Jan 04 2009
Nuts and Bolts - Portrait of the Artist as a Wearer of Silly Hats
I need to set the stage for this by saying that for the first ten years of my attendance at Faire as a performer, I was under what I’d call the “Hat Rule” - every participant was to wear a hat all the time, or at least have some kind of head covering on whenever they were visible by the patrons.
So, of course, once I became a stage show, I immediately took to taking my hat off whenever possible. You know, if you get a chance to flout a rule…
In any case, I’ve had a lot of silly hats as Tobias… here’s a few:
Starting off with…
This was a hat I initially wore as a SeaDog, and in fact it was a “Faire Find” - something that was lying in the road, on the ground, totally unattended, Officer, I swear… This is actually a pretty common RenFaire hat to be found during the mid 90s - very easy hat to wear, and you could roll and unroll the brim to make a bag about a foot deep - very handy for collecting things, like money…
Again, another common RenFaire hat - this shapeless green thing also started my trend toward wearing green hats - because Magic is Green, you see. The pin is one I had made by the nifty people at Fellowship Foundry for when I was pretending to be someone who thought he was John Falstaff… which may be another blog entry later down the line.
I got it into my head about two years into my head that if I was a magician, maybe I should have a magician-like hat, hence the straw topper hat. The rope wrapped around it is actually for one of my finales - the bit that has evolved into my Big Stupid Finale today… but I can’t leave well enough alone, which led to…
The Felt Shaper 2 - Attack of the Hat!
So… this takes some explaining. I had the Felt Shaper hat (see above), and one day my lovely wife and I decided to take said hat and a pillowcase full of trims and hand it to a marvelous hatmaker (who also vends at the California Faires) and say “Have Fun”.
Six weeks later… this happened!
I think this is still arguably the Silliest Hat I Have Ever Worn. It’s held up well, although it’s in semi-retirement now.
Yet another Silly Hat I acquired while a SeaDog - this one actually made by a SeaDog Emeritus (HI ROBYN!) - a lovely bit of brocade and velvet, but it wasn’t… quite… right… oh. I know what it needs…
Now, I like fezzes. I have a couple. This fez started out as “the hat I would do busking at markets with” because it, well, it folds up and rolls up and can be stuffed in a pocket No, Officer, I have no idea what all these people are staring at yes of course busking without a licence is a very bad idea but my lovely wife and I can’t leave well enough alone, so the big gold tassel got sewn on, and I thought hey… I could roll up that there Turkish Bag Hat and tuck it in and then I’d have… a built-in sight gag!
And I do! At the end of the show, survivors of my act know I ask if they could “help me fill my humble hat…” and then pull the much deeper bag hat out of the fez. What can I say, it’s good!
It’s also a very loving nod to two of my heroes in magic - the late Tommy Cooper and the current President of the UK Magic Circle, Mister Ali Bongo!
Well, that’s my hat history as far as the act goes at Renaissance Faires. Maybe later I’ll yammer about costumery for modern and / or Victorian style events…
