Howard Hughes hat

[Dave McCone]

Interesting tidbit - Howard Hughes' hat was just auctioned off for what appears to be $37,500:

http://www.heritageamericana.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=625&Lot_No=25414

I found a reference to the auction a bit late - and $37,500 is too rich for my blood - but interesting nonetheless.

 

[PADDY]

Was it this Howard Hughes Hat...?

Think this might have been the original HRH hat then...?

So who else out there has a bit of the HRH look about them? Photos gentlemen...please!!

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Nope...I think it was this one....

-dixon cannon

 

[DanielJones]

I don know about the hat Paddy but I sure like that A-1.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Jay]

Nice tennis shoes. It completes the look.

 

[The Wingnut]

That hat(the real one) looks beat. Really needs a cleaning and blocking.

Is it me, or does the brim look far narrower than in most period pictures? Could this just be one of Hughes' other hats that they're passing off(passively) as the one most often seen?

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Late in his life, Howard Hughes had a period of lucidity when he and a friend went flying around Europe. During that time, he asked his people to go copy his lucky hat that was lost in the crash of the XF-11. I suppose that could be the copy, though it looks nothing like the other hat. [huh]

 

[Dixon Cannon]

How 'bout that!!..

Nice tennis shoes. It completes the look.

...and a quart of milk in the bottle and ten chocolate chip cookies. Medium chips. None too close to the outside.

-dixon cannon

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Why are they calling it "The" hat, shouldn't someone call them on the carpet for that? It's obviously not the same one. And who would pay so much money without doing a smallest bit of research?

 

[The Wingnut]

The orginial was destroyed in that crash? Wow.

...makes you wonder if the buyer was a big enough of a Hughes to be aware of that, or if they just wanted something of his and didn't bother to do any research.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Well, I would imagine that a well dressed fellow from that period, a man such as Hughes, probably had many hats, some of which could have survived. If memory serves, this one was a Herbert Johnson.

 

[deanglen]

I've posted this shot twice elsewhere in the forum. It's the same hat and I love the bash: fore and aft. As to whether it is genuine, well, I'm sure I don't know, but it doesn't look like any of the ones I've seen in pictures of him, but by the same token, could a rich guy only own one hat?[huh]

 

[Absinthe_1900]

It doesn't look like the post XF-11 crash hat at all.

Returning to flying:

In the flying boat:

In the 1950's at Hughes Aircraft:

The replica of the Hughes hat Art made for me.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

HRH Hat and coat

Here is the hat and coat the Wrather Port Properties group had on display at the original 'Spruce Goose' exhibit in Long Beach. Obviously, this is a different hat than the one at auction.

Hughes wore big, wide brims. The narrowest I've ever seen was the one he wore on his around the world flight in 1938. I'll find a shot of that and post it as well.

-dixon cannon

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I flipped the image to the correct orientation.

It would be interesting to see a hi-rez shot of that hat & jacket.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

XF-11 pre-flight

Here is HRH (with no mustache-as he did not yet have a lip scar to hide.) pre-flighting the XF-11. He obviously is wearing a wide brim fedora - presumably the one he wore on the actual flight that day, July 8, 1946.

-dixon cannon

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Huh!... how 'bout that...

I flipped the image to the correct orientation.

It would be interesting to see a hi-rez shot of that hat & jacket.

I checked again - sure enough, it's printed in reverse in the book! Good eye, Absinthe! Good eye!

-dixon cannon

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I've studied that darned jacket & hat enough lately.

I wonder if Evergreen got them with the flying boat?

 

[Dixon Cannon]

HRH narrow brim

HRH around the world flight, July 1938 - the stop in Moscow. Note the narrow brim fedora; much different than his usual look.

-dixon cannon

 

[Absinthe_1900]

End of the flight, Hughes and hat looking a bit frazzled.