The Game Is Afoot: For all things Sherlockian

[DrNewGod]

Mike Grell.

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As with everything I've seen from Grell, it's excellent. However, from the first time I actually read a Holmes story, versus seeing a cheesy film treatment, I've disliked seeing him drawn in a deer stalker.

[achilles]

As with everything I've seen from Grell, it's excellent. However, from the first time I actually read a Holmes story, versus seeing a cheesy film treatment, I've disliked seeing him drawn in a deer stalker.

I always imagined he nearly always wore the Brett top hat, but might in the country wear the deer stalker.

[foxley]

I always imagined he nearly always wore the Brett top hat, but might in the country wear the deer stalker.

Weirdly, there is some evidence for the deerstalker in the canon. I'd need to get my Holmes reference books out to find the exact stories and quotes, but in one of the stories set in the country Watson describes Holmes as wearing a soft cloth travelling cap (or words to that effect), and in another--also in the country--Holmes is said to be wearing a hat with ear-flaps. If we assume that it was the same hat each time, then there is only one piece of period headwear that meets both of those descriptions: a deerstalker.

That was incredibly nerdy, even for me.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well, in the Brett series, he wore the deerstalker as well as a tophat which I thought was cool:



He also wore this hat which i don't have a name for:

[foxley]

Well, in the Brett series, he wore the deerstalker as well as a tophat which I thought was cool:



He also wore this hat which i don't have a name for:

That's a homburg, for future reference. Made popular in the 1890s by Bertie, the Prince of Wales (and future Edward VII).

[WestPhillyPunisher]

That's a homburg, for future reference. Made popular in the 1890s by Bertie, the Prince of Wales (and future Edward VII).

Knowledge! Cool beans! Thanks!

[foxley]

Knowledge! Cool beans! Thanks!

My pleasure. I love hats and have a huge collection of them, including a deerstalker (purchased at the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London) and a grey homburg (that I've used for a Greyshirt cosplay).

[achilles]

Weirdly, there is some evidence for the deerstalker in the canon. I'd need to get my Holmes reference books out to find the exact stories and quotes, but in one of the stories set in the country Watson describes Holmes as wearing a soft cloth travelling cap (or words to that effect), and in another--also in the country--Holmes is said to be wearing a hat with ear-flaps. If we assume that it was the same hat each time, then there is only one piece of period headwear that meets both of those descriptions: a deerstalker.

That was incredibly nerdy, even for me.

No, no, not nerdy---just good knowledge; top hats for the city, and when tramping about in the country, deerstalkers, especially when it's chilly out.

[achilles]

That's a homburg, for future reference. Made popular in the 1890s by Bertie, the Prince of Wales (and future Edward VII).

Wouldn't both of those be bowlers? Regardless, every time I see Brett as Homes together with Watson, it brings a smile to my face.

Looking at it again from that angle, I really can't say for sure, but to me they look like bowlers. The differences between the two seem to be slight to me.

[Jim Kelly]

Weirdly, there is some evidence for the deerstalker in the canon. I'd need to get my Holmes reference books out to find the exact stories and quotes, but in one of the stories set in the country Watson describes Holmes as wearing a soft cloth travelling cap (or words to that effect), and in another--also in the country--Holmes is said to be wearing a hat with ear-flaps. If we assume that it was the same hat each time, then there is only one piece of period headwear that meets both of those descriptions: a deerstalker.

That was incredibly nerdy, even for me.

I probably have posted about this before, but there was a young man who was an expert on Sherlock Holmes on the $128,000 QUESTION in the late '70s. And I remember that he lost due to a question that concerned what Holmes wore--in which the deerstalker cap was part of the answer. Since I can't find a clip of this episode, I have to rely on my poor memory. It might have been in the second (and last) season of the series when production moved to Canada and Alex Trebek became host.

The thing is the young man was an expert on Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes--and I believe the answer they were looking for was not according to Doyle. The deerstalker cap was not something that the writer ever named in his stories--or if he did, it was never a key detail--it only became associated with Holmes because of the screen adaptations. So the producers didn't play fair and the young man lost. I don't know if there was follow-up on this--maybe it was appealed. Or maybe the young man was wrong and the deerstalker cap is named in the stories (I don't remember it from my reading).

Putting myself in the head of this young man (as I did at the time, he seemed to be a fellow nerd), even if he thought of the deerstalker cap, he probably dismissed it in his answer because it wouldn't be right based on the texts--it would be too much of a leap and with so much money on the line, he wouldn't have used it in his answer.

[seismic-2]

Wouldn't both of those be bowlers? Regardless, every time I see Brett as Homes together with Watson, it brings a smile to my face.

Looking at it again from that angle, I really can't say for sure, but to me they look like bowlers. The differences between the two seem to be slight to me.

Although it's cut off at the top, the photo shows that Holmes' hat is blocked, in the style of a homburg. Here's Winston Churchill wearing a homburg:



A bowler (a "derby", in the USA) has a rounded crown. Here are Orville and Wilbur Wright in their bowlers:

[achilles]

Although it's cut off at the top, the photo shows that Holmes' hat is blocked, in the style of a homburg. Here's Winston Churchill wearing a homburg:



A bowler (a "derby", in the USA) has a rounded crown. Here are Orville and Wilbur Wright in their bowlers:

Awesome knowledge! Thanks for the comparison. You, know, I prefer the homburg.

[seismic-2]

Awesome knowledge! Thanks for the comparison. You, know, I prefer the homburg.

But certain investigators do wear a bowler with panache.

[godisawesome]

Anyone ever seen the last of Rathbone’s film performances as Holmes, Dressed to Kill? I finally got around to seeing it…

…And it’s basically the Rathbone version of Scandal in Bohemia, especially since the villainess, Hilda Courtney, is basically Irene Adler to a T, except that she’s English. And it’s not really a secret; not only does she pull off one of Adler’s tricks of fooling Holmes in disguise, but she even uses Holmes’s “oh no there’s a fire” trick form “A Scandal in Bohemia”… and Holmes and Watson are bantering about the in-universe publication of “A Scandal in Bohemia” and Adler herself!

It feels like the writer really wanted to straight up adapt the story, but just couldn’t, for whatever reason.

[achilles]

I have to admit, I have myself a deerstalker hat, bought at "221 B Baker Street". I just couldn't resist while I was there. Never worn it though. I suppose it might be part of the makings of a Halloween costume for a party, if such happens this year.