Just from a purely curiosity standpoint, does anyone have any idea what hat(s)* was used as an Indy hat in the Magnum P.I. episode "Legend of the Lost Art?" Obviously, being 1988, the episode was made long before the quality reproductions on the market now. Wondering if it was a Herbert Johnson or something else. Regardless, it's not a bad looking lid.
The series is on Netflix, so naturally I watched that episode recently and thus my curiosity.
(Apologies if this topic has been covered. I searched and found a lot of hits for Magnum, but not so much about the hat in this episode...)
*I'm pretty sure I saw at least two hats in the episode - 1 with a black liner and 1 with a white. Didn't HJ switch to a black liner at some point?
Haha, I just watched that episode to see if I could tell. I think it was the wool felt Stetson that was being sold EVERYWHERE about that time. I was trying to see if they left on the little brass Indiana Jones pin they used to put on the ribbon (kidding!). I do know the shirt Magnum was wearing was a Banana Republic, because I had one!
Here's some screencaps I found to make it easier on you. I have no recollection of this episode, but you're right, it's an awesome lid. And very Temple of Doom-esque, if you ask me.
Yeah, to me that does remind me of the Stetson's I used to have. 1 3/4" ribbon and the styling over all. I would suggest that this hat looks like one of their fur felts though and not a wool felt, but with only pictures to go on -- hard to really say...it just looks a little more floppy then most wool felts do. At least to my eyes. Funny though, I don't remember the crowns on mine (I owned two over a period of time) being quite that high. I always thought mine were really short, but that could have also been exacerbated by the wider ribbon! Really, in those shots, the hat looks pretty good, considering. Seleck looks really good like that. Makes one ponder the possibilities, does it not ? W>
WConly wrote:I would suggest that this hat looks like one of their fur felts though and not a wool felt,
I am by no means anywhere close to a hat expert, so take this with a grain of salt...
I'd guess fur felt as well. In the episode, the hat takes quite a lot of abuse -- thrown around, kicked, etc. I'm not suggesting it was just one hat through the entire production. They almost certainly had a few (and like I said in an above post, I'm almost 90% certain I saw both a black and white liner at some point), so it one did get damaged, I'm sure they had backups. But just from what I've read from forums like this and seen in photos, I just wouldn't expect a wool felt hat to behave the same way or stand up to the abuse.
WConly wrote:I would suggest that this hat looks like one of their fur felts though and not a wool felt,
I am by no means anywhere close to a hat expert, so take this with a grain of salt...
I'd guess fur felt as well. In the episode, the hat takes quite a lot of abuse -- thrown around, kicked, etc. I'm not suggesting it was just one hat through the entire production. They almost certainly had a few (and like I said in an above post, I'm almost 90% certain I saw both a black and white liner at some point), so it one did get damaged, I'm sure they had backups. But just from what I've read from forums like this and seen in photos, I just wouldn't expect a wool felt hat to behave the same way or stand up to the abuse.
I was just making the point that it looks like fur felt to me and not wool as scots72 was suggesting. Funny tough, I did not know that Stetson had both black liners as well as white. Mine were both white and the caribo (gray) that I bought for my dad also had a white liner. I do know this, they (the hats) could not hold up to rain. Colours ran really badly. And, shape -- well, there went your (investment, if you want to call it that) hat. But, in the '80's it was just about as close as anyone could get commercially and I know I had no clue about Herbert Johnson(s) or any others, at the time. Boy things have changed. Thank goodness for that! And, 99.9% of this is all due to this site ! W>
Generally speaking it's not hard to get the Raider's tight front pinch. Many, many members have created great ROLA looks with factory made hats.
It's definitely difficult to 'remove' the tight ROLA pinch to get the more relaxed bashes of the other movies. Generally it takes a full reblocking and even then the felt usually lightens more at the pinch so there's still a 'line' on the hat even if the pinch itself can be removed.
If he'd played Indy, you'd all have mustaches right now and The Stache would have its own subsection here, arguing the correct trim angle, and noting variations in length from film to film.
"No, the TOD Stache had a slight inverted V part at the upper lip, while the ROTLA Stache was cut straight across, without the parting."
When wearing my gear, I've had people comment on my mustache and mention the Magnum PI episode.
hocfutue wrote:If he'd played Indy, you'd all have mustaches right now and The Stache would have its own subsection here, arguing the correct trim angle, and noting variations in length from film to film.
"No, the TOD Stache had a slight inverted V part at the upper lip, while the ROTLA Stache was cut straight across, without the parting."
When wearing my gear, I've had people comment on my mustache and mention the Magnum PI episode.
Wow, that was fun! If you do a search you can find scenes from it on german file sharing sites, etc. About 5 minutes.
I always thought that Selleck looked a LOT more like the Steranko paintings of course. He would have been great. The t.v. show doesn't have the camera work of Raiders so a comparison is a bit unfair but too bad in a way that they could not have both done it in separate films or whatever like Connery, Moore doing Bond. I don't know. Ford IS Jones but if it meant having another great Indiana Jones film then why not.
I remember the summer that Octopussy (Roger Moore) came out the same movie season pretty much as Never Say Never Again (Connery). That was way cool. Different flavors, same good stuff (if done well of course).
I have always felt Sellek would have been a great Indy, but it would have been a very different Indy. Raiders would have been a very different movie. Not necessarily lesser, but totally a different animal.
So would the fandom. Can you imagine a world where Magnoli makes custom chest hair undershirts?
But, if that had come to pass, there'd be far fewer rubber chickens tucked in guys sock drawers, fewer doberman owners, and one less thing to debate on COW. We got the best of both worlds - Indy and Magnum; movies and tv for the adventurous geek!
I remember an interview decades ago with TS where he talked about how disappointed and frustrated he was that the producers wouldn't free him to do Raiders...
Kokopelli wrote:I remember an interview decades ago with TS where he talked about how disappointed and frustrated he was that the producers wouldn't free him to do Raiders...
And very Temple of Doom-esque, if you ask me.
! W>
