derby

Bowler hat 1916

A display of new bowler hats for sale in 2005 (Portobello Market, London)

The bowler hat is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown created for Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, in 1850.^[1]

History

The bowler hat, a.k.a. the "Derby", was designed by the hatters James and George Lock of Mr. Lock of St. James's Street, a firm founded in 1676 and still in business as of 2007, and was dubbed by them early on as the "iron hat".^[2] The Locks sent their design to the hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler who produced the prototype of the hat for Coke. The "iron hat" later picked up the name Bowler because of its makers' family name, which has been used ever since.^[3] It was hard in order to protect the head of a man on horseback against low tree branches. Another theory is that they were originally produced for the gamekeepers of Holkham Estate in North Norfolk, they were hard to protect them from being hit by round the head by poachers who were stealing game from the woods at night.^[4] Peaking in popularity towards the end of the 19th century it offered a midway between the formality of the top hat, associated with the upper classes, and the casual nature of soft flat hats worn by the working classes.

The bowler became a cultural identifier, ironically with two completely different meanings: throughout most of England it was associated with professional servants, i.e. butlers, and so upon seeing a man wearing a bowler in a pub or on the street, it was fairly safe to assume he was a "gentleman's gentleman," meaning a valet or butler; in London itself, however, it was associated with professionals, and so a man wearing a bowler in "the City" could safely be assumed to be a lawyer, stock broker, banker or government official. As the traditional headwear of London city 'gents' it has become something of an English cultural icon.

However, Englishmen stopped wearing hats as a matter of course in the 1960s, and most young English people in the 21st century have never seen a bowler hat worn as part of normal dress. The decline of the bowler is possibly linked to the rise in car ownership in the 1960s which would make it difficult to wear. It is, however, still commonly seen worn at some formal public events, such as by town councillors at Armistice Day ceremonies. It is also traditionally worn by members of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland during their 12 July annual parades, though usage has declined.

In the United States and England, this hat is also known as a derby hat, after Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, founder in 1780 of the Epsom Derby. The cultural significance in the United States was slightly different. Though certainly not exclusively so, the derby tended to be associated with urban culture, and particularly with the well-to-do that had risen from the working class. Hence, it was often seen on the heads of "machine politicians", urban Irish-descended "ward heelers" and others, and so often appears in movies, comic books and comic strips of the 1930s and 1940s as a silent signal that the wearer is of this group. Al Smith, who exemplified the urban Tammany politician of the 1920s, was often seen in his distinctive derby: typically, men's full-sized derbies are black, but Al Smith always wore a brown derby.

A small bowler hat worn at an angle is typically referred to as a "gruff hat" or "pickle hat".^{[citation needed]}

In Germany, the hat is known as Melone (melon), due to its shape. Similarly in France it is known as "chapeau melon".

It has also been worn by Quechua and Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia since the 1920's when supposedly a shipment of bowler hats was sent from Europe to Bolivia via Peru for use by Europeans who were working on the construction of the railroad. The hats were found to be too small and were distributed to locals.

"A Bowler Hat" is also a song featured in the Stephen Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures.

In cricket

Bowlers who took three wickets in a game of cricket with consecutive deliveries would be given a hat or cap (traditionally a bowler hat but not necessarily), hence the name hat trick. The bowler could then walk up to the crowd and collect money in his hat.

Famous wearers

• Lucius Beebe noted early- and mid-20th century boulevardier, author, journalist, gourmand, and railroad enthusiast
• Members of Jasons at the University of Alabama
• Aviation pioneers, Americans Orville & Wilbur Wright, and pioneering French aviators Alberto Santos-Dumont and Louis Blériot
• Charlie Chaplin, a comedian from the early part of the 20th century
• Moon Mullins
• Matthew Beard, who played "Stymie" in the Little Rascals movies (he was given his original bowler by Stan Laurel)
• Captain Peacock of the television show Are You Being Served?
• Captain George Mainwaring a fictional character in Dad's Army played by Arthur Lowe
• Malcolm McDowell's character Alex wears a bowler hat in A Clockwork Orange
• Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk
• Agatha Christie's famous detective character Hercule Poirot regularly wears a bowler hat.
• The villain in Erich Kästner's children's novel "Emil and the Detectives" is known only as "The man in the bowler hat"
• Porters at Cambridge University
• The Plug Uglies, a notorious street gang of 19th century Baltimore, MD, wore the bowler hat (called a "plug hat") which served as a helmet and occasional weapon in fights
• Corporal Thaddeus Aloysius Cadwallander "Dum Dum" Dugan, of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
• Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the slapstick comedy duo Laurel and Hardy of the 1920s and 30s
• Dominic Monaghan, actor of Lord of the Rings and Lost
• Yuber from the Suikoden series wears one in Suikoden 3
• Sir Winston Churchill, British politician
• Benito Mussolini, fascist Italian dictator
• Jose Rizal, Philippine national hero. He wore a bowler hat at his execution
• The paintings of Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte
• Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's novel Ulysses
• Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers
• In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the only description of costume is that all four major characters wear bowler hats
• John Steed, of The Avengers fame
• Madness (famous music group)
• Clarinetist Acker Bilk
• In the 1986 film Pretty in Pink, Duckie wears a bowler hat
• Big Smoke in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• High significance is placed on Sabine's bowler hat from the novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera and it is depicted in both the novel's cover artwork and the one sheet for the film version
• Green bowler hats become a laughable fashion trend in Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
• Batman villain The Riddler
• In the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan, Crown uses numerous doubles wearing bowler hats to trick his pursuers; inspired by Magritte's Surrealist painting The Son of Man
• The Harry Potter character Cornelius Fudge is rarely seen without a lime-green bowler. Mad-Eye Moody also wears one when he needs to conceal his magical eye.
• The detectives Thomson and Thompson (originally Dupont and Dupond) in The Adventures of Tintin are easily recognizable by their trademark black bowlers
• The character Oddjob in the James Bond novel Goldfinger used a metal razor-edged bowler hat as a concealed weapon. It appears more of a flat-topped top hat in the movie, but still has the metal edge and functions as a weapon.
• The rapper Nate Dogg usually wears a bowler hat in his music videos
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, late 19th century French painter
• Mr. Potato Head from the 1995 film Toy Story and its 1999 sequel Toy Story 2 has a black bowler
• José Luis Coll, Spanish humourist
• The fictional character Homsar in the Homestar Runner online cartoon series wears an orange bowler hat, which often pops up into the air and moves around, yet almost always returns to his head; several other bowler hats are seen in the Homestar Runner universe
• Bowler hats were among the trademark props of choreographer Bob Fosse. Liza Minnelli is portrayed wearing a bowler hat on the cover for the motion picture Cabaret, which Fosse directed, and is also seen wearing it several times during the movie.
• John Hartford, American Bluegrass musician and singer-songwriter, wore a bowler during many of his performances
• Cartoon character Mr Benn, usually seen wearing a pinstriped suit and bowler hat
• Jack White , of the White Stripes, wore a bowler hat in the music video for "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground." He also wore a bowler hat during the "White Blood Cells" era.
• "Bowler", the host of the Norwegian entertainment program for children called "Kykkelikokkos"
• Film director Vincent B.P. King has a trademark bowler hat he wears, It is also the name of his film company.
• Keith ‘Monkey’ Warren of The Adicts: the bowler is part of his costume
• In the Three Stooges short Disorder in the Court (1936), when a bowler-wearing Curly is asked by the defense attorney to "kindly speak English and drop the vernacular", a puzzled Curly looks at his hat and famously replies, "Vuhnaculah? That's a doiby!"
• Doiby Dickles, a cab driver who assists the Golden Age superhero Green Lantern. A native of Brooklyn, Dickles has nicknamed himself for his derby hat, which he pronounces "doiby".
• "Brooklyn" (Dan Turpin), a member of the Golden Age comic book crime-fighting team the Boy Commandos (in the WW2 era), wears a bowler at all times and is nicknamed for his native borough in New York City
• Sound artist, Charlie Morrow, wears a bowler, which is his logo
• Lord Bowler, bounty hunter in The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
• Simon Koch, musician and TV writer
• Brian Viglione, drummer of the self-proclaimed "punk cabaret" duo The Dresden Dolls, wears a bowler as part of the group's miming tradition.
• Bat Masterson, Old West adventurer, lawman, and writer, wore a bowler and carried a cane even while working as a lawman in Dodge City with Wyatt Earp
• Mr. John Smith, a fictional character from the Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold!, lives in room 13 of the boarding house with Arnold and his family. His only distinguishing characteristic is, in fact, his bowler.
• The television series Firefly featured a recurring character named Badger, a rogue masquerading as a respectable businessperson, who wore a bowler hat
• American automata-maker Dug North wears a bowler and has adopted the bowler as part of his logo image
• Stuart Murdoch of the band Belle & Sebastian
• Allister Upton of Whyteleafe, Surrey
• Eddie Jordan, current District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana and former Federal Prosecutor who successfully prosecuted Edwin Edwards. Jordan is well known for almost always wearing a bowler hat when appearing in public.
• John Bonham drummer of the English rock band Led Zeppelin
• Bowler Hat Guy (aka Michael 'Goob' Yagoobian) is known very well for his bowler hat named DOR-15 (aka Doris) in the 2007 film, Meet the Robinsons
• Willie "The Lion" Smith always wore a Derby because his mother said it made him look "dignified."
• Otto Šimánek as Pan Tau in a children's television series of the same name
• Detlef Soost, a German dancer, used to wear a bowler hat in a German TV show. Based on this the term "Mr. Soost's hat" became part of German youth slang.
• 'The Bloke' from the movie, 'The Sentimental Bloke'
• Ding-a-Ling, the diminutive sidekick of Hokey Wolf
• Actress Keira Knightley wears a dark brown bowler hat in her advertisements for Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle campaign, in which she plays Coco Chanel.

Footnotes

1. ^ Fred Miller Robinson, The Man in the Bowler Hat: His History and Iconography (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1993). p.15.
2. ^ ibid. p.14.
3. ^ ibid. p.16.
4. ^ ibid. p.15.

Michael Holsen in A Stealthy World of His Own (2006)

References

• Fred Miller Robinson, The Man in the Bowler Hat: His History and Iconography (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1993).
• "Whatever Became of the Derby Hat?" Lucius Beebe, Gourmet, May 1966.

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