Jazz musician Marcus Miller wearing a pork pie hat

PorkPie redirects here, for the sitcom see: Porkpie (TV series). For the New Zealand film, see Goodbye Pork Pie.

A pork pie hat or porkpie hat is type of felt hat (although they have also been made of straw). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Marcus Miller (born June 14, 1959 in New York) is a jazz musician, composer and producer, perhaps best known as a bass guitarist with Miles Davis, Luther Vandross and David Sanborn. ... Porkpie was a British sitcom on Channel 4 television staring Ram John Holder as Augustus Porkpie Grant. ... Goodbye Pork Pie is a 1981 (international release) film directed by Geoff Murphy and written by Ian Mune, with assistance from Geoff Murphy. ... A selection of 4 different felt cloths. ...

Originating in the mid 19th century, it is similar to a Trilby or a Fedora, but unlike those two styles, it has 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. It gets its name from its resemblance to a pork pie. Originally the term referred to a type of woman's hat.^[1] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A fedora, which in this case has been pinched at the front and being worn pushed back on the head, with the front of the brim bent down over the eyes. ... Homburg is a stiff felt hat with a crease along the length of the crown and no pinches, and has a brim with the edge sharply turned up all the way around. ... Pork pie is a traditional British food. ...

The pork pie hat was a staple of the British man-about-town style for many years. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb frequently sported a pork pie hat. The May 1948 (Vol. 1 No. 1) issue of Physics Today showed a pork pie hat laid on some physics equipment, and most readers knew this was a reference to Oppenheimer. Silent film comedian Buster Keaton often wore pork pie hats. J. Robert Oppenheimer[1] (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist, best known for his role as the director of the Manhattan Project, the World War II effort to develop the first nuclear weapons, at the secret Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... Buster Keaton (born Joseph Frank Keaton, October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American silent film comic actor and filmmaker. ...

Actor Buster Keaton wearing a pork pie hat.

The hat was prevalent in New Guinea in January 1944, when Australian troops had just defeated a Japanese stronghold at Kankiryo Saddle. The book Australia in the War of 1939—1945 Series 1—Army Volume VI—The New Guinea Offensives (1st Edition 1961) states on page 766: Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Buster Keaton (born Joseph Frank Keaton, October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American silent film comic actor and filmmaker. ... The Australian Army is Australias military land force. ...

According to the historian of the 2/10th Battalion, when word was received that General Vasey would visit the area on the 2nd, a signal was sent to all companies: "Other ranks will cease calling officers by their Christian names and will cease wearing pork-pie hats."

Pork pie hats are often associated with jazz, blues and ska musicians and fans. Charles Mingus wrote an elegy for jazz saxophone great Lester Young called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". In Jamaica, the hat was popularized by the 1960s rude boy subculture, which traveled to the United Kingdom and influenced the mod and skinhead subcultures. Jamaican ska artist Laurel Aitken devoted an entire song to the hat called "Give Me Back My Pork Pie Hat." This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that most often follows a twelve-bar structure. ... Ska (pron. ... Charles Mingus (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979), also known as Charlie Mingus, was an American jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and occasional pianist. ... The saxophone (colloquially referred to as sax) is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece like the clarinet. ... Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed Prez, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Skinheads, named after their cropped or shaven heads, are members of a working-class subculture that originated in Britain in the 1960s. ... Laurel Aitken (April 22, 1927–July 17, 2005) became famous as one of the originators of Jamaican ska music in the late 1950s. ...

Popular Culture References

In the Sex and the City episode "Defining Moments" Mr. Big refers to Carrie's jazzman beau (portrayed by Craig Bierko) as "pork pie" because he wore a pork pie hat while performing. Sex and the City is a popular American cable television program. ... Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw Caroline Marie Bradshaw (born October 10, 1966) is the fictional narrator of the HBO sitcom/drama Sex and the City played by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. ... Craig Bierko (born August 18, 1964 in Rye Brook, New York, USA) is an American actor most famous for his role as Max Baer in the film Cinderella Man. ...

Guy Clark, a country songwriter from Texas, refers to the Pork Pie Hat his song "Cold Dog Soup", a song written about the rite of passage and mode of existence that many songwriters endure, including those of past historical fame: Guy Clark on the cover of Keepers (1997) Guy Clark (born 6 November 1941) is a songwriter and performer who often performs in the country style. ...

At the door sat Tom Waits - In a pork pie hat and silver skates - Jugglin' three collection plates, Jesus Christ...

The punk band The Clash mention the pork pie hat at the end of "Rudie Can't Fail" From the albulm London Calling:

"You think youre pretty hot In your pork pie hat But...rudie cant fail"

References

1. ^ Article in online etymological dictionary