Recent content by Joseph Casazza

Here is a photo of me in my Stetson silverbelly "Open Road" set up as a fedora, center dent, pinched. Maybe 1950's - I haven't determined the date yet. Open crown, nice soft felt. Originally sold by Joske's of Texas, which was still in business when I last lived there, but I believe is gone...

Christmas is the next to last latecomer, I'm afraid (with Kwanzaa as the latest addition). Early Christians just weren't concerned with celebrating the birth of Christ until they decided it might be a while before the second coming, got made official by Constantine, and figured attaching...

Same thing happened to my Uncle Peck Capelli. The car Uncle Peck was found in was his. A really fancy big black Packard. Wish I still had it! Peck was a driver for one of the NY "families." Of course, in the Golden Era, nobody talked, so the whole story of Uncle Peck's demise never did come out...

Among the things I inherited from my father-in-law were several collars of various shapes, all white, except for the following (click for a larger display): Inside the collar it says, "Town Club Collar." So I was wondering whether this collar was intended to be worn on a white shirt, a blue...

Well, one could argue for days without resolution on the smaller points. For example, when people are "operating" guns, there does tend to be a need for government supplied infrastructure - police to investigate the crime and apprehend the suspect, prosecutors to obtain a conviction, and prisons...

What generation would that be then? In my family, nobody has been raised around guns since the 1880's. Except for Uncle Peck, who did certain jobs for certain families in NY and NJ, and unfortunately ended up dead and stuffed in the trunk of his fancy car. I dare say my family's experience is...

Not the best of counter arguments. After all, all states require licenses and insurance for cars. Many states also require frequent inspections of your car, and annual taxes to own one. Gun owners would go ballistic (forgive the pun) over any of those measures for guns. Even the minimal...

Well, in my state we still hand down life terms in prison and the death penalty. In most other states, too, I believe. In fact, our prisons are full to bursting with quite a few people who have turned weapons against their fellow humans. It would be hard to muster convincing evidence that we are...

I'm not sure that characterization is entirely fair. What you are really saying, I presume, is you want to make it easy for the just to kill the unjust (I cannot imagine that you would like to make it easier for the criminal to kill), but I think all that we have accomplished so far is to make...

I just found this old shot of me in my beaver top hat - an old Filene's hat from Boston, here paired with a frock coat, though it looks pretty good with tails, too. I've since had it restored a bit. Replaced the ribbon. Yes, I was much younger then. Better not to mention it.

WARNING! The following pictures may offend somebody! My Homburg (complete with tie and pocket square): http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/8771/10002605va.jpg My Borsalino "Colombo" (sorry, dressed casually, even wearing (gasp!) blue jeans, view at your own risk)...

Red herring? Pardon me? Behold: QED :)

Yes, I think we are in danger of making far too great a connection between casual dress and morals or values. As I said, lighten up!

Hmm, I thought we were talking about portraits of children in casual attire or surroundings, not portraits of children dressed as slobs. And unless those portraits are being displayed in a gallery or on a billboard or in some other public way, I think they are private, not public, and so not...

And precisely how many average youths do you know to make such a sweeping generalization? Seems to me quite a few average youths enter the armed services and do well enough. Over 2000 mostly (I would guess, in the absence of evidence that the armed services have especially high academic or other...