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Gary Cooper's hat in FWTBT

monbla256

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DFW Metroplex, Texas
The original "Indy" style of costume was introduced in the 1943 film For Whom the Bell Tolls by Gary Cooper as evidenced by this still from the movie. I really like his hat and wonder if any of you "movie hat" folks have any idea as to who might have made it? It's the only "movie" hat that I'd like to find a version of. It looks to have an overwelt on it and at least a 1 1/2" band maybe 2"? Any of you folks have some ideas?

forwhomthebelltolls2-21.jpg


forwhomthebelltolls91.jpg
 

monbla256

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Allan Young had him beat by some 3 months in '43s CHINA.
I like both hats from both films.

Allan Young in a still from China.

49981209.jpg



I have searched for info on both hats, but have had no luck.

It was Alan Ladd and only 2 months :) It looks like both hats were sort of generic to the styles of the times so we will not find any info just thought some one might know. :)
 
Last edited:

Sam Craig

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Not to wax Raider here, because it's all been said ... but Ladd, Cooper and Charlton Heston have all been credited with the IJ Fedora and jacket mix as well as Bogart

Obviously all of them were part of that mixing of the dress clothes that become adventure, so you really have to go back to Sydney Carlton, whom Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities describes as rundown gentility ... that idea of dress clothes that have been weathered into something more dashing ... especially as the character was depicted by Ronald Colman

Raiders, of course, had a massive impact on a generation that has never bothered to read the books or watch the movies made before their time. And the use of the fedora and jacket was, let's be fair, never done any better than in those films.

MB ... This past year I nabbed a new condition Wormser that is close to the dimensions that Cooper wore. I reminded me of the hat that Depp wore in Public Enemies, except it's dark chocolate, instead of oxblood

It's a neat style with the tall crown and slightly narrower brim than what the Raiders hat has inspired.

I plan to keep it as a dress hat, though, and not drive over it, wear it into a swimming pool, poor cement dust on it or do any of the other insane things I have witnessed people doing to perfectly good fur felt fedoras on the Web.

People ARE strange.

BTW ... Alan Young was the guy on Mister Ed ... Willllbbbbur!

Sam
 

Blackthorn

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Oroville
Allan Young had him beat by some 3 months in '43s CHINA.
I like both hats from both films.

Allan Young in a still from China.

49981209.jpg



I have searched for info on both hats, but have had no luck.
Man, that's a LOT of rake on that one! I don't like too much rake, but I know it was popular back in those days.
 

monbla256

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DFW Metroplex, Texas
Check out this thread from '06.
I did not merge it because I did not want to ruffle any feathers.
I went back and corrected the image URLs from my post so they would show up.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?13763-Gary-Cooper-s-fedora

GREAT INFO ! Thanks! I went through my FTWBT files ( it's one of my fave movies :) ) and found some more stills. Here's a pretty good one of the top of the hat:

forwhomthebelltolls371.jpg


another pretty good close-up :

forwhomthebelltolls22-11.jpg


and last I found a color still. It was filmed in Technicolor :)

forwhomthebelltolls201.jpg


Now if I could just find out who made it :)
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
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4,187
Now if I could just find out who made it :)

I think we can narrow down the list of suspects. It looks more like a Cavanagh Edge than an overwelt. Anytime I see a major movie star sporting a Cavanagh Edge, like Bogart, I figure the odds are pretty darn good that it was made by one of the two largest manufacturers, Stetson and Hat Corporation of America. Sure, there are other factories that made them, but the odds favor the big two. So, out of those two, it's probably one of four brands, either a Stetson, Dobbs, Knox, or Cavanagh.

Still doesn't narrow it down enough, though.

Brad
 

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