"Twelve O'Clock High" - Opening hat scene

[Tony in Tarzana]

Just watched this movie for the first time in a long time. In the opening scene, the character played by Dean Jagger is visiting England in 1949. He's walking out of a hat shop with a new black Homburg, and is talking to the salesman. It went something like this: "In America, I'd buy a hat in five minutes. I want to thank you for a most enjoyable hour and (looks at his watch) 40 minutes."

That's the kind of experience that needs to be recreated.

The movie, of course, is an absolute classic and a tour de force, but that's a subject for The Moving Picture. I just thought that opening scene was great fun and a reminder of a bygone era.

 

[Visigoth]

Hey, try to get us a screen grab of Jagger in that homburg!

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Tony you are right on the money...

Just watched this movie for the first time in a long time. In the opening scene, the character played by Dean Jagger is visiting England in 1949. He's walking out of a hat shop with a new black Homburg, and is talking to the salesman. It went something like this: "In America, I'd buy a hat in five minutes. I want to thank you for a most enjoyable hour and (looks at his watch) 40 minutes."

That's the kind of experience that needs to be recreated.

The movie, of course, is an absolute classic and a tour de force, but that's a subject for The Moving Picture. I just thought that opening scene was great fun and a reminder of a bygone era.

What cements that scene is Stovall's recognition of the Toby Jug after having such a 'civilized' experience with the hat, he is immediately transported back to a very chaotic and decidedly, 'uncivilized' experience in his life - total war! This is one of the things that makes this film one of the all time greats. Few people can actually relate to the real emotions that Stovall must have felt at that moment, stuck as he was between pleasant civility and the horrors of the recent past. This segue into the story of the 918th is just brilliant. :eusa_clap

-dixon cannon

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Try this URL...

Hey, try to get us a screen grab of Jagger in that homburg!

http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/reviews/bigscreenshot.asp?Index=2332&Region=2&Page=1&Type=6&Image=12oclockhigh003

The best I could come up with. I try a more extensive search tonight though. If it's out there, I'll find it!!

-dixon cannon

 

["Doc" Devereux]

Actually that sounds like my last visit to Lock's and, by a stunning coincidence, guess what I ended up buying...

Hey, try to get us a screen grab of Jagger in that homburg!

Since you asked so nicely, here he is confirming the length of that transaction:

 

[Visigoth]

Lovely! Thank you! (Didn't mean the tone of my request to be so crass...)

 

["Doc" Devereux]

Lovely! Thank you! (Didn't mean the tone of my request to be so crass...)

Not taken as such: I was thinking more of your enthusiasm than anything else.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Thanks, Doc!

 

[Visigoth]

I'm currently keen on finding fashion icons to justify homburgs (since Kid Rock is, well, not my mentor, style-wise). Starting to like 'em.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I'm currently keen on finding fashion icons to justify homburgs (since Kid Rock is, well, not my mentor, style-wise). Starting to like 'em.

Me too. I picked mine up for black tie events, and am still trying to work out whether it's something I can wear more frequently or not. I think I need to give mine a little more dip at the front, since I'm completely unused to having the brim of a hat turn up the way a homberg does.

I've been wearing fedoras for fifteen years, and flat caps for just under ten, but it's only in the last six months that I've really started experimenting with different styles: it's rather fun!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I love 'em, they're classy, and you can wear 'em straight and level for that banker look, or tilt 'em to the side for the 1920s high style look.

You can also put a pinch in it like Edward G. Robinson in "Larceny Inc."

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I'm currently keen on finding fashion icons to justify homburgs (since Kid Rock is, well, not my mentor, style-wise). Starting to like 'em.

Louis Calhern wore them to great effect. Watch "Executive Suite" for an example.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

You're welcome...

Don't mention it

-dixon cannon

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

OK, Cannon, I won't. lol

Boy, it's 114 here, can't imagine what it's like over your way. Or are you getting the thunderstorms?