The Chinatown Hat

[Stoney]

One movie hat that I've grown fond of is one of the hats that Jack Nicholson wore in the 1974 noir Chinatown. This particular hat is the one that he wears when he visits Mr. Hollis Mulwray's house and later that afternoon at the spillway where Mulwray's body is recovered. The hat is also shown on one of the movie posters for the film (below left). This hat is one that I've made based on the Chinatown hat. The colors, while not an exact match are as close as I could come with the available materials. The body color is sage , more brownish green that it looks here, while the ribbon is Khaki. I did deviate somewhat from the original hat as it looked to have a 2 inch brim while I made a dimensional brim of 2 inches at the sides and 2 1/4 inches front and back. I thought the hat would look better with the same front profile as the original hat while adding more brim to the side profile. I'm really undecided as to weather to keep the extra brim or trim it down to 2 inches all around to make the hat more screen accurate. I'll have to think it over as it's easy to trim the brim but impossible to put it back once it's been cut.

This is a shot of the inside with a closeup of the liner art.

This is a closeup of the bow.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Okay! That's it! When are you gonna' start takin' orders? I still have a hankerin' for that Cagney hat!

 

[Feraud]

Great job. My only suggestion would be to keep brim a uniform length.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Very impressive, Stoney! Nice, nice job. From the standpoint of overall shape of the hat, I think you really nailed it. To my eye, the ribbon on the film hat looks narrower (1.5" ?) than the one you used -- and I think I like the narrower ribbon, particularly with the shorter brim.

How did you do the liner? That is a great touch!

Keep up the good work! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap


Cheers,
JtL

 

[tonyb]

Another stellar effort, Stoney. Do tell ... what kind of block did you use? And where'd you get the body? And the ribbon and sweatband?

 

[carldelo]

Very, very nice!

Chinatown is my all-time favorite movie - you've done a good job of pulling that hat back from the past - very impressive. Now if you could only get Jack to sign your liner, as Jake Gittes, of course....

 

[Stoney]

Mr. Lucky, Thanks for the complement but I'm not ready to make these hats for anyone but myself. Perhaps Jimmy or Art or another real hatter could make one for you. I'm sure they would do a better job than I can.

Feraud,

I'm still thinking the brim over. I am leaning towards trimming it even all the way around , but I'm not ready to commit to it yet.

Cookie,

I used a hare hat body from Leko at hatsupply.com. These bodies are made in the Chech republic and are fairly inexpensive at about $23.00 each. The quality of the felt is an good that of a new Stetson or Dobbs IMHO. Leko at hatsupply can provide all the raw materials that you need as a do it yourselfer and she is great to deal with. I did get the ribbon elsewhere, but everything else came from hatsupply.com. The body, sweatband, ferrule and liner

Jimmy The Lid,

I didn't mention the ribbon width but should have in the description above. Again this is a case of what was available not being exactly right. The ribbon that is installed is 1 1/2 inch wide. I tried a 1 inch ribbon but it looked way too narrow. I think the hat needs a 1 1/4" ribbon, which I was unable to find. I may run across one yet and if I do I will change it to match the original hat as much as possible.

The liner art was done using a printable fabric sheet and epson durabrite ink (waterproof inkjet ) . I just removed the old top from the liner and sewed in the new one.


tonyb,

I used the block that a made a few weeks ago from the poplar plank detailed inn this thread. http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=29283

All of the materials came from hatsupply.com, except the ribbon.

Carldelo,

Thanks. It would be cool if I could have the hat signed, but I doubt that's going to happen any time soon..

 

[carldelo]

Submitted for your perusal - just a link, not suggesting anything untoward, of course...

http://pages.stricklersports.com/8987/PictPage/1923044884.html

 

[DanielJones]

Sweet looking hat. Makes me want to start making my own hats eventually. I think I will need more room in my garage before I could ever start that process.

Great job on the lid Stoney!:eusa_clap A classic hat from a classic film.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[RBH]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[animator]

Really nice! I wish I could make hats like that.

 

[dr greg]

nice work

very pretty, and what a great source, I just bought a copy and watched it...hadn't seen it in 30 years at least, and it was as good as I remembered.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Stoney, You've done it again!!! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[jake_fink]

Hey... great work.

 

[majormoore]

Stoney, great work, love the liner tip, that really adds to the hat. The hat looks really nice, keep up the good work, and be proud of the hats you are making.

Mike Moore

 

[J.B.]

What a terrific job, Stoney! Congratulations.

 

[MattC]

Great Hat

Beautiful hat, and the liner is awesome. Try making the pinch just a tad tighter in the front.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

I'm still thinking the brim over. I am leaning towards trimming it even all the way around , but I'm not ready to commit to it yet.

I should.