station wagon, convertible coupe, the four door and the two door sedan. Came in two classes, Deluxe and Special Deluxe. The Deluxe was the lowest in price. Didn't come with any extras. Special Deluxe came with a radio, heater and stainless trim around the windshield. Prices starting for Deluxe models were $1,089. Special Deluxe models started at $1,159.

There you have it. Probably more info then you wanted. Oh well.

Regards,

Root.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Thanks. If my old daddy was alive, he could have looked at that photo and told me exactly what car that was. The cars they made back in the 40's & early 50's were so fine. They ran forever, which is probably why the auto manufacturers stopped making them. I still see cars from that era out here in Southern Cal.

My first car, when I was old enough to drive, was a big '49 Chrysler Royal. It was so heavy, I could drive it in a snowstorm with no snow tires and would be the last driver out on the road. I told a friend if it had a turret gun on top, it would pass for a tank. Also, it was semi-automatic. Does anyone remember those?

My father's first car was a Model A Ford, which he took apart piece by piece and put back together again. He knew his cars and could pretty much fix and service his own cars until the day he looked inside and found computer parts. After that, he fixed up old VW's and sold them -- did that until he was 74, then went out and got a job for seniors with Hertz. He worked there until he was 84, the year before he died.

Glad you all could see my father in his fedora. He was 24 in that photo, my mother (check her hat out!), was 21.

karol

 

[havershaw]

Great photos! I'm going to try to find that issue of Time on eBay. Looks like I would enjoy it.

That Borsalino is the bee's knees. Borsalinos are my favorite hats, and that one is a real beauty. Congratulations!

 

[K.D. Lightner]

That is a Time magazine cover that was made up in a mall. My niece took my parents photo to the mall and had it attached to a bogus Time magazine cover. They also had Life in the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc. I do not know what store she took it to, it may have just been a kiosk.

Boy, I wish it was a real Time cover. Talk about 15 minutes of fame! The photo was shot in December, 1940. My parents had been married about a month. They do that with "Man of the Year" covers, too. You can have your own face put on it and then frame it. I have even seen them as mirrors --you can look in the mirror and see your face, the mirror frame is Time's "Man of the Year" cover.

I felt so lucky to find that Borsalino in an antique shop. I lunged for it and prayed it fit. It did, perfectly. It is obviously older than the Borsalinos I have from 10 years ago (bought at Village Hat Shop here in San Diego). The feel is softer, the hat stronger. It says on the inside, "Imported by Feiges', Racine, Wisc."

I would like to send it to Art some time soon and get it cleaned and fixed up.

karol

 

[havershaw]

ah...I must have misunderstood. I feel like a dope. You probably mentioned that it was made up in a mall already.

they have a whole bunch of Time 'century recaps' based on each decade at a few bookstores here, and they have titles like that. I've only seen The Fifties and The Sixties. I've never seen the earlier ones, but I assumed they made 'em, and I thought yours was one of those.

I've only found a few vintage fedoras in antique stores, usually very overpriced and don't fit me anyway. (Of course, if they had fit, they wouldn't have seemed overpriced...) Congratulations again on your find.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Lots of people thought that was a real Time Mag. I've gotten tricked on those things, too. I mentioned it in the first posting, but it took me three tries to get the darned thing on the site so most of you probably missed it. Sorry about that, sometimes I feel like all the techie stuff is getting way beyond me, or maybe it is just the Pentium II processor I have. Time to upgrade?

Are you an ebay freak? I am -- it is terrible how much I have spent on ebay in the past several years. Have you ever purchased a hat from there? So far, I have not acquired a hat off ebay I really like, but keep trying. I was just outbid on a Borsalino.

Re the Borsalino in my photo: I feel fortunate to have found that hat. I saw a vintage Borsalino at a yard sale not too long before; it was a navy blue hat and my heart leaped. Alas, it was a 6 7/8, way too small for me. If it had been bigger, I would have bought it and tried to do something to adjust the fit. I guess we just keep trying. Sooner or later, there may be a old Borsalino coming in to your life that is sitting right now in an attic waiting for someone like you to buy it and appreciate it.

What is you hat size, by the way? I have a couple of Borsalinos sitting around doing nothing at this point. I have to downsize in the near future as I am retiring.

karol


karol