That first childhood Indy fedora...back from the dead
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:57 pm
I've owned Dorfmans, Stetsons, Federations, Peters Bros, and Adventurebilts (reblocked by Penman no less). And soon, finally, a Herbert Johnson. But it all started in the summer of 1989. I was watching cartoons in the floor of the den. The sound of the kitchen door opening indicated my mother had returned home from shopping with a friend. Suddenly, something dropped down around my head and it was an official Indiana Jones hat she'd bought me at the local mall. They were selling them during the summer of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which we hadn't seen yet, but I was already a huge Indiana Jones fan thanks to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and for years I'd dreamed of having a hat like Harrison Ford's.
At the time the hat was too big for me, but that was my mom - always buying things I'd grow into rather than grow out of too fast. I wore it to see Last Crusade TWICE, despite it being too big. When I grew into it a few years later, I wore it everywhere. I even removed the "Indiana Jones" pin from the side because Indy's hat didn't have his name on it! Then came the day it was too small and I was crushed. But I kept it anyway, because it was a bulletproof hat, despite being very inaccurate to Ford's actual fedora.
I burned through five more hats in the intervening years before finally finding another fedora that equaled the reliable toughness of my first. Of those other five hats, two were given to friends (because they'd shrunk and fit my friends perfectly), and the other three proved to be cheap trash and were binned.
Today, I found my original hat in a storage bin. It was looking all of its 37 years of age. As a kid, I'd accidentally sat on it a few times, and whatnot. Now the brim was horrendously janky as well. But I couldn't throw it away. Instead, I broke out the iron, some towels, and a lot of patience, and spent an hour and a half bringing the hat back to how it had (almost) originally looked in the summer of 1989 when mom dropped it on my little head.
It was a risk to subject this irreplaceable hat to an iron, but if Indiana Jones taught me anything, it's to take a leap of faith. After I was satisfied, it was time for the finishing touch. A few months ago, my father had coincidentally brought me a pile of things he'd found while cleaning out the garage. In a small film cannister was the original brass Indiana Jones hat pin, slightly tarnished with age, but I was shocked to see it at all. My Dad has always been a packrat, and I suspect he kept the pin after I'd taken it off the hat all those years ago. So I washed it and placed it back onto the ribbon where it had originally been.
Now, my original Indiana Jones hat is whole again, and ready to take a place of honour in the studio. So many dreams and memories are wrapped up in this hat that it's become an artifact in its own right, a surviving record of a major part of my life and the path I chose to walk. I'm glad it is still with me.
Do you still have your original childhood Indy hat? I'd love to see them!
At the time the hat was too big for me, but that was my mom - always buying things I'd grow into rather than grow out of too fast. I wore it to see Last Crusade TWICE, despite it being too big. When I grew into it a few years later, I wore it everywhere. I even removed the "Indiana Jones" pin from the side because Indy's hat didn't have his name on it! Then came the day it was too small and I was crushed. But I kept it anyway, because it was a bulletproof hat, despite being very inaccurate to Ford's actual fedora.
I burned through five more hats in the intervening years before finally finding another fedora that equaled the reliable toughness of my first. Of those other five hats, two were given to friends (because they'd shrunk and fit my friends perfectly), and the other three proved to be cheap trash and were binned.
It was a risk to subject this irreplaceable hat to an iron, but if Indiana Jones taught me anything, it's to take a leap of faith. After I was satisfied, it was time for the finishing touch. A few months ago, my father had coincidentally brought me a pile of things he'd found while cleaning out the garage. In a small film cannister was the original brass Indiana Jones hat pin, slightly tarnished with age, but I was shocked to see it at all. My Dad has always been a packrat, and I suspect he kept the pin after I'd taken it off the hat all those years ago. So I washed it and placed it back onto the ribbon where it had originally been.
Now, my original Indiana Jones hat is whole again, and ready to take a place of honour in the studio. So many dreams and memories are wrapped up in this hat that it's become an artifact in its own right, a surviving record of a major part of my life and the path I chose to walk. I'm glad it is still with me.
