Do you remember...Hats?

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Straw Panamas are just right.............when the weather co-operates.
According to provisional statistics from the Met Office.
The UK experienced 27% more rainfall than an average March,
with much of this concentrated in the south. However, we have been
promised a warm summer with temperatures in the 70's. That's
low 20's if you prefer metric. So if you are UK based and at a loose
end on the weekend of 22nd & 23rd of June, come and enjoy the
Shake & Stir Festival. It's held at the Bournemouth suburb of
Southbourne and it's free.
 

A few years back, I went through a phase of watching a lot of film noirs from the 1940s & '50s. Here's Rock Hudson from that period.

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Then I decided to try my hand at creating a period-type dialogue, using this second image to spark imagination...

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(Amid the cigarette smoke, a Jo Stafford song has just ended on the juke box. And now Bing Crosby wafts through, quietly crooning…)

"Hi, mind if I sit here?”

“Suit yourself,” she lifts an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

“They call me Phil… Say, don't you remember me?… Oh no, that’s right—we’ve only met in my dreams."

(Sardonic laugh) “In your dreams, huh?” (she takes a sip… he sits... a pause…)

“Yeah. I mean, why’s a swell kid like you sitting alone in this joint?"

"Oh, I’m in here a lot. Regulars here know my table. You new to this burg?"

"Just arrived about a week ago. Business."

"Business, huh? Doin’ well, are you, Phil?"

"Can’t complain, sister. Whatya drinkin’?"

"Gin and tonic."

"How ’bout I buy you another?” He turns, "Waitress, another gin and tonic for the lady, and another scotch on the rocks for me.” He turns back, "By the way doll, I didn’t catch your name.”

"That’s not so peculiar. I didn’t pitch it… But it’s Joan."

Each looking at the other, they sit quiet and sip their drinks, becoming a bit more bleary-eyed.

“How’d you wind up here, Phil?”

“Long story. I was an ambitious kid from East Hartford, worked at this and that back home. Learned a lot while I was in Army Intelligence. Got discharged after the war. One day I took a ride and just kept going. Like I said, business takes me on the road.” He takes a swallow.

“And now you’re here. And things are rosy for you?"

“Life is lookin’ good.” He tilts his head a little across the table. Speaking in a low voice, "Hey, are you a time traveler, Joan? It’s just one of those things, I guess... but I gotta say, I see you in my future.”

She shrinks back. “Hey, Buster or whatever your name is. I’ve been in a few people’s pasts."

‘Well, I’m just sayin', a girl of your quality…”

“Oh, buzz off!”

“Did I upset you some way, Joan?

“Well, remember that little lake just past the turn into town? Go jump in it, Jack!"
 
Here we have a Merry Widow hat. It was just the thing to wear to a Mourning Tea! The hat was based on an operetta by the same name that took London by storm in 1907. Cartoonists found the hat ridiculous, while moralists found it sinful. I’m a fan of preposterous headwear, myself... 😸

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Fyrefox said:
Here we have a Merry Widow hat. It was just the thing to wear to a Mourning Tea! The hat was based on an operetta by the same name that took London by storm in 1907. Cartoonists found the hat ridiculous, while moralists found it sinful. "I’m a fan of preposterous headwear, myself... "😸

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"I'm a fan of preposterous headwear myself."
Who could ever forget Princess Beatrice's wedding hat?
One of the down market UK newspapers likened it to a uterus!
And another said it was a toilet seat with ribbons around it.
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Do baseball caps count as hats?
Anyway as Procul Harum put it ‘ You better take of your Homburg ‘ cos your overcoat is too long’
My dad always went out with his Trilby.
 
Fyrefox said:
There was a time when a man, to be considered fully dressed, wouldn't venture outside without wearing a hat. Now I'm not talking ball caps, or worse yet, ball caps worn backwards; I'm talking real hats of recognizable style. Watch old black-and-white movies, and you'll see men wearing them. Watch old newsreels, and you'll find a sea of hats wherever a crowd of men are depicted. My father wore a hat going to or returning from work every day, even in summer heat. It was expected, and was part of the male uniform of the day. Even boys wore caps. Can you imagine Indiana Jones without his rakish fedora? I don't think so...

Do you remember when men routinely wore hats, those relics of a dressier age? What memories do you have of them?

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I still have a few of those. I don't wear them often so they are hanging on my bedroom wall. I remember when men were stylish and classy in their wardrobes.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Nothing IMO looks classier or sexier than a Homburg or Fedora on a well-dressed man. Separates real men from the boys...

My grandfather wore both, and he always looked so dashing and proper.

Today's ball-caps... ech!

Oil-stained, stinky, sweaty, dirty ball-caps! Seems it's the style nowadays (for men), to wake up and pull a ball cap over unwashed, uncombed hair.
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I agree, class is a thing of the past. I remember going to hat stores, local tailors and shoe repair shops. I only know of one hat store in my area now. I rarely buy suits now, but when I do, they are tailored, monogramed and with the right hat.
 
My dad had a hat, but I do not remember seeing him actually wearing it anywhere, so it must have been before i was born that he actually wore it.
Mostly, I remember seeing him , and my first husband, in their work helmets, because they were both linemen.

My mom also wore hats, but I only see that in some of her younger pictures. By the time I was born, she had stopped wearing any kind of a hat.
This was her, in her 20’s , posing with her dog, taken around 1930.

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