What do you call this

[Nick Charles]

Robert Armstrong in the 1933 Kong, is wearing what looks like a suit coat with no arms, think they are ready made or does one just hack off the arms?

 

[Flitcraft]

I think that may be "field modified"- I've seen pictures of Great White Hunters from the '20's and '30's wearing sleeveless jackets like that- always figured they just took an old beat up jacket and hacked off the arms to still get some use out of it.

I don't know how familiar you are with military shooting jackets, but back in the day, they would often take an old uniform tunic, slit the back and maybe add a recoil pad and- voila!- instant range jacket. There's a mention of this in From Here To Eternity.

I figure maybe the early explorers/ hunters just did something similar.

 

[Matt Deckard]

For those who want ther sleeves out of the way... the shooting vest.

I've seen those before. It is as stated above a suit style jacket turned into a vest for the field. Gives you the pockets of a suit jacket and the coolness and mobility of a vest. You see them on hunters sometimes... something for the Safari set. Other ones I have seen have a leather patch or patches on the shoulders which are used to rest the **** of your ***** when shooting.

The one in King Kong is probably linen or cotton blend.
Here is a modern wool example.

 

[BellyTank]

I think many of them were purpose-built- the vintage equivalent of the modern 'Photographer's vest' and Hunting/Shooting vest.

B
T

 

[Baron Kurtz]

For those moments when even high arm scyes doesn't give enough maneuverability - cranking the film around the camera, firing a ******* at a high-flying pheasant etc.

bk