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It’s said the world is divided into men who can wear a cowboy hat and men who can’t. Still, most of Tinseltown’s elite has donned one at least once in their careers and sometimes the headgear became just as legendary as the person wearing it. Even Fred Astaire got in on the act…
…although he probably should have stuck with the tails and top hat. Cowboy hats have been an integral part of Hollywood since 1903 and what’s commonly referred to as the world’s first feature film, The Great Train Robbery.
The folks at ‘The Last Best West’ have replicated some of the most famous cowboy hats in movie history, right down to the sweat in the band if you desire. But be warned. If you go to the site, be prepared to spend some time because it is a treasure trove. Here’s our personal short list of favorite Hollywood headgear:
Clint Eastwood – Pale Rider
Said to be a mockup of the original Stetson “Boss of the Plains” hat. This preacher’s method of conversion was to shoot first and let God sort ‘em out.
Widely considered the movie that put Pitt on the A list. His role as Tristan has been described as ‘female Viagra.’ For my money the hat should have won an Oscar…
Kilmer channels Doc Holliday in one of my favorite westerns. The experts’ take on the hat: “The fedora working to the crown suggests culture and education, and the left turn up on the brim infers a dangerous bent to his personality.”
Money Quote: Why Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave.
The hat might not quite fit the Civil War era but it sure does fit Clint’s head to a Tee. Eastwood has said this is his favorite western and it certainly makes my top five.
Money Quote: Jamie: I wish we had time to bury them fellas.
Josey Wales: To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.
Simply the best western movie, adapted from the best western book ever written. Duvall’s hat actually started a western cowboy craze with the up front crease.
One of my favorite Rick O’Shay cartoons featured Rick and his cowboy hat in action. In one frame he fans the flames of a campfire. In another he uses it as a dipper for creek water. It shields him from the sun, keeps him dry in a cloudburst, helps him round up ornery cattle. And when Rick returns to town, a ‘city slicker’ comments that ‘those hats are just for show.’ Well, if there’s no telltale ring of sweat the city slicker is probably right.
One theory of cowboy hat evolution traces back to the Vaqueros of Mexico with their broad-brimmed hats and sombreros. They favored a high peaked crown and the brim was measured in ‘galleons’, which the American cowpunchers soon distorted to ‘gallon.’ Hence Tom Mix’s 10 Gallon Hat… a model made purely for the movies.
Cowboys in the early west were essentially lowlifes on a totem pole of rank and privilege that put the ‘cattleman’ up top, followed by his foreman, referred to as ‘Top Hand.’ Cowboys of the antebellum west tended to be drifters and malcontents who wore any kind of cover that would keep the sun out of their eyes. One turn of the century newspaper mogul even anointed the bowler as ‘the hat that won the west.’
Another vein of hat history takes us to the gold fields of Colorado and a young man named John B. Stetson and even this story has multiple interpretations. In one version Stetson fashioned a hat from a Beaver pelt to shelter him from the elements while panning for gold. Another has him bragging to fellow prospectors that he could ‘make cloth out of fur without weaving. ‘
What is certain is that the first Stetson hats were sold in Colorado in 1865 and the single model was called the “Boss of the Plains.” It sold for five dollars and became THE prototype for all cowboy hats to follow. The Montgomery Ward catalogue fanned the hat’s popularity and by 1886 Stetson was the world’s biggest hat maker. The rest is what legends are made of.
Western wear has its own mystique and Calgary, Canada hands out exquisite white hats to visiting dignitaries. We mention this only because it gives us a reason to show the Duchess of Cambridge wearing one. I mean, how often do we have the chance at My-West?
Sunday, December 4, 2011 at 9:11PM Tweet 
The Dalai Lama. Credit: thieu_y
Pope John Paul II, with a Mariachi sombrero, in MexicoCredit: endlesscancun
John Lennon. Credit: celebseniorlaundry
William Shatner. Credit: generaltomfoolery
President Gerald Ford. Credit: huskerduds.com
Marilyn Monroe. Credit: Thisismarilyn.com
Burt Reynolds in Smokey ad the Bandit. Credit: withfriendship.com
