Thanks a lot, guys!

[Zemke Fan]

Just before Christmas I bought an excellent black Stetson on eBay and it arrived on Christmas eve. My wife went ballastic! "It's those Fedora Lounge guys you hang out with, isn't it?" she asked. "Isn't it enough that you collect uniforms and junk from World War II? Am I going to have to put up with HATS, now too?"

Doesn't my S-E-G answer her question quite completely?

Interesting responses at the party we went to later that night:

- My DAD wore one of those EVERY day in the 50s.
- Oh, look, it's Elliot Ness.
- Great hat. (multiple times, multiple dames)

And my personal favorite:
- Where are Elwood and Jake?

Thanks a lot, Fedora Lounge guys! (Just joshin'... my wife actually likes the hat now!)

One last thing... Based upon the photos below, can anyone help me determine the approximate date of this puppy?

Truly, guys, thanks a bunch!

 

[photobyalan]

Congrats on your new lid! Stay the course and eventually your wife won't recognize you without a hat

I'm far from expert on these matters, but your Stetson looks to be fairly recent vintage. The style looks very 1960's to me, and the hat is likely from even later than that. It looks a lot like the "Saxon" model, which is still being produced.

Consider yourself lucky to have found something in your size on eBay. And I thought I had a big noggin!:cool2:

 

[varga49]

I'd have to agree with Alan. It's more than likely a Saxon from the 60's. More importantly you look like a million dang dollars in it! I know how hard it is to find hats that fit. I'm a 7 5/8! Congratulations!!

 

[Harry Lime]

Not to quibble...

...but your hat would look better if you snapped the brim completely. You need to bring it down farther, run your hands around the side more to more fully snap it. You're sporting a "hat peeve" of mine, the front half-snap where you've only broken down the center front. (Robert Downey did this in "Good Night and Good Luck" and it drove me nuts.) Practice a little and you'll get it, it will make the hat look much better. (Or perhaps you love it that way, in which case you can tell me to "go pound sand..." I won't, but wear your hat however you want. Just a suggestion.) Wider brim hats snap better than that late 50's/early 60's style of yours but yours should still snap fully.

Harry Lime

 

[Johnnysan]

ZF,

I'd have to say 60's vintage too...it looks a LOT like one of mine from that era. A very nice hat...you make a handsome couple! Congratulations on all of the compliments received, they are well deserved!

 

[Zemke Fan]

Thanks, Harry!

...but your hat would look better if you snapped the brim completely. Harry Lime

Man-oh-man were you right! It looks 100% better that way! Thanks for the advice... But... GO POUND SAND ANYWAY! (Always liked that saying.) Thanks again, Harry!

 

[tonyb]

Looks good

Yes, yes, it's the risk we run, these encounters with wags who think of fedoras more as costume than everyday attire. But it's not as bad as it was. More and more guys are wearing real grownup men's hats these days. At least they are out here on the wet side of the Cascades, where moss grows on anything left sitting still for more than a week or two. These fellas have discovered that hats actually provide protection from the elements! Imagine that! And they beat toting an umbrella. Now, many of those lids are junk, true enough, wool rollups and the like. And I've seen some gawd-awful "creations" in leather. But I've also seen lots of guys sporting real fur felts and straws.
I wore hats for decades before my wife and I met, so she knew what she was getting. Indeed, when we were dating she often presented me with a new Borsalino. Her tactics worked.

 

[Harry Lime]

My sand is pounded. Now what?

Man-oh-man were you right! It looks 100% better that way! Thanks for the advice... But... GO POUND SAND ANYWAY! (Always liked that saying.) Thanks again, Harry!

Glad it worked out. I'm sure it looks great. You've got a good hat-head. Now go see "Good Night and Good Luck" and I'll bet you'll want to reach right up onto the screen and snap RD's brim down properly. :cheers1:

Harry Lime

 

[Solid Citizen]

Lookin Good

Mr. & Mrs. Zemke Fan looking great together!

Mr & Mrs. Solid Citizen

 

[Twitch]

Yo Zemke Fan! Yaz gotta quit hangin out wit dem low life jamokes at dat hat lounge. Dey's a bad influence on ya!
Brooklyn Bob

 

[Zemke Fan]

Thanks for the compliments, boys...

Ya'll are very nice to say such kind things about Fred's first fedora... To provide a little update on the love-o-my-life's reaction: she likes the photo posted at the top of this thread so much that she made me duplicate a dozen copies to send out to her friends and relatives. So, I guess all's well that ends well...

Now if I could just talk her into letting me bid on another great 7-3/4 on eBay, the metamorphosis would be complete!

ZF

 

[MattC]

Definitely60s

That liner was used by Stetson on most of its hats through most of the 60s (even the last Stratoliners). By the 70s, Stetson had gone to a liner which no longer had the plastic cover, and which featured the name Stetson and not so much the coat of arms.

The hat looks great on you.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Zemke, howyadooin?

My wife thinks I spend too much time in "Da Lownge" too.

She called to me the other day and my son, in all his infinate wisdom, called back and said, "He's in 'Da Lownge', watdaywant?"

 

[Zemke Fan]

BB: The ONLY problem with this place...

Is that it ISN'T a real live lounge. If it were, I've got a feeling that a bunch of us would be hanging out "wid da boys" a lot more than I hang out wid em right now, drinking scotch (or whatever), smokin' cigars, and talkin' about pinup dames and war movies! -- ZF

 

[Twitch]

Zemke- I bought 2 hats in a month and got in trouble too so join the PW club! Boy if this was a real brick and mortar place we'd really be in trouble.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

An actual, physical Fedora Lounge! That would be awesome! It could have a retro look, like something out of an old Bogie film. :cheers1: And we could see all those wonderful hats in person. Sigh... it's nice to dream.

 

[GregNYC]

Zemke, you look great and happy! Both of you look

just perfect!

 

[jamespowers]

An actual, physical Fedora Lounge! That would be awesome! It could have a retro look, like something out of an old Bogie film. :cheers1: And we could see all those wonderful hats in person. Sigh... it's nice to dream.

Yeah it would be like Cheers but with class and dignity.
Better yet, like Rick's Cafe American.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Make mine a Sasparilla....

...in a dirty glass, ya big Jamoke!

 

[varga49]

I'll be happy to...

Ya'll are very nice to say such kind things about Fred's first fedora... To provide a little update on the love-o-my-life's reaction: she likes the photo posted at the top of this thread so much that she made me duplicate a dozen copies to send out to her friends and relatives. So, I guess all's well that ends well...

Now if I could just talk her into letting me bid on another great 7-3/4 on eBay, the metamorphosis would be complete!

ZF

bid on them for ya!