Club Obi Wan

I've been wanting to post this for some time, but being tech stunted, I dunno how to get screen grabs.

There's lots of posts on where little bits of "Indy Inspiration" originated: Secret of the Incas, Zorro, etc...
Most recently, on the "Schott" thread, there was some discussion about the origins of 'the jacket' and Mutt's jacket as well.
THEN, there was _'s interesting, if somewhat flawed, thread on the popular use of zippers. I say 'somewhat flawed' because of a movie I re-watched not long ago with an eye more critical towards costuming. The movie: Only Angels Have Wings. The movie was released in 1939, stars Cary Grant, and is an excellent place to get an eyeful of A-1 flight jackets and inspiration for scores of other adventure stories and movies. The primary antagonist of the movie is the pressure under which the pilots in the movie work, but adding to the tension is the introduction of a character called Bat MacPherson. I won't go into the whole story here, however, watching the scenes in which MacPherson flies, he wears a jacket that is VERY Indy-esque; no snap down collar, no elastic on the cuffs, sliders just above the waist, and a zipper. I can't recall at the moment whether or not there was a storm flap.
I've scoured the internet in search of a still to no avail, unfortunately, and naturally I couldn't expect anyone to rush out to buy the movie just for screen caps. But you should see the movie: it is excellent and the inspiration for Tales of the Gold Monkey and the old Bugs Bunny gag, "Calling Barranca...Calling Barranca..." ( and an Indy character name! )

_: if you see this, I can't remember your timeline on popular use of zippers, but I would assume you could peg the costuming in this flick to 1938, or so. So we're in the ballpark for an Indy jacket with a zipper. Not meant to be argumentative; just a point of interest. Being a 'jacket guy', if you haven't seen the movie, you should. If that's not enough, there's Rita Hayworth ...

_'s thread pointed out that the jacket's origin, according to the film's timeline and the timeline established in the expanded literature, would originate somewhere in the 1920s. He pointed out in his thread that zippers didn't become common on jackets until the late 30s. So his timeline is still correct with regards to the film you saw.

Ah ha...

I'm not familiar with any of the peripheral stories: I'd forgotten it was meant to go back so far. So, _'s history: on the mark ( as far as I know, and who am I ? ). Still, a movie worth looking at for the other reasons stated.

Thanks for the refresher .

Yeah, zippers were around, but they weren't popular until later, as Paterson pointed out. Also, if you want to get technical, there were no "elastic" waistbands as you pointed out. What you meant was a knit waistband. Elastic came into use on leather jackets in the 80's. A waistband would be cinched with leather covered elastic. It looks horrid, in my opinion, lol.

Rundquist wrote: What you meant was a knit waistband. Elastic came into use on leather jackets in the 80's. A waistband would be cinched with leather covered elastic. It looks horrid, in my opinion, lol.

^^^ That's the stuff ^^^

I meant "elastic" more as an adjective.

was it something like this?

I found this one here http://www.cockpitusa.com/store/product ... 395&page=1

It is an "Type 440 USN. 1930's Navy Fighter Pilot Jacket" by Cockpit USA.



They also make an "Oil Drillers" jacket that looks just like an Indy jacket.

The Navy never used any such jacket -- it's made up. Most frequently you see it advertised as a "G-8."

USN jackets in the 30s were more likely to be the 37J1 (see one recently sold here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &viewitem=.) Then the AN6552 or M422 (then M422A), and the M421 cloth jackets.

The 37J1 is a killer jacket -- like a simplified cloth A-1. Quite rare in any case; the Japanese repro makers will occasionally turn one out, but originals don't appear very often. The eBay one was wrongly listed as a 37JI instead of 37J1 -- a very subtle difference that probably cost the seller $2k or so. No joke.

_ wrote:Yeah. And the man responsible for making it up was Neil Cooper's dad. Nut fell close to the tree...

What year did Cooper design that one?