Mystery of the Blues Fed

In-depth discussion of the Fedora of Indiana Jones and all other hats appearing in the Indiana Jones movies

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Mystery of the Blues Fed

Post by IndyFan89 »

Does anyone knoe who made the hat for the YIJC episode "Mystery of the Blues"? Does anyone have this style? It's interesting i've never seen a post about it before.

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Post by Odo »

And does any one know who did the one Young Indy Jones wore?
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Post by eazybox »

The Young Indy was definitely a Herbert Johnson-- I used to own one.

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Post by indy89 »

I'm sticking to HJ, too.
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Post by IndyFan89 »

Looks like it might have a Raiders block but i'm not sure.
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Post by eazybox »

It was the most Raideresque of any of the 5 Herbert Johnsons I owned in the 1990's-- I never liked the 2 inch ribbon, though.

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Post by indy89 »

Looks like it might have a Raiders block but i'm not sure.
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Judging from this photo, the back of the hat is higher than the front. Not really a Raiders style hat.
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Post by eazybox »

Sorry, I was still referring to Young Indy-- I don't know what hat Ford was wearing.

Young Indy's hat was also pushed up in the back, though.

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Post by IndyFan89 »

Kind of looks like this one: http://www.aztexhats.com/system/shopexd.asp?id=644

As posted in another thread these hats are made right up the freeway from me! :lol:
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Post by eazybox »

That hat looks good, but it really costs as much as an AB, and a lot more than a Fed...

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Post by Castor Dioscuri »

I'd assume that it is a LC fedora, since most of the gear that would have been readily available at that point would be LC gear (like the jacket for example), having been the last Indy movie filmed and all...

Another thing to take note of is that the brim certainly looks too short to be a Raiders...

Of course, they might have just bought a new fedora for the shoot ;)
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Post by mark seven »

looks exactly like my TOD style AB rabbit! :D ..I've always loved the mystery of the blues look,I think Indy looks cool with a beard,it would have been a great look for Indy in the new film IMO.
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Post by Arkansas Russell »

To get the YIJ look on a fedora all that you have to do is not push the back of the center dent down as far. And of course the tight pinch is not there.That is what I did with my Federation and I have really enjoyed the different look. Keep in mind that the Federation does not have the wide ribbon the YIJ hat does, also I dont think the brim is as wide. I am not sure I would like the really wide brim and ribbon myself. But the Federation takes to this style well.
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Post by Fedora »

It is a dark chocolate brown 100% fur felt hat with a 4 1/2 inch finished front crown height. The brim is a dimensional snap brim 2 5/8 X 2 3/4 inches. The ribbon is 1 1/2 inches wide. It is a 5X quality soft fur felt. Most people are in agreement that we did a pretty good job of replicating on this one! Made in the USA. Custom made - please allow 3-4 weeks for shipping.



This is a custom hat we make just for you. We have copied the dimensions of this hat from the original one worn by Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It is a dark chocolate brown hat with a 4 1/2 inch finished front crown height. The brim is a dimensional snap brim 2 5/8 X 2 3/4 inches. The ribbon is 1 1/2 inches wide. It is a 5X quality soft fur felt. Most people are in agreement that we did a pretty good job of replicating on this one!
I just reblocked one of these hat from Aztex. It has good felt, a good sweat and liner. I was a bit surprised to find the sweat had been glued in, and then stitched in. It looked like the stitches had been added later when the glue came unglued. Or either, someone added some glue once a few stitches broke that held the sweatband it. But, overall, it was a decent hat, certainly nothing to complain about. I also noticed they referenced the block number used, which was a number 51 block, the block that was very similiar if not the same block used on the Bogey, Sam Spade fedora, which took a teardrop crease, or C-dent, and was a 6 inch open crown hat. But most of those 6 inches creased down into the crown to pull of that deep American styled top crease. A 6 inch open crown hat that creased down to less than 5 inches on the sides.

The YIJ fedora was an HJ from what I have heard, and it looks just like a few that I reblocked in the 90's made by HJ. I used to wonder why HJ varied the crown heights so much on the hats sold in the 90's. I saw some that were 6 inches tall!! Most were 5 3/4, but I even saw a few that were 5 1/4 open crown. They seemed to be little consistency in the 90's from HJ in crown heights. I think he just grabbed what he had on the shelf and as long as it was brown, it got sold as an Indy fedora. Face it, Mr Swales was never that enthused over selling us crazy Indy fans their hats. I think he saw us as silly, or eccentric to use a nicer term. That is only my opinion though, as I never met the man, but just listened to anecdotal stories over the years when he was still with HJ. Fedora
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Post by Bufflehead Jones »

It is funny that someone would feel that way that has gained some form of fame and fortune. If it weren't for Indiana Jones, Mr. Swales would be nothing more than a store clerk, unknown to most people in the world, including me.
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Post by eazybox »

My experience with Herbert Johnson must be atypical, because their salespeople were always accommodating and friendly-- it was the woman who answered their phone who could be a little rude and impatient. Maybe she had trouble understanding American accents.

Swales was nice to me when I spoke with him and in a letter he sent me. This was in 1993, and he was defending himself against the claims of a custom hatmaker from America who told me that he knew HJ was not the hatter for the Indy films and that the true supplier was someone in Hollywood who had just died.

I'm not sure when Mr. Baron Sr. died, but perhaps he was referring to him and did not know of HJ's involvement at that time-- or he may have just been handing me a line to try and sell me one of his hats.

This hatter had advertised in the Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine and his claims caused a little bit of a stir at the time-- I remember Lee Keppler telling me he was "full of it." Those were the good old days...

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Post by moses »

I really prefer the "Mystery of the blues" look over the Indy IV look. The shaggy long hair and beard look is great for an older Indy.
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Post by IndyFan89 »

I think the Indy IV look is more of a return to the Raiders look so my vites on Indy IV.
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Post by Indiana G »

if i were to guess, the motb hat is a run of the mill HJ, just like todd's (and LC). the side profile looks like a todd's and a very, very shallow center dent (as you see when he is in the truck) would keep the sides quite straight. if it's not an HJ, i betcha bink's wallet collection that i can bash that hat out of a todd's hj. :D
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Post by Band Director Jones »

My best bet would be that the MotB fedora is from LC. Looking at the rest of the gear (except for the sweater of course), it is clear that the gear is from LC. It stands to reason that the Fedora woudl be from LC. The fedora certianly looks LC to me. I also seem to remember reading here a while back (several years) a theory that stated that HF used gear from his personal collection for the shot since it shot close to his Jackson Hole, WY home. Of course, I could have just dreamed that thread up.
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Post by Jaredraptor »

Band Director Jones wrote:My best bet would be that the MotB fedora is from LC. Looking at the rest of the gear (except for the sweater of course), it is clear that the gear is from LC. It stands to reason that the Fedora woudl be from LC. The fedora certianly looks LC to me. I also seem to remember reading here a while back (several years) a theory that stated that HF used gear from his personal collection for the shot since it shot close to his Jackson Hole, WY home. Of course, I could have just dreamed that thread up.
Naw, I've seen that thread too. My money is on the LC gear theory.
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Post by Castor Dioscuri »

It's just so amusing yet awesome to think that after all these years, Harrison Ford has a complete Indy outfit sitting somewhere in his closet. I wonder if he has his Han Solo gear in there too? :P
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Post by fatwoul »

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Last edited by fatwoul on Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Band Director Jones »

Castor Dioscuri wrote:It's just so amusing yet awesome to think that after all these years, Harrison Ford has a complete Indy outfit sitting somewhere in his closet. I wonder if he has his Han Solo gear in there too? :P
Well, he is the original gearhead. Who knows, he might even be a member here. Heck, I may be him. (yeah right! My wife isn't that lucky. She's stuck with an out of shape band director with delusions of grandeur)
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Post by Jaredraptor »

Band Director Jones wrote:
Castor Dioscuri wrote:It's just so amusing yet awesome to think that after all these years, Harrison Ford has a complete Indy outfit sitting somewhere in his closet. I wonder if he has his Han Solo gear in there too? :P
Well, he is the original gearhead. Who knows, he might even be a member here. Heck, I may be him. (yeah right! My wife isn't that lucky. She's stuck with an out of shape band director with delusions of grandeur)
....or that last statement was something to throw us off our tracks, and you ARE in fact Harrison Ford!!

I keeding, I keeding :roll:
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Post by Texas Raider »

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Post by binkmeisterRick »

You just need the sax, TR! :wink:
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Post by Texas Raider »

Yup! You can never get too much sax! (sorry, just had to :wink: )

TR
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Post by Mulceber »

Hey, great gear, TR! BTW, where'd you get the cardigan? :junior: -IJ
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Post by Jaredraptor »

Great gear TR!
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Post by IndyFan89 »

Awsome MOB gear!
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Post by Arkansas Russell »

I like that fedora!!!!
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Post by Texas Raider »

IndianaJones wrote:
Hey, great gear, TR! BTW, where'd you get the cardigan? :junior: -IJ
Thanks, everyone! The cardigan is a Lands End Shawl Collar Cardigan. Not sure if it's still around, ya might check their website. The fedora is my Keppler.


TR
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Post by binkmeisterRick »

You know, TR, I think I have the exact same cardigan that Ford wears (looking at the colar detail of his) but mine is pre-war and black. :wink:
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Post by Fedora »

if i were to guess, the motb hat is a run of the mill HJ, just like todd's (and LC).
It looks shorter to me, the MOB fedora. I think it was one of the shorter HJs I ran across in the 90's. Fedora
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Post by Dutch_jones »

IndyFan89 wrote:I think the Indy IV look is more of a return to the Raiders look so my vites on Indy IV.
No offense , but do you open your eyes when the new indy pics come up and even look at it? THE GEAR for indy 4 is clearly Last Crusade style , almost in every detaill.
:roll: :roll:
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Post by Fedora »

No offense , but do you open your eyes when the new indy pics come up and even look at it? THE GEAR for indy 4 is clearly Last Crusade style , almost in every detaill.
To be perfectly clear, the Indy 4 hat is the Raiders block, with TLC crease. A hybrid, that offers some continuity with TLC while looking back at the hat that started it all, the Raiders fedora. Yeah, I think they planned that. Fedora
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Post by IndyFan89 »

Trust him, he knows.
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Post by Dutch_jones »

Fedora wrote:
No offense , but do you open your eyes when the new indy pics come up and even look at it? THE GEAR for indy 4 is clearly Last Crusade style , almost in every detaill.
To be perfectly clear, the Indy 4 hat is the Raiders block, with TLC crease. A hybrid, that offers some continuity with TLC while looking back at the hat that started it all, the Raiders fedora. Yeah, I think they planned that. Fedora
Yeah I knew that , but IF said it like the gear was all like raiders again and the gear is more LC even the Jacket looks very LC in detaill Don't know about the distressing, but
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Post by IndyFan89 »

Well i was meaning the style. He looks like he dosn't where his jacket very much in IJ4 where in LC he never took it off. So it kind of reminds me of Raders or TOD.
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Post by Texas Raider »

binkmeisterRick wrote:
You know, TR, I think I have the exact same cardigan that Ford wears (looking at the colar detail of his) but mine is pre-war and black. :wink:[/
quote]

Hey, Bink, does yours have patches on the elbows? Judging by that collar detail you are mentioning, all the ones I've seen with that seam on it have the patches on the elbows, mine doesn't unfortunately. It's really hard to even find a brown style of this cardigan for some reason, not to mention one that is reasonably priced. They seem to run in the hundred dollar range! You should try and bleach yours and dye it brown!

TR
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Post by binkmeisterRick »

Bleach a 1920's cardigan sweater?! :shock: Um, no. :wink:

Mine doesn't have the elbow patches on it, but this is a VERY warm wool sweater! Here's a pic:
Image

If you want to talk more about the sweater, I can start a thread in the General Gear section, so we can keep this thread on track. :wink:
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Post by Kentucky Blues »

Please do, Bink, that's a fine lookin sweater...

-Daryl
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