 Download MP3: Six Jumping Jacks - Whoopie Hat Bridage
Reading up on hats the other day I learned that most men owned about 3 hats back in the day. They bought a new one about once a year. That hat, because it was in best condition, was the hat they wore out on the town. Last year's hat was a little worn so it would become the "everyday" hat. And the third hat which was the oldest would be used for fishing or working in the garage.
Once that third hat became worn beyond respectability, it might be appropriated by the young master of the house, who may have turned it into a whoopie cap.
A whoopie cap is what you see Jughead wearing in the Archie comics. They would cut the brim of a fedora style hat into a zig-zag shape and turn it upwards, which made it look something like a crown. It was popular to attach slogan buttons and decorative pins on them, which you can also see on Jughead's hat.
 Whoopie Caps were popular among boys in the 1930s and 1940s. Goober Pyle from The Andy Griffith Show (who worked at the local gas station) wore a similar cap....
There was even a song written and recorded in honor of the whoopie hat -- it's called "The Whoopie Hat Brigade" by the Six Jumping Jacks.
Download: Six Jumping Jacks - Whoopie Hat Bridage
Thanks to Zorch's Inner Sanctum for the MP3 and images.
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