Stetson 5X Clear Beaver, 1942

[Brad Bowers]

Well, feltfan, if it bothers you to own that C&K and not wear it, I'll gladly take it off your hands and give you some peace of mind.lol

I voted to not wear the hat.

Brad

 

[carouselvic]

I cancelled Brad out.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Hats were made to be worn. Do it for the hat. Of course, I agree that this is one that would be worn with care and treated appropriately...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[DOUGLAS]

I voted not to wear. It is amazing and to damage or lose this would be devastating.

 

[Lefty]

Wear it. If you don't wear it, it's not a hat, it's just bad art...

like one of these useless things:

 

[feltfan]

Easy for you to say, Lefty, but the paint on those plates tastes terrible.

And Brad, I appreciate the offer...

Thanks to all and keep those comments coming.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Easy for you to say, Lefty, but the paint on those plates tastes terrible.

lol lol lol

I'm sorry -- is that spaghetti sauce on the Appaloosa?...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[warmentrout]

Are you a hat wearer or a museum ? That's up to you. I think I would wear it, although with extreme care and at appropriate occaisions ( whatever those may be)

 

[scottyrocks]

I like to wear my hats, I'm not much for save-n-display, but I'd do it with that one.

 

[CRH]

I love it when you guys come up with these museum pieces.

Wear the hat, FeltFan, but only on a horse and only in parades .

 

[Michaelshane]

I wear all my hats,I would not wear that one......... because I don't wear big cowboy hats.

 

[Jabos]

Wear it occasionally with care, or donate it to the FDR presidential library. If you don't wear it a bit, you won't be enjoying it. If you keep it locked up tight you will just be the person that kept it nice until some schmuck in 25 or 50 years gets their grubby paws on it and does something stupid.:eusa_doh: What a beautiful treasure.

 

[Chinaski]

Wear it. Don't forget to put on your white gloves first...

 

[Corky]

My vote: Put the hat on your head and wear it...

My vote: Put the hat on your head and wear it with pride.

First of all, we're not dealing with a holy relic here.

If it was an artifact on the order of the leather flying helmet that Lindbergh wore on his first hop across the Atlantic, it would be a collector's item.

But it's not. It's a hat that was awarded for THIRD prize for a Presidential Rubber Drive. Those Rubber and Scrap Metal drives were great for getting the Folks At Home to feel like they were doing something to Help Win The War, but they weren't all that effective at assembling useful war materials.

In 1942, when the first scrap drives were organized, the war was far from won, and frightened civilians at all levels were anxious to do something, anything, to help. So campaigns were organized to collect not just metal and rubber but kitchen fat, newspapers, rags, and so on. These drives were extremely successful--millions of tons of material were collected. It was only afterward, contemplating the assembled mounds of junk, that those in charge of the war effort asked themselves: What are we going to do with all this crap?

World War II shortages weren't just home-front propaganda. Japanese conquests in Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and Viet Nam cut off access to natural rubber supplies. President Roosevelt urged Americans to turn in "old tires, old rubber raincoats, old garden hose, rubber shoes, bathing caps, gloves," and so on at their local service stations.

Just one problem: there wasn't (and still isn't) an efficient way of recycling rubber products. Rubber's complex chemistry and the variety of formulations in use made recycling slow and expensive and the resultant material inferior to virgin rubber. Although the rubber recycling industry did produce a fair amount of material throughout the war, the rubber scrap drive didn't significantly boost its output. The real solution to the rubber shortage was development of synthetic rubber and conservation--gas rationing was primarily meant to save tires, not gas.

Many of the other materials collected couldn't readily be recycled either. Many who lived through the war remember collecting old newspapers, but apart from using them as packing material and such there was little to be done with them. A 1941 aluminum-scrap drive to help the plucky Brits pulled in 70,000 tons of aluminum pots and pans, but only virgin aluminum could be used to manufacture aircraft.

Iron and steel were a different story. These metals could be easily melted down and used for munitions. It's not as if the U.S. lacked domestic sources of iron ore, though. The real challenge was gearing up American industry for war production. That meant everything from increasing steel-making capacity to building more factories and designing better weapons. Recycling of steel and iron unquestionably helped. One campaign netted five million tons of steel in just three weeks, and scrap-metal drives continued for most of the war.

Useful though recycled steel and iron were, some scrap drives went overboard. In addition to old streetcar tracks, wrought iron fences, church bells, and the like, people carted off relics of previous wars, including cannons, park statues, and other memorials. When the memorials were being rebuilt after the war, many wished they hadn't been so hasty.

There's no denying scrap drives were meant in part as morale builders.

There is no reason to preserve your hat in some pristine state to keep alive the memory of a Public Relations effort.

Also, the main reason that Hollywood Types remember the other William Boyd (aka Hopalong Cassidy) is that in the early days of Televison, he pioneered the merchandising techniques (the sales of Hopalong Cassidy lunch boxes, hats, cap guns, etc.) that drive (and pollute) much of the entertainment industry today.

The Hopalong Cassidy films are almost unwatchable by the eyes of a modern audience. Becuse many were originally shot as Silent Films and then recut into Sound Films, the chases and action sequences were used over and over. Then when they were edited down for television, they were again homogenized. The end result is that they are nowhere near great entertainment.

Plus William Boyd/Hopalong Cassidy was one of the first B-Movie Western actors to deliberately blur the line between the actor and the role he was playing. Even today, some people find it hard to distinguish the roles played by a B-Movie cowboy actor (William Boyd, Roy Rodgers, John Wayne, etc.) from the person he was in real life.

Wear the hat.

Best of luck

 

[feltfan]

Wow, what can I post next to get more great responses from Corky?
Thanks so much for the time and effort you put into that fascinating post.

 

[Lefty]

Is this you, Corky? If so, kudos. If not, please give credit.

 

[Corky]

Lefty, here is the documentation you requested...

Lefty,

Here is the documentation you requested.

Obviously, I tend to hit the SAVE button before thinking and forgot to include my background notes and list of websites consulted.

William Boyd/Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Actor Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Boyd_(actor)

William Boyd and WW II Rubber Drive:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40C1EF93B58167B93C0AB178CD85F468485F9

WW II Rubber Drives as PR:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2395/were-wwii-scrap-drives-just-a-ploy-to-boost-morale

Best of luck

 

[carouselvic]

From Stetson Hats by J. Snyder

As part of the war effort, and in an attempt to convert the aging Stetson factory complex to a more modern single floor manufacturing design, the company tore down nine of their twenty-five buildings in May of 1943, reducing their factory space by 350,000 square feet.....4000 tons of scrap metal was recovered for military use....

 

[Lefty]

Here is the documentation you requested.

Thanks for those. Good links are always appreciated.

There's a brief mention of a CB and Will Rogers (and Amon Carter for JtL) here.

"
The Will Rogers Ranch in California was “a place for family, friends, polo, calf roping, and relaxed entertainment under most informal conditions”. There was a display that showed his fondness for hats. In a case was his favorite hat, a narrow-brimmed “Clear Beaver” made by John B. Stetson of Philadelphia. “Applying his own personal creases, Will Rogers would wear the same hat to dress-up or for working cattle. Long worn by Will Rogers, this hat was a gift of his pal, Fort Worth publisher Amon Carter, who later commissioned the famous equine state mounted over the family tomb on the south lawn of the museum.”
"

 

[jimmy the lid]

There's a brief mention of a CB and Will Rogers (and Amon Carter for JtL) here.

Interesting. Incidentally, the Shady Oak Open Road is an example of a lid that gets worn...carefully...

Cheers,
JtL