- Pork pie hat
A pork pie hat or porkpie hat is a type of hat made of
felt or, less commonly, straw. It is somewhat similar to aTrilby or a fedora, but with a flat top. The crown is short and has an indentation all the way around, instead of the "pinch crown" typically seen on Fedoras and homburgs. The pork pie hat originated in the mid 19th century. Originally referring to a type of woman's hat, it gets its name from its resemblance to apork pie . [ [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=p&p=24 Article in online etymological dictionary] ]The pork pie hat was a staple of the British "man-about-town" style for many years. Pork pie hats are often associated with
jazz ,blues andska musicians and fans.Charles Mingus wrote an elegy for jazzsaxophone greatLester Young called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". InJamaica , the hat was popularized by the 1960srude boy subculture, which traveled to theUnited Kingdom and influenced the mod andskinhead subcultures (although Jamaican and British pork pie hats are more similar to a very short-brimmed Trilby rather than the US style). Jamaican ska artistLaurel Aitken performed the song "Give Me Back My Pork Pie Hat."Robert Oppenheimer , the physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb frequently wore a pork pie hat. SingerDean Martin was known to be partial to pork pie hats, and they became a trademark of the silent film comedianBuster Keaton who handmade his own. The hat was prevalent inNew Guinea in January 1944, when Australian troops had just defeated a Japanese stronghold at Kankiryo Saddle. ["Australia in the War of 1939—1945: Series 1—Army, Volume VI—The New Guinea Offensives" (1st Edition 1961), pg. 766]In the
cartoon "Pinky and The Brain " (Warner Bros. , 1995-1998) three-part episode "Brainwashed" (1998), The Brain is named "Pork Pie" after the hat he is wearing in The Land of Hats.The pork pie hat had a resurgence in popularity after
Gene Hackman 's characterJimmy "Popeye" Doyle wore one in "The French Connection", a film released in 1971.Fact|date=September 2008References
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