jimmy the lid
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kabuto said:They have something of a claim as the most authentic shop for Open Roads, in that the Shady Oaks they made for Amon Carter were what "inspired" Stetson when Stetson designed the Open Road.
Based on my own research into this, the "Shady Oak" hats were the result of a design collaboration between Amon Carter, Tom Peters and Stetson. The actual lids, produced by Stetson, were Stetson Amon Carter/Shady Oak Open Roads. My own belief is that the original incarnation of the modern-day Open Road (as opposed to Stetson's earlier Open Road model, circa 1937) was the lid that Stetson first made specially for Amon Carter.
An excellent source of information on this topic is a book by Jerry Flemmons entitled Amon: The Texan who Played Cowboy for America. According to Flemmons, the hats passed out to dignitaries visiting Carter's Shady Oak Farm were originally supplied by Borsalino. These hats were rather large, wide-brimmed and high-crowned, as reflected in some early photos. After Mussolini declared war on Ethiopia (1935), Carter turned to Stetson to produce hats for him. Flemmons reports that "after months of design research," Stetson began producing the Shady Oak Open Road. In a previous post here on the Lounge, Jimmy Pierce has noted that Tom Peters of Peters Brothers was involved in the design of the hat. According to the Peters Brothers web site, Tom Peters left Fort Worth for Philadelphia in 1921 in order to work for Stetson, where he learned his craft from Stetson's master hatters. Thus, it seems like a relationship existed between Tom Peters and Stetson that could well have served as a basis for collaboration. Jimmy Pierce also confirms that the hats resulting from Tom Peters' design efforts were produced by Stetson. According to Flemmons, Amon Carter "bought them through Washer Brothers, an old-line Fort Worth store, and later through Peters Brothers, a downtown hat shop." Flemmons estimates that, at the very least, Amon Carter gave away "many, many thousands" of Shady Oak hats. Apparently, Hat Life magazine proclaimed Carter the "world's greatest retail hat customer."
The Stetson Shady Oak Open Road contained a unique liner. The liner crown reads: "Shady Oak Farm, Ft. Worth, Texas, Where the West Begins." On the front part of the hat, the liner reads: "The Latch String Always Hangs Outside, Amon Carter." My own hunch is that, having initially produced the Shady Oak Open Road for Amon Carter, Stetson produced and distributed the Open Road more generally, without the Shady Oak liner.
According to Jimmy Pierce, Peters Brothers retained the rights to manufacture a Shady Oak hat, and Flemmons notes: "Peters Brothers Hatters in downtown Fort Worth, operated by a grandson, Joe, continues to manufacture its version of Stetson's Amon Carter Shady Oak Western hat."
I have posted these photos before, but I include them here as part of this discussion:
Cheers,
JtL