TIME says JFK Killed The Hat

[Aaron Hats]

Photos and all...http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.htm

 

[Fletch]

Hey, they've even made a record about it. So it must be true

 

[nulty]

JFK would probably say that it was Time that killed the hat...

 

[deanglen]

So when did the tricorn become extinct? Don't say it was third after the unicorn.

dean

 

[nulty]

So when did the tricorn become extinct? Don't say it was third after the unicorn.

dean

well as the folklore tells it Dean....I know fftopic:

The Unicorn Song

A long time ago, when the Earth was green
There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the Earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the unicorn

There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
The loveliest of all was the unicorn

The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain
And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo,
and take some of those...

Green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget My unicorns

Old Noah was there to answer the call
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall
He marched the animals two by two
And he called out as they came through
Hey Lord,

I've got green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn
I just can't find no unicorns"

And Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling
Oh, them silly unicorns

There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, "Close the door because the rain is falling
And we just can't wait for no unicorns"

The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide
The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
That's why you never see unicorns to this very day

You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorns


words and music Shel Silverstein courtesy of the Irish Rovers

 

[Edward]

JFK would probably say that it was Time that killed the hat...

Ah, but did Time kill Kennedy? ha. I resent that Irish gangster remark of Kennedy's... the Kennedy boys were a lot more like the Krays on a grand scale than any of the bad boys we ever produced (and yes, some of them were very naughty indeed in their day!). I guess he was referring to the hyphenated "Irish"-American gangsters (Irish because their grandmother ate a potato once or something). Eh, well.

There was also the regulation that one must wear a cover - who wouldn't want to go without after that? At least sometimes, maybe all the time.

I think this was very definitely a big factor. I have a friend who has just gotten out of the forces, and certainly in all the timed I've known him, I've never seen him wear any sort of headcovering (well, a bike helmet aside!). He's also always been very vocal about his incredulity at things like combat trousers, camoflage gear etc passing through civilian fashion - anathema to him (especially now he's out!) as "it's work clothes!").

The other knock-on factor I'd throw into this is that we can't discount the effect that the fashion mores of these returning servicemen had on the general public and its sense of fashion at the time. This was no Vietnam, nor Iraq - this was an uncontroversial war which 99.99% of society believed to be the good fight for freedom and democracy - these guys were homecoming heroes. It stands to reason that their preferred modes of dress and disposal of hats etc would have been something emulated by a civilian population looking up to them and the glamourous image that was presented of WW" servicemen in the media and Hollywood.

The hat industry was in decline in the thirties - presumably the depression bit hard there? Then add in any wartime shortages in materials (did that affect the US, or was it only in Europe that really happened?), and it continued to be reduced in the war years.... could have been enough time to affect the hat wearing habit. Also, I wonder was there a simple generational shift. Every new generation finds its own way of rebelling against the fashion "rules" of its parents... maybe the hatless trend was as much a part of this as for many years the black leather jacket was?

 

[Hal]

I think this was very definitely a big factor.

I'm sure it was: I can never remember my father, who had been in the army, wearing a hat or cap. But there is another side to the coin - there are ex-servicemen who find it difficult not to put on a hat or cap out-of-doors, as some who post in this forum have said. It's probably a matter of temperament.
One strange feature of British society until about 1970 was the school cap - schoolboys were expected to wear caps long after their fathers had discarded headgear. The school cap was an unhappy memory for many men, and I suspect that those who were made to wear it reinforced the bareheaded trend as the returning servicemen after 1945 had already accelerated it. It took me twelve years after leaving school even to consider wearing a hat or cap.
Are the baseball cap-wearers of today the serious hat-wearers of tomorrow?
We'll see!

 

[Fletch]

I resent that Irish gangster remark of Kennedy's[...]I guess he was referring to the hyphenated "Irish"-American gangsters (Irish because their grandmother ate a potato once or something).

That and their upbringing in urban ghettos like Hell's Kitchen or South Boston, where the only serious cultural influences were the church, the saloon, and the arena of manly combat.

The hat industry was in decline in the thirties

...then again, every industry was in decline in the thirties. One suspects hats were singled out because someone in the trade had good public relations sense.

 

[Mid-fogey]

My $.02..

I'm of the view that technology killed the hat, most especially cars and air conditioning. As the 20th century wore on, people began to spend more and more time in doors, in cars, etc. Increasingly hats became an unnecessary burden.

 

[jamespowers]

Still more of this hogwash:

John F Kennedy: The Cool Factor.

Among other things, Kennedy banished hats for men, even disposing of the top hat for his inauguration speech.

Not so. He wore or carried one all day, as did everyone else, and there are hundreds of photographs to prove it.

Another incorrect bit:

J.F.K. went to the trouble of having much of it [his wardrobe] made by a tailor in London,

Not after about 1960, when he switched to New York tailors for obvious reasons.

It gets my goat when authors who should know better (they're writing for TIME, after all) just tap out whatever comes into their heads as fact, without the most cursory research.
I sent Ms. Betts a note.

Your problem is that you are reading Time and expect truth.

Regards,

J

 

[deanglen]

Your problem is that you are reading Time and expect truth.

Regards,

J

Hear! Hear! :eusa_clap

dean

 

[Matt Deckard]

Time said it again? ...Fools

 

[Lincsong]

Some truth to the Service angle.

Just a random observance of my WWII Dad and his various 70 plus something neighbors, Dad and the American vets of WW II and Korea don't wear and never wore hats except for the occasional straw hat for yard work. (Dad did buy a panama from Art which is his first true hat). Two of the Portuguese immgrant neighbors wear hats mostly porkpies or newsboys. Dad and the neighbors have said that they stopped wearing hats because in the Service they were required to always wear something.[huh]

 

[Twitch]

I think the Kennedy thing is simply an illustration for what was happening at the time. He obviously didn't wear hats and lots of others didn't either. Certainly JFK was the 1st prez to NOT wear one in all the places that previous presidents did. So yeah, he contributed to the no-hat look. Ya can't deny that.

But fashion and looks changed as they always have in eras of history. Certainly men around the globe were not so wishy washy as to be overwhelmingly influenced by one American prez in office for such a short time.

Does anyone around here feel pressured to wear ball caps only simply because the vast majority of men around the planet do? Gonna throw away the fedoras, are we? :fedora:

 

[Fletch]

I wear a lot fewer ballcaps since I got in touch with my inner fedorista. I still slap one on now and then, but only with my scruffies.

 

[WEEGEE]

Ball Cap Not

I think sport caps should be worn when your playing the sport. ( I'll bend to the watching of the sport)


Someday perhaps we will see bicycle helmets worn merely for fashion but

i suspect that will be when pellets of frozen rain the size of golf balls are

a regular occurrence. LOL

 

[Edward]

That and their upbringing in urban ghettos like Hell's Kitchen or South Boston, where the only serious cultural influences were the church, the saloon, and the arena of manly combat.

Heh, probably.

Viz it being Kennedy that made the comment, I forgot too when I posted that he was an "Irish-American" (not sure how many generations removed), so i guess there was an element of self-deprecatory humour in there too.

 

[HungaryTom]

After we "know" who has killed the hat it is Time to know who has killed JFK

 

[Topper]

Actually this debate has been going on for centuries.

I remember an article in my research either in the Hatters Gazzette or The Times i think, form about 1880-1890ies mentioning the decline of hats.

I would not be surprised if there was also articles from the 1700ies about the same decline.

 

[FATS88]

Thought the JFK myth is the most popular, my research (based on stories told by old timers and other hat afficiandos) indicates that men's hats such as the Fedora began declining as a result of WWII. So many American young men went off to war and for five years they did not wear hats unless it was a helmet or regulation military caps/slanted side fold up hat (not sure of the name). When they returned, many did not return to the old ways. I am not trying to say WWII single handly ended the era of the fedora but in my opinion it began the change. By the time JFK forgot his top hat for the inauguration, the barbarians we already settled within the gates.

regulation military caps/slanted side fold up hat (not sure of the name).

I think they are called garrison caps, of course the
drill instructors I had, called them c@#t caps.

Cheers!
Fats