Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Joker's hat

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,081
Location
London, UK
I agree, the Jack napier hat definitely looks like a highcrown, wider brim fedora with a pp/telescope crease in those photos.

I agree that it does not look like a pork pie. I can't say with certainty, but the joker hat looks like a real flat top. Like this costume hat sold contemporaneously with the 1989 movie:

zahy8ene.jpg


And this real hat, found online:

3ugudysu.jpg

Where's the real hat photo from? Is it one claimed to have been worn by nicholson, or is it just an example of the type?

FWIW, if you're looking for an accurate portrayal of any film character's wardrobe, I'd blanket discount any officially licensed and produced costume version. 99.99% of the time a blind horse could see dozens of differences and flaws in those.

I think mc 713 said they wanted it in black, yes?
My first thought was with John Galt. Knowing how Nicholson played the character and everything, definitely more of a Spanish flair than a Hasidic. The gaucho hat immediately came to mind.
Hard to find, but you could go custom.

A Hispanic flair would be a logical link to Caesar Romero, who was - to the best of my recollection - the last man to play the Joker on screen when Nicholson too up the facewhite and did the character as written on the page justice for the first time on live-action film.
 

fedoracentric

Banned
Messages
1,362
Location
Streamwood, IL
I disagree that the hat in that movie display has a porkpie crease.

Here is the image lightened so that the crease is more easily seen...

napier_enlarged.jpg

That is not a fully telescoped crease like a porkpie. It is merely a dimpled crease like a western hat. Plus the brim is too wide for a porker.

porkpie.jpg

The two hats are entirely different to me.
 

John Galt

Vendor
Messages
2,080
Location
Chico
The real hat was just a photo I grabbed - found doing a search, but no claim to being the one worn by anyone in any movie.
 

Flick

Practically Family
Messages
698
I am trying to find a very specific style of hat. It appears to be a telescopic fedora with a wide brim. It is the hat that Jack Nicholson wore in the 1989 Batman film when he played the joker. I would like to find this hat in black. Does anyone know what style hat this is called or where I can get one?


1.JPG

4.JPG

For sale here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261555330788?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

2.JPG

5.JPG

For sale here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261554179033?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649


Is this what you are looking for?
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
Evidently, there's variations on the porkpie. Here's a couple of variations, both with wider brims that are snapped down in the front....

porkpie_01.jpg


porkpie_02.jpg
 

Lotsahats

One Too Many
Messages
1,370
Yup, there's no real sense in trying to argue that he names used for hats are exclusive and specific or even, ultimately, really meaningful.

Flick, I think you hit the nail on the head with that Zorro hat!
 

TheDane

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,670
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
I think, the wide brimmed flat hat is pretty much a traditional Southern Spanish hat, called a "Sombrero Cordobés". It's often seen in Andalusian bullfights - not to be confused with the "Castoreño", which is a silverbelly-colored round-crowned wide brimmed hat, worn by the Picadors (horsemen with a lance) in most Spanish bullfights.

Edit: Found this on eBay. This specimen does have a rather tall crown, though. I would try the Spanish eBay ;)
 
Last edited:

navarre

Vendor
Messages
322
Location
Black Sheep Hat Works
:eusa_clap HAHA! That's great! There was a post just the other day where someone asked "Can anyone identify this Dobbs?"

I was totally going to answer with " Yup, his name is Charlie"

Half minds think alike TJ ! :)
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
Good work, that! Well done!

I'm glad I checked this thread out. Now maybe I have a use for my purple cowboy hat...

+1 Looks like it would be an easy enough conversion to do. You should do it! That would be pretty neat! After you make the conversion, I double dog dare you to wear it out in public! ;) Nice find Zombie.
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
:eusa_clap HAHA! That's great! There was a post just the other day where someone asked "Can anyone identify this Dobbs?"

I was totally going to answer with " Yup, his name is Charlie"

Half minds think alike TJ ! :)

Ha! Excellent! But isn't that supposed to be, "Great minds think alike"? No need to short change ourselves! :D
 
Last edited:

Joao Encarnado

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,776
Location
Portugal
Now maybe I have a use for my purple cowboy hat...
+1 Looks like it would be an easy enough conversion to do. You should do it! That would be pretty neat! After you make the conversion, I double dog dare you to wear it out in public! ;) Nice find Zombie.
I wished you didn't convert it but I can't "break your arms"...
I doubt JG would wear it in public in either form. I'm weird and considered eccentric here so I would dare. ;)
 

ScottF

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,755
Not a porkpie. It's a western creased flat. I don't think you can take any hat, give it a crease similar to a porkpie, and then call it a porkpie, but I guess that's a matter of opinion - doesn't change the hat, so it doesn't really matter.

I spent a lot of time trying to duplicate Oppenheimer's hat. I can't remember exactly which one I thought it probably was, but it's documented somewhere in a thread in the lounge, along with pics of my attempted duplication. The great thing about his style of crease is that if you have a hat that is slightly small, you can flatten it as Oppenheimer has done, and it will fit much better - it's how I get into a 7 1/8 when I normally wear a 7 1/4+. But it generally only looks good when done to a wide-brim western (IMO), ala Clint Eastwood.

(Also, I think that is the greatest hat photo ever - thanks for posting :))

Portrait of American Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer Wearing a Porkpie Hat

Richard
 
Messages
12,017
Location
East of Los Angeles
Good work, that! Well done!
...Nice find Zombie.
Every once in a while You Tube is actually good for something other than "epic fail" and "fan edit" videos. ;)

There was also a brief but good view of the hat's crown in the scene in which the Joker confronts Carl Grissom (Jack Palance) after his transformation, but it's so dark it was difficult to capture. To me it looked like the hat was blocked with a flat (or nearly flat) top, which was then shaped into the telescope crease seen above, because the hat has neither the "bump" nor "bowl" shape commonly associated with a creased crown.
 
Last edited:

ingineer

One Too Many
Messages
1,088
Location
Clifton NJ
Scott:
Thank you for your kind words.
Thank goodness for all the variety in hats.
The Press and books ie. Richard Rhodes always stated pork pie.
But you are right , he probably just took what was available and bashed it to his liking
Much to my chagrin finding a porkpie in a store such as his was impossible, that was the days w/o the net,and w/o the expertise of this forum
I found the thread with your hat, excellent!
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?60234-Robert-Oppenheimer-s-Stetson-at-auction.

I have also tried to emulate that hat, but decided that my own style works better
He had small head 6-7/8 so the brim looks wider
Physicists were my idols, but I am just a humble over-educated plumber
However, count your blessings that there is a GE over a Westinghouse near you.
I had a little something to do with the stuff that went into Whoops.
Their QA guys were most diligent .
On topic
Yes. Iberian hats. The gauchos look like the best bet, Flick got it



Richard
 

diabolicaldog

New in Town
Messages
35
Location
New England, Australia.
Not a porkpie. It's a western creased flat. I don't think you can take any hat, give it a crease similar to a porkpie, and then call it a porkpie, but I guess that's a matter of opinion - doesn't change the hat, so it doesn't really matter.

I spent a lot of time trying to duplicate Oppenheimer's hat. I can't remember exactly which one I thought it probably was, but it's documented somewhere in a thread in the lounge, along with pics of my attempted duplication. The great thing about his style of crease is that if you have a hat that is slightly small, you can flatten it as Oppenheimer has done, and it will fit much better - it's how I get into a 7 1/8 when I normally wear a 7 1/4+. But it generally only looks good when done to a wide-brim western (IMO), ala Clint Eastwood.

(Also, I think that is the greatest hat photo ever - thanks for posting :))

Prior to western style hats becoming popular in rural areas of Australia this style was very common in the 60's,70's and 80's. Think Akubra Squatter and later Open roads set with a very short crown.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,248
Messages
3,077,228
Members
54,183
Latest member
UrbanGraveDave
Top