Posted by The Captain on June 28, 2000 at 07:37:57:
In Reply to: JAKE'S HAT posted by Terry on June 27, 2000 at 23:55:41:
: I was just looking at the Pix page and recalled something that even when the show was new I didn't really like, and that was Jake's hat. I loved the show, but the hat seemed out of place. Remember, Indiana Jones seemed to immortalize that brimmed hat he wore, but Jakes hat had the look of a bus driver's of the 40's or 50's. (I always think of Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners" when I see it!) Yes, I know pilot's wore them, but still, Jake was a rebel. He could choose whatever hat he wanted. The jacket was really cool, but the hat...weeellllll! I think if I had the money to remake the show, the hat would be the first thing to go! What would I replace it with? I don't know, but there's got to be something better. Anyone agree?
: Terry
Terry
Well before the '60's all adult males wore hats. So he has to wear a hat. A hat is to (a)keep the sun out of your eyes and (b) keep your head warm. In the South Seas only (a) is required.
Hats also indicate your profession and station in life. If he wears a hat which indicates his profession, it is easier to pick up business. Essentially your attire -- before the internet and TV -- made you a walking billboard. "Got a cargo you want flown? See the guy with the 50 mission crush at the end of the bar."
If you want the job, you have to look the part. If you are a captain in the tramp steamer business, you need to look like a captain, convey a certain aura of dedication to your profession. You on the other hand are looking at things through "year 2000 dress-down Friday" eyes.
A watchcap is too warm, a tophat is too formal, a beret too Gaulic, (though a tam o'shanter might work), a ballcap too modern and a tad to unprofessional, a visor is too clerkish, and a fedora or hamburg or strawboater are too difficult to get a headset over. Now a flyers helmet (would have been leather) would have been too warm below 30,000 feet. So his old American Volunteer Group chapeau indicates he has suitable credentials and that his is in the flying business and not a carpet cleaner or a Great White hunter. Off course flying boots, a Sam Browne belt, and jodphurs might have achieved the same effect.
How about a crushed Fez wore rakishly "down at the bow with a list to starboard"?
THE CAPTAIN