I dont care...

[texasgirl]

Some other hats, outfits on extras

 

[gtdean48]

... but what amazes me is that photo with Depp in a scruffy shirt, ripped jeans and a hat. How he still manages to make it look cool is beyond me. But hey, he's Johnny Depp - I guess that explains it all.

It is all in the collar! Check out the collar = soooo Elvis!

 

[rgraham]

I find the placement of the type to be a bit suspect.

 

[gtdean48]

lol lol Good one. There is a Chevy commercial running with the little girl & Howie Long. She points to the vehicle but it looks like she is pointing to the same area mentioned above on Howie. What she innocently says is quite humerous in my juvenile mind!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The last Hollywood gangster movie with really, really (though not perfectly) period accurate costumes, cars, sets, etc. was Francis Coppola's
The Cotton Club, and that came out way back in 1984!


Furthermore, it was a box office flop. [huh]


(Once upon a time, I had a '30s overcoat that was essentially identical to Depp's. Found it at a Melrose vintage clothing store back in 1989. Had a belted back with several inverted box pleats! An ex-girlfriend ended up stealing it from me ...)

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The DARK side of period movie-making ...


A friend of mine was an assistant cameraman on the set of Public Enemies. She told me about an outdoor crowd scene where supporting actors and extras pretended to be caught unawares in the "rain" -- without umbrellas. Many of the female actors/extras were given vintage 1930s shoes --some in excellent condition-- to wear in the scene. Needless to say, an ensuing torrent of water ruined all those shoes.

.

 

[DOUGLAS]

This is a tremendous look and photo. It is as artful as the advert below.

 

[tonyb]

A hat aficionado emailed me a copy of that very Knapp-Felt ad to use as a "go-by" (at least for the profile and the proportions of brim to crown to ribbon). We even went a touch shorter on the brim. We did it in a bone-colored body, but that light, light grey does it for me, too. I'm thinkin' even a silverbelly would work.

Among that ad's appeal is that the hat is quite casually shaped (bashed, creased, whatever you wanna call it, it's all the same to me). Note how the brim is considerably more upturned on one side than the other, and how its dip in front is so uneven. Cool was cool even before they called it cool, eh? (And when did that usage enter the popular lexicon, anyway?)

I'm thinkin' that ad dates from the era depicted in the movie, the late 1920s or early '30s.

 

[MisterGrey]

I was wondering that too. Odd, that.

Dillinger did own-- and employ-- a bulletproof vest. It saved him on at least one occasion and possibly others.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dillinger/timeline/timeline2.html

The last I heard the vest was owned by Sandy Jones, a Dillinger historian who used to run a museum in Indiana featuring items owned by the gangsters of the Public Enemy era. Last year he sold the car, along with a lot of 700-1000 items, to a newly formed museum in Washington. I presume that the vest was among those items.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/Feb/15/after-sale-its-bankers-hours-for-car-of/

 

[JohnnyB53]

Here's Johnny side-by-side with a pic of my dad in 1954 when he was almost exactly Johnny's present age (about 45-1/2).

The hat geometries are pretty similar--tall, straight-sided crown with relatively narrow brim, definitely 2.5" or less. I don't know if my dad was still wearing a '30s-era hat here (but it looks brand-spankin' new), or if he got that hat at a store that carried more traditionally shaped fedoras.

 

[thunderw21]

Here's Johnny side-by-side with a pic of my dad in 1954 when he was almost exactly Johnny's present age (about 45-1/2).

The hat geometries are pretty similar--tall, straight-sided crown with relatively narrow brim, definitely 2.5" or less. I don't know if my dad was still wearing a '30s-era hat here (but it looks brand-spankin' new), or if he got that hat at a store that carried more traditionally shaped fedoras.

The mid-'50s went back to the '30s look for a short time. Hats from both periods can look remarkably similar.

Great photo, btw.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I'm thinkin' that ad dates from the era depicted in the movie, the late 1920s or early '30s.

Quite right. Published in the Saturday Evening Post, August 24, 1929, as a matter of fact.

I'm collecting this year-long series of ads, and that's one I happen to have.

Brad

 

[Daoud]

Hat? WHAT hat?

Who cares about his lid- it's that M-1927 that stokes my envy. You're carryin' one of those down the street, you could be wearing a propeller beanie and people would still show you respect. Or fear. Or both.

 

[johnnyphi]

Is it fair to say...

Brad... Is it fair to say that the hat in your avitar is period appropriate for this film? Looks to have the correct dimensions/ribbon.

Quite right. Published in the Saturday Evening Post, August 24, 1929, as a matter of fact.

I'm collecting this year-long series of ads, and that's one I happen to have.

Brad

 

[CRH]

...

I'm collecting this year-long series of ads, and that's one I happen to have.

:arated:

So, like, do you come here to the lounge for pleasure or research? I'm curious because I've tended a few bars and that's always a question I asked myself about the most interesting customers .

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The mid-'50s went back to the '30s look for a short time. Hats from both periods can look remarkably similar.

Absolutely right. The Mac Lachlan fedora below is from the 1950s, yet it looks practically identical to the hat worn by Bruce Willis in Last Man Standing, a film that takes place in the mid 1930s.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Brad... Is it fair to say that the hat in your avitar is period appropriate for this film? Looks to have the correct dimensions/ribbon.

I hope so, as that was my intention. I've been making my hats to replicate the looks of the late '20s-early '30s. This one has a six-inch open crown, 2-inch ribbon, and 2-inch brim. The brim is at the bare minimum for the period, but I wanted to see what a 2-inch brim looked like. I actually prefer a 2 1/8-inch or 2 1/4 inch brim better.

So, like, do you come here to the lounge for pleasure or research? I'm curious because I've tended a few bars and that's always a question I asked myself about the most interesting customers.

Both! Doesn't everybody?lol

Brad

 

[Forgotten Man]

Watch any early WB picture with Cagney or any M~G~M pic with William Powell and you'll see hats much like the one Brad is wearing! In the late 20s, to the early to mid 30s the short brim with tall straight crown was a very common look. However, I have seen several photos of men wearing wide brims in the same years.

In a 1936 Sears catalog there's a hat section... they offer wide and short brim hats... with tall crowns of course. But, the point I want to make is that even if we tie a certain hat to a period, that doesn't always mean that one hat should represent a time period. There still were many kinds, wide and short brims alike that men could choose from. One thing can be said however, the crown on early hats were on the tall side with little to no taper and were mostly bashed very lightly to no bash at all.

My personal taste is tall crown and a short brim for early 30s... like I see in my favorite pre-code WB pictures. But, whenever I see those early movies, I see more then just the principal hat that I'll lust after!

 

[Forgotten Man]

This is a tremendous look and photo. It is as artful as the advert below.

Thank you Douglas, I appreciate your comment.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Who cares about his lid- it's that M-1927 that stokes my envy. You're carryin' one of those down the street, you could be wearing a propeller beanie and people would still show you respect. Or fear. Or both.

Same here. Though I think that's a '21 model he's supposed to be using, as the '27's were semi-auto only (unless illegally converted using a '21 receiver)...and Johnny is definately not shooting a semi! He's using a 30 round stick in one scene of the trailer...which didn't exist until the 40's!
Rob