Every once in a while I find a photo that makes me laugh more than it should. Here is an example.
I am guessing that this was at a wedding or a holiday party I was DJing. The black LED curtain behind me was something a friend let me experiment with. It was pretty cool, as you could program it to do a variety of things. I used it at many holiday parties and had it programmed to look like snowflakes were falling behind me.
I had a box of hats that I brought to every gig. The box started with the hats that the members of the Village People wore: cowboy hat, hard hat, biker hat, sailor hat, Indian head dress, and police hat. When I played YMCA, I’d get the groomsmen to line up in front of the DJ stand and each put on a hat. When the wedding parties started to get bigger, I needed additional hats. So in the box was a pilot hat, a baseball cap, football helmet, train engineer hat, and the pimp hat seen above.
I haven’t a clue why I have it on here, but the look on my face and the addition of the hat just make me laugh out loud. I hope it made you chuckle a bit, too.
I rarely post two blogs in one day, however, my last post made me think about something – hats. The reason for this is the first line of the song “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (Grab your coat and get your hat ….)
I guess I have always appreciated a good hat. I wish that people would dress up like they used to. It seems like there was a time when folks would wear a nice suit and tie and always had a good hat to complete the ensemble. My dad had some pretty cool hats growing up…
My dad and cousin Diane. My dad and grandpa looking swell! Dig that hat!
When I watch an old movie I always am impressed by the way some of the actors dressed. In the Rat Pack film “Robin and the Seven Hoods,” there is a scene where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby sang a song called “Style.” Frank and Dean are singing about how Bing needs to dress better.
Anyway, there is a line in the song that says, “A hat’s not a hat till it’s tilted.” As I thought more on this, so many of the great actors wore hats and they always tilted them. I love that look! I always wanted to find a hat that I could wear titled and have it make me look good! The fedora seemed to be the choice of many stars ….
Cary Grant was always looking suave –
Cary Grant
Bogey and Cagney knew how to wear a hat!
James Cagney – Humphrey Bogart
Classic Gangster – Edward G. Robinson was almost always wearing a hat….
Edward G. Robinson
Al Pacino looked great in a fedora …
Al Pacino
Harrison Ford brought the fedora back to the screen as Indian Jones..
Even the great Curly Howard from the Three Stooges looks amazing in a hat!
Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra often recorded songs with their hats on …
Speaking of Dean Martin, the first line of his song “Bummin’ Around” says, “Got an old slouch hat ….” I wasn’t aware what a slouch hat was. I looked it up online and it was a sort of military hat. Google said, A slouch hat is a wide-brimmed felt or cloth hat most commonly worn as part of a military uniform, often, although not always, with a chinstrap. This picture came up.
slouch hat
I thought it was just a floppy hat, like Curly wore in Stooges films.
Curly
…or like Cagney wore ….
Cagney
Come to find out, those hats are called “newsboy hats.” The newsboy cap or newsie cap is a casual-wear cap similar in style to the flat cap. This is the hat that I always wear in the winter. Most people call it my “old man hat.” LOL
My daughter LOVES my hat!!
Wearing Daddy’s hat!
Maybe it is just the nostalgia lover in me, but I wish that I could pull off a nice suit, tie and hat and look as good as so many of the actors from the movies ….
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 