Marc's time has come (supplied by Jens)
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- Michaelson
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Marc's time has come (supplied by Jens)
From Jens:
Seems Marc's time has come now. The maybe renowned German News magazin "Der Spiegel" just brought a story about the "hats" in the new Indy movie. I am aware, that you most likely don't understand a word in it, but since Steve and even COW are mentioned quite prominently, I post the link anyway:
"Auf den Hut gekommen"
Maybe you just want to enjoy the picture show
Seems Marc's time has come now. The maybe renowned German News magazin "Der Spiegel" just brought a story about the "hats" in the new Indy movie. I am aware, that you most likely don't understand a word in it, but since Steve and even COW are mentioned quite prominently, I post the link anyway:
"Auf den Hut gekommen"
Maybe you just want to enjoy the picture show
Last edited by Michaelson on Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Alan
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Here's a link to a (rough) translation:
http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=de ... 97,00.html
My favorite line in the translation is where Steve channels his inner Yoda:
http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=de ... 97,00.html
My favorite line in the translation is where Steve channels his inner Yoda:
Finally Delk produced a hat with which he was satisfied. And it presents on the Internet. "The next thing I remember is that hundreds of people wanted to buy this hat," he recalls. "But I was not a Hatter. Carpenter I was!"
- Michaelson
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I just came across this and was about to post it. I was pleasantly surprised to find Marc and Steve have found their hard-earned recognition in Germany, and not just in any old paper. Der Spiegel is Germany's most respected magazine.
Great article guys. Congratulations.
I'm sure this will result in many more orders from Germany. . . I'm so happy I've already got my original Marc edition
http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/0,1518,545797,00.html
Great article guys. Congratulations.
I'm sure this will result in many more orders from Germany. . . I'm so happy I've already got my original Marc edition
http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/0,1518,545797,00.html
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Nice one Tron, Ditto to that as well.Tron7960 wrote:And purchase I did.
Congratulations guys!
Congratulations Marc, at least you get the recognition you deserve. Really congrats to both to you and Steve. I can understand some of the article, but some of the words I have never seen before. I took German in high school and in college and I have not take German in many years, but still know some of the the basic words. Anyways, thanks Michaelson for posting this was a very interesting article and Marc gets the credit he deserves in this article. Nice pictures by the way too.
IndianaChris
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Don't thank me! Thank Jens!
HE'S the sharp eyed character that tossed it over the fence for me to post for him!
Regards! Michaelson
HE'S the sharp eyed character that tossed it over the fence for me to post for him!
Regards! Michaelson
Last edited by Michaelson on Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Was not sure if to just to thank you or to thank Jens. I got a better idea. Thanks Jens for finding the article about Marc and Steve and Thanks Michaelson for posting the information. That better. Congrats again Steve and MarcMichaelson wrote:Don't thank me! Thank Jens!
HE'S the sharp eyed character that tossed it over the fence for me to post for him!
Regards! Michaelson
Best,
IndianaChris
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What a great article. I'll have to froward this to my Mom and Dad. I think it's as good as, if not better than the original write-up from Steve's paper. Marc gets his due finally as well!
I just want to say that Steve should do the New York interview. I understand his trepidation and how busy he is, but c'mon Steve! Ya gotta! That would be so cool. Unfortunately, (or fortunately!), it might create more orders than you could possibly imagine!
Congrats again guys!
Michael B
I just want to say that Steve should do the New York interview. I understand his trepidation and how busy he is, but c'mon Steve! Ya gotta! That would be so cool. Unfortunately, (or fortunately!), it might create more orders than you could possibly imagine!
Congrats again guys!
Michael B
Last edited by michaelb on Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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But that is exactly how the first movie is called here in Germany. "Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes", which is "Raiders of the lost treasure" if you translate it into English. In German it doesn't sound that cheesy at all, but maybe that's just me. In the end I grew up with that title.IndyWannaBee wrote:Google's translations are funny!
Indiana Jones...Raiders of the Lost Treasure!!!
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Thanks to all of you for your kind feedback. It is highly appreciated by this writer.
Angelika gave me permittance to publish the original (un-edited) text. Of course it's also German but I hope it's ok to post it here.
Regards,
Marc
Angelika gave me permittance to publish the original (un-edited) text. Of course it's also German but I hope it's ok to post it here.
Personally I like this one better.Indiana Jones
Jäger des verlorenen Hutes
Die Kopfbedeckung, die Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones und das Königreich des Kristallschädels” tragen wird, ist ein internationales Projekt. Und die Entstehungsgeschichte dieses Filzhutes ein Märchen von Leidenschaft, Ehre und wahrer Freundschaft.
Marc Kitter sah “Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes” erst 1989, auf Video. Damals war der Film schon acht und Marc gerade 13 Jahre alt. Es war Liebe auf den ersten Blick. Doch Marc verliebte sich nicht etwa in Indys Freundin Marion Ravenwood, gespielt von Karen Allen. Auch nicht in das abenteuerliche Leben eines Nazis-bekämpfenden Archäologen, wie wohl die meisten Jungen seines Alters. Es war der Hut, der es ihm angetan hatte. Fortan trug Marc Zeitungen aus in seinem süddänischen Heimatort Tinglev, 18 Kilometer nördlich von Flensburg. Die Jyske Vestkysten, ein halbes Jahr lang. Bis er genug Geld beisammen hatte, um mit seinen Eltern nach Hamburg zu fahren, in die große Stadt, und sich einen Hut zu kaufen - genau so einen wie Indiana Jones ihn trug.
Wenn am 22. Mai der vierte Teil der Reihe – Indiana Jones und das Königreich des Kristallschädels – anläuft, wird Marc Kitter diesmal der erste sein, der sich den Film anschaut. Und wieder wird er hauptsächlich auf den Hut achten. Denn die Hüte, die Harrison Ford und seine Stuntdoubles tragen werden, hat Kitter gemacht. Zumindest die Hälfte davon. Die andere Hälfte stammt von seinem besten Freund, Steve Delk.
Delk ist 57 Jahre alt und lebt in Mississippi. Wenn er erzählt, hört man in seiner tiefen Stimme die Baumwolle. Delks Südstaatenakzent ist ausgeprägt, die Vokale lang, der Erzählfluß ruhig wie der große Strom, der seinem Heimatstaat den Namen gab. Er sah “Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes” 1996 zum ersten mal, wie Kitter ebenfalls auf Video. “Ich konnte damals nicht ins Kino gehen. Wir hatten kleine Kinder, für Kino war da keine Zeit”, sagt er. Und genau wie Kitter konnte er kein Auge von dem Filzhut auf Harrison Fords Kopf lassen. Damals war Delk noch Möbeltischler. Heute ist er Hutmacher.
Kennengelernt haben die beiden sich im Club Obi-Wan. So heißt der Nachtclub, in dem die Eröffnungsszene des zweiten Teils der Filmreihe, “Indiana Jones und der Tempel des Todes”, spielt – Steven Spielberg erweist hier Referenz an seine Star Wars Saga, indem er den Club nach dem Lehrmeister von Anakin und Luke Skywalker benennnt. Club Obi-Wan heißt auch ein Internetforum, in dem die Ausrüstung von Indiana Jones diskutiert wird: die Lederjacke, die Bullenpeitsche, Pistole, Holster – und eben der Hut.
Kein Wunder, dass die beiden sich auf Anhieb gut verstanden. “Wir haben unzählige Stunden telefoniert und tausende Emails geschrieben, um über Hüte zu diskutieren”, sagt Kitter. “Das klingt ungefähr so: Meinst Du, das Hutband ist noch einen Millimeter zu schmal? Vielleicht, aber die Krempe könnte auf jeden Fall noch zwei Millimeter breiter sein...”, fügt er mit einem Anflug von Selbstironie hinzu. Die schlechte Kopie des Indiana Jones-Hutes, die Kitter mit seinem Zeitungsgeld erstanden hatte, befriedigte ihn auf Dauer nicht wirklich. Und auch Delk suchte und suchte nach dem perfekten Hut. “Ich habe 7500 Dollar für Hüte ausgegeben”, resümiert er. Einen Originalhut zu bekommen, war inzwischen unmöglich geworden. Richard Swales, der 1981 den Hut für “Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes” gemacht hatte, war pensioniert. Die Londoner Firma Herbert Johnson, für die er gearbeitet hatte, fertigt ihre Hüte mittlerweile maschinell – keine Option für jemanden, der genau so einen Hut haben möchte, wie ein Hutmacher ihn in den 1930er Jahren in seiner Werkstatt hergestellt hätte. Und der alte Block, auf dem Swales den legendären Hut einst formte, gilt als spurlos verschollen.
Also begannen Kitter und Delk, selber zu experimentieren. Sie kauften alte Hüte bei ebay, pulten sie auseinander, formten sie um und nähten sie wieder zusammen. Schließlich wurde es Delk zu bunt. Ihm war klar: Wenn er genau diesen einen Hut haben wollte, dann musste er ihn selber herstellen. In der Library of Congress in Washington D. C. fand er ein altes Buch, “Scientific Hat Making”. Das wurde für Delk und Kitter zur Bibel. 10 Monate lang arbeitete Delk an dem Block für den Hut. “Hey, ich war Möbeltischler”, sagt er, “da denkt man, man kann aus Holz alles machen.” Also machte er einen Block für sich und einen für seinen Freund Marc.
Doch damit fing die Geschichte erst an. Kitter und Delk stiegen in die Magazine von Museen hinab, um dort alte Hüte zu studieren. Sie riefen alte Hutmacher an, die heute über 90 Jahre alt sind. Kitter in Europa, Delk in Amerika. “Einige davon waren richtig glücklich, mit jemanden über ihre Arbeit sprechen zu können”, erzählt Kitter. Die Hutmacherei ist eine Art Geheimwissenschaft. Tricks und Kniffe wurden niemals aufgeschrieben – dann hätte ja der Konkurrent ebenso gute Hüte machen können. “Aber jetzt, am Ende ihres Lebens, waren einige doch sehr glücklich, ihr Wissen nicht mit ins Grab nehmen zu müssen.”
Schließlich produzierte Delk einen Hut, mit dem er zufrieden war. Und stellte ihn ins Internet. “Das nächste, woran ich mich erinnere, ist, dass hunderte von Leuten diesen Hut kaufen wollten”, erzählt er, “aber ich war doch kein Hutmacher. Ich war Tischler.” Also setzte er sich nach Feierabend in seine Hutwerkstatt. Modellierte für Freunde, Fans und bald auch Fremde auf seinem neuen Block alte Hüte um, bis sie genau so aussahen wie der “Jäger”-Hut. Und machte jede Menge neue. Zunächst kassierte er dafür nicht mehr als nur den Selbstkostenpreis plus Portogebühren. Nach wenigen Monaten rief er Kitter an: “Marc, ich schaffe es nicht mehr allein. Willst Du mitmachen?”
“Ich war so gerührt”, erinnert sich Kitter. Er wusste, eine Zusage würde künftig jede Sekunde seiner Freizeit fressen. “Weißt Du was?”, ermunterte ihn schließlich seine Frau Isabell, “Du hängst doch sowieso die ganze Zeit vorm Computer und schaust Dir Hüte an. Wenn Du damit noch Geld verdienen kannst – um so besser!” Seit dem arbeitet Kitter, der im wirklichen Leben BWL studiert hat, tagsüber als Einkäufer eines großen Werkzeuglieferanten in Niedersachsen. Und Abends sowie am Wochenende macht er Hüte. Um nicht mit seinem Freund Steve Delk in Konkurrenz treten zu müssen, hat er sich auf die Deluxe Edition spezialisiert. Zwar verkaufen beide unter dem gleichen Namen “Adventuerbuilt”, aber Kitters Hüte sind um einiges teurer. “Ich habe einen Filzlieferanten, der qualitativ sehr hochwertigen Filz liefert”, erklärt er den Preisunterschied. “Der mischt die Farbe speziell an und bringt noch einen extra Wasserschutz auf.” Hochwertig sind allerdings auch die Hüte von Delk. Beide verwenden nur reinen Biberfilz. “Hase oder Kaninchen haben zu dicke Haare”, sagt Kitter. “Nur Biberhaare sind fein genug.”
Den Rohling liefert der Filzmacher. Der unförmige Kegel wird gedämpft und über dem Holzblock geformt, Mit verschiedenen Methoden wird der Hut künstlich gealtert, um spätere Verformungen zu vermeiden. Dann geht es ans Bügeln. “Je mehr Du bügelst, desto besser wird Dein Hut”, verrät Delk. Sandpapier gibt ihm den letzten Schliff, dann müssen noch das Schweißband eingenäht und das Hutband befestigt werden. “Ich hasse es, Schweißbänder einzunähen”, gesteht Delk. Deshalb hat er jetzt den Sohn seiner Schwester eingestellt, der ihm die ungeliebte Arbeit abnimmt. Am Ende hält er einen Hut in den Händen, wie ihn ein Hutmacher der 1930er Jahre nicht besser hätte machen können.
Längst schon genossen Kitter und Delk im Club Obi-Wan einen gewissen Ruf. Die beiden galten als absolute Perfektionisten und exzellente Hutmacher. Als der vierte Teil der Indiana Jones Reihe angekündigt wurde, ging das Rätselraten los: Wer würde den Hut liefern? Dann, eines Tages schon kurz vor Beginn der Dreharbeiten, rief Peter Botwright, Hersteller von Indys Lederjacken, an. Er würde sich am nächsten Tag mit Bernie Pollack, dem Kostümbildner (und Bruder von Regisseur Sydney Pollack) treffen – und der hätte noch keine Hüte. Ob er denn die Adresse der beiden an Pollack weitergeben solle.
“Da haben wir ein Gentlemen's Agreement geschlossen”, erzählt Delk. “Falls ich den Job bekommen sollte, würde Marc die Hälfte der Hüte machen. Und falls er den Job bekäme, würde ich die Hälfte der Hüte machen.” Am nächsten Tag rief Pollack bei Delk an. “Aber nur, weil Mississippi nur zwei Stunden Zeitverschiebung zu Los Angeles hat, und nicht sechs wie Europa”, beeilt sich Delk hinzuzufügen. Er bestellte zwei Dutzend Hüte, und Delk und Kitter begannen, Tag und Nacht zu arbeiten. “Die letzten konnten wir erst liefern, als die Dreharbeiten schon begonnen hatten”, erinnert sich Kitter. Insgesamt fertigten die beiden 48 Hüte für “Indiana Jones und das Königreich des Kristallschädels” an: “Neun für Ford, entsprechend viele für seine drei Stuntdoubles, und ein paar extra für Steven Spielberg, die er als Geschenke an gute Freunde verteilen wollte”.
Was wird das für ein Hut sein, der im “Königreich des Kristallschädels” Harrison Fords Schädel ziert? “Eine Mischung aus dem “Jäger”-Hut und dem Hut, den Indy in dem “letzten Kreuzzug” getragen hat”, verrät Delk. Für echte Fans ist der “Jäger”-Hut der einzig wahre. 99 Prozent der Hüte, die er und Kitter auf Wunsch fertigen, sind “Jäger”-Hüte. “Aber den mochte Pollack nicht”, grummelt er, “also mussten wir einen Kompromiss machen.” Beide Freunde tragen auch privat “Jäger”-Hüte. “Ich hatte nie Zeit, mir selber einen Hut zu machen”, erzählt Delk. “Also trage ich einen Hut, den Marc mir geschenkt hat. Den oder einen alten original Stetson aus der Zeit vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg.”
Zeit hat Steve Delk seit vier Jahren nicht mehr, seit er mit dem Hut-Business begann. Und dabei ist es jetzt wohl noch verhältnismäßig ruhig im Vergleich zu dem Sturm, der über Delk und Kitter hereinbrechen wird, sobald der “Kristallschädel” in den Kinos läuft. Delk sieht dem Rummel mit südstaatlicher Gelassenheit entgegen. Vor ein paar Tagen fragte die New York Times bei ihm für ein Interview an. “Ich glaube, ich will gar nicht mit denen reden”, brummt er. “Ich habe schon genug Publicity.” Seine Prioritäten liegen wo anders. “Das beste ist, dass meine drei Enkelkinder eines Tages den Film gucken und sagen können: Opa hat diesen Hut gemacht!”
“Steve könnte altersmäßig mein Vater sein”, sagt Kitter über Delk. “Aber er ist mein bester Freund.” “Marc ist der beste Freund, den ich je hatte”, sagt Delk über Kitter. Getroffen haben sich die beiden noch nie. Es wäre eine weite Reise. Und Delk hat Flugangst. “Wenn ich je nach Europa fahre, dann in einem Boot!” sagt er. Die Filmpremiere wäre eine gute Gelegenheit für ein erstes Treffen. Doch bislang hat Bernie Pollack noch keine Karten für Hollywood geschickt. “Ich werde den Film vielleicht in Kopenhagen anschauen”, plant Kitter vage. Und Delk? “Ich muss den Film auf jeden Fall zwei mal sehen. Ich weiß, beim ersten Mal werde ich nur auf den Hut achten können. Aber ich will ja auch wissen, wovon die Story handelt.”
Regards,
Marc
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My German language skills are still too elementary to read this article in it's original language. I tried the link for the translation and got this error message: SORRY ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.
Can anyone assist me in an English translation please?
Many thanks,
MarkVII
Can anyone assist me in an English translation please?
Many thanks,
MarkVII
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gat
Congrats ounce again Steve and Marc. Or should we say the Adventurebilt Hat Co. Can anyone translate it?
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English Translation
Here's my translation. It's really a nice piece.
Indiana Jones
Raiders of the Lost Hat
The headwear that Harrison Ford will wear in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is an international project. And the story of the creation of the felt hat is a tale of passion, honor and true friendship.
Marc Kitter first saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 1989, on video. At the time the film was already eight years old and Marc just 13. It was love at first sight.
But it wasn’t Indy’s girlfriend Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen, with whom Marc had fallen in love; neither was it the adventurous life of a Nazi-fighting archeologist, like most of the boys his age.
It was the hat that dazzled him. From that moment on, Marc started delivering newspapers in his southern Danish hometown of Tingley, 18 kilometers north of Flensburg [home of a great pilsner - ed.]. The Jyske Vestkysten, for half a year. Until he had saved enough money to travel with his parents to Hamburg, the big city, and buy a hat – just like the one Indiana Jones wore.
When the fourth installment in the series, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” opens on May 22, Marc Kitter will be the first one to see the film. And again he’ll mainly be paying attention to the hat. Because the hat that Harrison Ford and his stunt doubles will wear were made by Kitter. At least half of them. The other half were made by his best friend, Steve Delk.
Delk is 57 years old and lives in Mississippi. When he speaks, one hears the cotton in his deep voice. Delk’s Southern accent is distinctive, the vowels long, the flow of speech slow, like the great river that gave its name to the state.
He saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the first time in 1996 [!? – ed.], also on video, like Kitter.
“I couldn’t go to the cinema back then. We had small children, there was no time for the movies,” he says. And exactly like Kitter he couldn’t take his eyes off the felt hat on Harrison Ford’s head. At the time Delk was a furniture maker. Today, he is a hat maker.
They met each other in Club Obi-Wan. That’s the name of the nightclub in which the opening scene of the second part of the series, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” takes place – Steven Spielberg pays homage to his “Star Wars” saga [sic – ed.] by naming the club after the instructor of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. Club Obi-Wan is also the name of an Internet forum, in which Indiana Jones’ gear is discussed: the leather jacket, the bullwhip, the revolver, the holster – and, yes, the hat.
It’s no wonder that the two got on so well from the beginning. “We spent countless hours on the telephone and wrote thousands of emails discussing the hat,” says Kitter. “It sounded somewhat like this: ‘You think the ribbon is still a millimeter too narrow? Maybe, but the brim could be at least two millimeters wider…,” he adds with a trace of self-mockery.
The bad copy of the Indiana Jones hat that Kitter purchased with his newspaper money didn’t really satisfy him for long.
And Delk also searched and searched for the perfect hat. “I spent $7,500 on hats,” he says. Finding an original hat had become impossible. Richard Swales, who in 1981 made the hat for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” had retired. The London company for whom he had worked, Herbert Johnson, was by that time making hats by machine – not an option for someone who wanted exactly the kind of hat that hat makers had made in their workshops in the 1930s. And the old blocks, which Swales had once used to make his legendary hat, had disappeared without a trace.
Kitter and Delk thus began to experiment on their own. They bought old hats on ebay, took them apart, reformed them and sewed them back together. It finally became too much for Delk. It became clear to him. If he wants this exact hat, then he’s going to have to make it himself.
In the Library of Congress in Washington D. C. he found an old book, “Scientific Hat Making.”
For Delk and Kitter, it became the bible. Delk worked on the block for the hat for ten months.
“Hey, I was a furniture maker,” he says. “I figured I could make anything out of wood.”
He then made a block for himself and one for his friend Marc. But that’s just the beginning of the story. Kitter and Delk delved into magazines from museums in order to study old hats. They called old hat makers who today are over 90 years old. Kitter in Europe, Delk in America. “Some of them were really happy for the chance to speak to someone about their work,” says Kitter. Hat-making is a kind of secret science. Trade secrets and tricks were never written down since a competitor could have used them to make hats just as good. “But now, at the end of the lives, some were very happy to pass that knowledge on and not take it with them to their graves.”
Delk finally made a hat he was happy with. And he presented it on the Internet. “The next thing I knew, hundreds of people wanted to buy this hat,” he says, “but I wasn’t a hat maker. I was a carpenter.”
So he started spending his evenings in his hat workshop. For friends, fans and even strangers, he formed old hats on his new block until they looked exactly like the “Raiders” hat. And he made a whole lot of new ones. At first he earned just enough to cover the manufacturing costs plus shipping. After a few months he called Kitter. “Marc, I can’t keep doing this on my own. Would you like to join me?“
“I was moved,” Kitter remembers. He knew that if he agreed, every second of his free time would be taken up. “You know what,” his wife Isabell said encouragingly, “You’re on the computer all the time anyway looking at hats. If you can earn money with it, that’s even better!”
Since then, Kitter, who in his real life studied business administration, has worked during the day as a buyer for a large tool supplier in Lower Saxony. And evenings and weekends he makes hats.
In order not to compete directly with his friend Steve Delk, he has specialized in the Deluxe Edition [my hat! – ed.].
While they both sell their product under the same name, Adventurebilt, Kitter’s hats are a bit more expensive. “I found a felt supplier who sells very high-quality felt,” he says, explaining the price difference. “He mixes the color specially and applies an extra layer of water protection.” Delk’s hats are also high-quality, however. They both use pure beaver felt. “Hare or rabbit hair is too thick,“ says Kitter. “Only beaver hair is fine enough.“
The raw hat bodies are delivered by the felt maker. The unformed cone is steamed and formed on the block. It is then artificially aged through various means in order to avoid eventual deformations. And then you have to iron. “The more you iron, the better that hat will be,” reveals Delk. Sandpapier provides the final finish and then the sweatband is sewn on and the ribbon attached. “I hate sewing sweatbands on,” Delk admits. That’s why he now employs his nephew to handle the tough work. At the end of the process, he holds in his hands a hat that could not have been made better by a hat maker from the 1930s.
Kitter and Delk have long enjoyed a certain reputation at Club Obi-Wan. They are both known as perfectionists and excellent hat makers. As the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series was announced, the guessing began: Who would supply the hat? Then, a few days before the start of principle photography, Peter Botwright, a manufacturer of Indy leather jackets, called. The next day he was to meet Bernie Pollack, the costume designer (and brother of director Sydney Pollack) – and he still hadn’t found a hat. Should he give Pollack their addresses?
“We then made a gentleman’s agreement,” says Delk. “In case I get the job, Marc would make half of the hats. And if he got the job, I would make half of the hats.” Pollack called Delk the next day. “But only because there’s just a two-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Mississippi, and not six like Europe,” Delk explains. He ordered two dozen hats and Delk and Kitter began to work night and day.
“We were only able to deliver the last ones after filming had begun,” Kitter recalls. In total they made 48 hats fro “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”: “Nine for Ford, quite a number for his stunt doubles and a few extras for Steven Spielberg, who wanted some to hand out to friends as gifts.”
What kind of hat will be gracing Harrison Ford’s skull in “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”? “A cross between the ‘Raiders’ hat and the one Indy wore in “The Last Crusade,” reveals Delk. For real fans the only real hat is the “Raiders” hat. Ninety-nine percent of the hats that he and Kitter make to order are “Raiders” hats. “But Pollack didn’t like it,” he grumbles. “So we had to compromise.”
Both friends wear “Raiders” hats privately. “I’ve never had time to make myself a hat,” says Delk. “So I wear a hat that Marc gave me. Either that one or an old original Stetson from the Second World War era.”
Steve Delk hasn’t had time for the past four years, since he started his hat business. And it’s been nothing compared to the storm that will hit Delk and Kitter once “Crystal Skull” hits theaters. Delk sees all the hubbub with Southern aplomb. A few days ago the New York Times asked him for an interview. “I don’t think I want to speak to them at all,” he says. “I have enough publicity.”
His priorities lie elsewhere. “The best thing is, one day my grandchildren will see the film and they'll say: Grandpa made that hat!”
"Age-wise, Steve could be my father," says Kitter about Delk. "But he’s my best friend."
“Marc is the best friend that I’ve ever had," says Delk about Kitter.
They’ve never met each other in person. It would be a long journey. And Delk has a fear of flying. “When I go to Europe, then in a boat!” he says.
The film premiere would be a good opportunity for their first meeting. But Bernie Pollack hasn’t sent any tickets for Hollywood.
“I’ll probably see the film in Copenhagen,” Kitter says vaguely. And Delk? “I definitely have to see the film twice. I know the first time I’ll only be able to pay attention to the hat. But I also want to know what the story’s about.”
Indiana Jones
Raiders of the Lost Hat
The headwear that Harrison Ford will wear in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is an international project. And the story of the creation of the felt hat is a tale of passion, honor and true friendship.
Marc Kitter first saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 1989, on video. At the time the film was already eight years old and Marc just 13. It was love at first sight.
But it wasn’t Indy’s girlfriend Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen, with whom Marc had fallen in love; neither was it the adventurous life of a Nazi-fighting archeologist, like most of the boys his age.
It was the hat that dazzled him. From that moment on, Marc started delivering newspapers in his southern Danish hometown of Tingley, 18 kilometers north of Flensburg [home of a great pilsner - ed.]. The Jyske Vestkysten, for half a year. Until he had saved enough money to travel with his parents to Hamburg, the big city, and buy a hat – just like the one Indiana Jones wore.
When the fourth installment in the series, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” opens on May 22, Marc Kitter will be the first one to see the film. And again he’ll mainly be paying attention to the hat. Because the hat that Harrison Ford and his stunt doubles will wear were made by Kitter. At least half of them. The other half were made by his best friend, Steve Delk.
Delk is 57 years old and lives in Mississippi. When he speaks, one hears the cotton in his deep voice. Delk’s Southern accent is distinctive, the vowels long, the flow of speech slow, like the great river that gave its name to the state.
He saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the first time in 1996 [!? – ed.], also on video, like Kitter.
“I couldn’t go to the cinema back then. We had small children, there was no time for the movies,” he says. And exactly like Kitter he couldn’t take his eyes off the felt hat on Harrison Ford’s head. At the time Delk was a furniture maker. Today, he is a hat maker.
They met each other in Club Obi-Wan. That’s the name of the nightclub in which the opening scene of the second part of the series, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” takes place – Steven Spielberg pays homage to his “Star Wars” saga [sic – ed.] by naming the club after the instructor of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. Club Obi-Wan is also the name of an Internet forum, in which Indiana Jones’ gear is discussed: the leather jacket, the bullwhip, the revolver, the holster – and, yes, the hat.
It’s no wonder that the two got on so well from the beginning. “We spent countless hours on the telephone and wrote thousands of emails discussing the hat,” says Kitter. “It sounded somewhat like this: ‘You think the ribbon is still a millimeter too narrow? Maybe, but the brim could be at least two millimeters wider…,” he adds with a trace of self-mockery.
The bad copy of the Indiana Jones hat that Kitter purchased with his newspaper money didn’t really satisfy him for long.
And Delk also searched and searched for the perfect hat. “I spent $7,500 on hats,” he says. Finding an original hat had become impossible. Richard Swales, who in 1981 made the hat for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” had retired. The London company for whom he had worked, Herbert Johnson, was by that time making hats by machine – not an option for someone who wanted exactly the kind of hat that hat makers had made in their workshops in the 1930s. And the old blocks, which Swales had once used to make his legendary hat, had disappeared without a trace.
Kitter and Delk thus began to experiment on their own. They bought old hats on ebay, took them apart, reformed them and sewed them back together. It finally became too much for Delk. It became clear to him. If he wants this exact hat, then he’s going to have to make it himself.
In the Library of Congress in Washington D. C. he found an old book, “Scientific Hat Making.”
For Delk and Kitter, it became the bible. Delk worked on the block for the hat for ten months.
“Hey, I was a furniture maker,” he says. “I figured I could make anything out of wood.”
He then made a block for himself and one for his friend Marc. But that’s just the beginning of the story. Kitter and Delk delved into magazines from museums in order to study old hats. They called old hat makers who today are over 90 years old. Kitter in Europe, Delk in America. “Some of them were really happy for the chance to speak to someone about their work,” says Kitter. Hat-making is a kind of secret science. Trade secrets and tricks were never written down since a competitor could have used them to make hats just as good. “But now, at the end of the lives, some were very happy to pass that knowledge on and not take it with them to their graves.”
Delk finally made a hat he was happy with. And he presented it on the Internet. “The next thing I knew, hundreds of people wanted to buy this hat,” he says, “but I wasn’t a hat maker. I was a carpenter.”
So he started spending his evenings in his hat workshop. For friends, fans and even strangers, he formed old hats on his new block until they looked exactly like the “Raiders” hat. And he made a whole lot of new ones. At first he earned just enough to cover the manufacturing costs plus shipping. After a few months he called Kitter. “Marc, I can’t keep doing this on my own. Would you like to join me?“
“I was moved,” Kitter remembers. He knew that if he agreed, every second of his free time would be taken up. “You know what,” his wife Isabell said encouragingly, “You’re on the computer all the time anyway looking at hats. If you can earn money with it, that’s even better!”
Since then, Kitter, who in his real life studied business administration, has worked during the day as a buyer for a large tool supplier in Lower Saxony. And evenings and weekends he makes hats.
In order not to compete directly with his friend Steve Delk, he has specialized in the Deluxe Edition [my hat! – ed.].
While they both sell their product under the same name, Adventurebilt, Kitter’s hats are a bit more expensive. “I found a felt supplier who sells very high-quality felt,” he says, explaining the price difference. “He mixes the color specially and applies an extra layer of water protection.” Delk’s hats are also high-quality, however. They both use pure beaver felt. “Hare or rabbit hair is too thick,“ says Kitter. “Only beaver hair is fine enough.“
The raw hat bodies are delivered by the felt maker. The unformed cone is steamed and formed on the block. It is then artificially aged through various means in order to avoid eventual deformations. And then you have to iron. “The more you iron, the better that hat will be,” reveals Delk. Sandpapier provides the final finish and then the sweatband is sewn on and the ribbon attached. “I hate sewing sweatbands on,” Delk admits. That’s why he now employs his nephew to handle the tough work. At the end of the process, he holds in his hands a hat that could not have been made better by a hat maker from the 1930s.
Kitter and Delk have long enjoyed a certain reputation at Club Obi-Wan. They are both known as perfectionists and excellent hat makers. As the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series was announced, the guessing began: Who would supply the hat? Then, a few days before the start of principle photography, Peter Botwright, a manufacturer of Indy leather jackets, called. The next day he was to meet Bernie Pollack, the costume designer (and brother of director Sydney Pollack) – and he still hadn’t found a hat. Should he give Pollack their addresses?
“We then made a gentleman’s agreement,” says Delk. “In case I get the job, Marc would make half of the hats. And if he got the job, I would make half of the hats.” Pollack called Delk the next day. “But only because there’s just a two-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Mississippi, and not six like Europe,” Delk explains. He ordered two dozen hats and Delk and Kitter began to work night and day.
“We were only able to deliver the last ones after filming had begun,” Kitter recalls. In total they made 48 hats fro “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”: “Nine for Ford, quite a number for his stunt doubles and a few extras for Steven Spielberg, who wanted some to hand out to friends as gifts.”
What kind of hat will be gracing Harrison Ford’s skull in “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”? “A cross between the ‘Raiders’ hat and the one Indy wore in “The Last Crusade,” reveals Delk. For real fans the only real hat is the “Raiders” hat. Ninety-nine percent of the hats that he and Kitter make to order are “Raiders” hats. “But Pollack didn’t like it,” he grumbles. “So we had to compromise.”
Both friends wear “Raiders” hats privately. “I’ve never had time to make myself a hat,” says Delk. “So I wear a hat that Marc gave me. Either that one or an old original Stetson from the Second World War era.”
Steve Delk hasn’t had time for the past four years, since he started his hat business. And it’s been nothing compared to the storm that will hit Delk and Kitter once “Crystal Skull” hits theaters. Delk sees all the hubbub with Southern aplomb. A few days ago the New York Times asked him for an interview. “I don’t think I want to speak to them at all,” he says. “I have enough publicity.”
His priorities lie elsewhere. “The best thing is, one day my grandchildren will see the film and they'll say: Grandpa made that hat!”
"Age-wise, Steve could be my father," says Kitter about Delk. "But he’s my best friend."
“Marc is the best friend that I’ve ever had," says Delk about Kitter.
They’ve never met each other in person. It would be a long journey. And Delk has a fear of flying. “When I go to Europe, then in a boat!” he says.
The film premiere would be a good opportunity for their first meeting. But Bernie Pollack hasn’t sent any tickets for Hollywood.
“I’ll probably see the film in Copenhagen,” Kitter says vaguely. And Delk? “I definitely have to see the film twice. I know the first time I’ll only be able to pay attention to the hat. But I also want to know what the story’s about.”
Last edited by Garzo on Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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WOW - Steve, you turned down the New York Times!
You have no idea Steve, me being the disenfranchised former reporter that I am, how much more added respect I have for you upon hearing that simple line!
I always knew you were a cool guy, old friend, but that makes you the steeliest dude on the block - no pun intended.
Mike
You have no idea Steve, me being the disenfranchised former reporter that I am, how much more added respect I have for you upon hearing that simple line!
I always knew you were a cool guy, old friend, but that makes you the steeliest dude on the block - no pun intended.
Mike
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hat
Congrats again to both of you guys.
Steve, Do the interview for the NY times please. Everone should have the story behind this hat and friendship.
Steve, Do the interview for the NY times please. Everone should have the story behind this hat and friendship.
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Boilermaker: Well, that is exactly what Steven's name means in German. His first movie production as a teenager was I think Playmount Productions.BoilermakerJones wrote:I tried using babelfish, but it gave weird results. For example it even listed the director as Steven play mountain and translated Bernie Pollack's name to something strange. I think I got the gist of it though.
Matt
Kudos again to Marc & Steve!!
Cheers!
Dan
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I did know that about Speilberg's name I think he talks about it in one of the making of videos in the Indy set. I took German in college, but that was too long ago to remember enough. It was just funny, but totally logical, that it couldn't tell what it should translate from what it shouldn't.
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Fantastic article, Garzo. Thanks for the translation for the benefit of the unilingual (is that a real word?) gear community. The Google translation just left me confused. Kudos to Steve and Marc, the champions of this incredible adventure which began here at Club Obi Wan, for being men of true integrity. Sometimes less is more in answering to the lure of the media, because your product speaks for itself. Indy 4 = perpetual advertising.
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