Crown Height

[jdbenson]

While I was recuperating from a vicious cold I spent most of my waking hours watching old movies. I was in a Bogart mood, so I watched CASABLANCA, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, and THE MALTESE FALCON…all fantastic hat movies.

Bogie wears different fedoras in each of these films. In CASABLANCA he has a wide brimmed C-Crown with zero taper. In TREASURE he has a narrow brimmed, tapered, C-Crown with deep dents a pinch so tight it’s worn a hole thru the felt. In FALCON he wears a wide brimmed, zero taper, diamond bash with no dents and a tight pinch (a real beauty). But, I noticed something about Bogey’s hats that are very different that any hat I’ve seen. Whenever there’s a shot of Bogey from behind we can see the top of his hat. In every movie, regardless of the bash/taper, there’s a HUGE indentation on the top of the hat, obviously because the crowns were so high. On the FALCON diamond bash, it looks like the top crease of the crown goes down over one inch before the actual top of the hat.

None of my hats are like that. In fact, I tend to pop out/up the bash on hats because of my big ol’ high domed noggin.

So I got to wondering: were crown heights that much higher back in the 30s/40s? Or, was Bogey a tiny little pin-head?

Are there any current makers who make fedoras with higher crowns? I can’t stand working to get a nice bash and then popping it out whenever I actually put the hat on…

 

[indycop]

Art can make anything you want!

 

[KObalto]

I think crowns were higher then

Check out www.vintagesilhouettes.com

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Crowns were higher, and Bogart did not have a high forehead. His eyes are closer to the top of his head than the bottom of his chin.

That's probably considered the "ideal" for good looks. My eyes, on the other hand, are just about in the middle of my face. With most hats, the top of my head will touch the top of the crown.

 

[jdbenson]

Crown

Will ALL hats my head touches the top of the crown!

I have a long face and a high dome. On top of all of that, I'm a 7 3/8 Long Oval. Needless to say I have challenges finding a hat that fits.

I love Arts work, but I've gotta save my pennies first.

How about Akubra? I love the Campdraft but I've hesitated ordering one because I'm a long oval and was unsure of how it would fit.

Any long oval Akubra wearers out there?

 

[Ande1964]

As the ever-wise J.T. pointed out here, a dunk in water will help soften an Akubra so it will better fit your long oval head. It worked very well for me... I dunked my Campdraft and then stretched it a bit lengthwise as it dried.

Anj

 

[jdbenson]

Thanx

Thanks, Anj, I missed that thread. Your campdraft looks excellent! How's the crown height on it?

 

[warbird]

Will ALL hats my head touches the top of the crown!

I have a long face and a high dome. On top of all of that, I'm a 7 3/8 Long Oval. Needless to say I have challenges finding a hat that fits.

I love Arts work, but I've gotta save my pennies first.

How about Akubra? I love the Campdraft but I've hesitated ordering one because I'm a long oval and was unsure of how it would fit.

Any long oval Akubra wearers out there?

If I recall Scotrace is a LO. I know he wears Akubras. Seems he said somewhere he stretches his on his knee and they fit fine. I may be wrong, but I think it was Scotrace.