There are 389 autographs on The Hollywood Hat. I’ve been able to identify 371 of them. For the other 18, your help would be much appreciated. First, there are 15 signatures I can’t fully decipher. If you recognize any of these signatures or are adept at unraveling the vowels and consonants, please e-speak up.
Undeciphered 1
Undeciphered 2
Albert Conti — deciphered by reader Mary Mallory
Undeciphered 4
Undeciphered 5 & 6
Undeciphered 7
Undeciphered 8
Undeciphered 9
Undeciphered 10
Undeciphered 11 Is it a separate signature above Lupino Lane’s autograph, or is it Lupino Lane saying, I am _______ Lupino Lane?
Undeciphered 12 (Might be two signatures.)
Undeciphered 13
Otto Kruger — deciphered by reader Valerie Yaros
Charles Dana Gibson — deciphered by reader Dan Nather
Then there are three autographs that have faded beyond what I’m able to read. Without knowing any of the technical specifics, I hear there are ways of raising names from ghostly writing.
Faded 1
Faded 2
Faded 3
And lastly, there are a few individuals whose signatures are readable, but whom I can’t locate any information about:
- John D. “Uncle John” Daggett — identified by reader Kim Cooper as a 1930′s Los Angeles radio personality
- Warwick
- MC O’Neill
Can you solve any of these Hollywood Hat mysteries? If you can, please let everyone know by telling us in the comments below.
Thanks… and happy hunting.
Joe Blitman
#4 James Arness?
You’re not alone, Brandy. A number of people (including me!) think this might be James Arness’ signature. But the timing of Arness’ career seemed wrong. However, I’ve recently learned some interesting info. Back in the mid-1930′s when Cecil Holland was working at Twentieth Century-Fox, he had an apprentice for six months named Lee Greenway. In 1951, Lee Greenway created the iconic make-up for the Thing in the movie of the same name, a character played by James Arness. Although Greenway created the make-up, he hired his former teacher, Cecil Holland, to actually apply Arness’ make-up each shooting day. I’ve looked at tons of James Arness autographs online, but all of them seem to be from a later period in his career. To my amateur eye, I just don’t see enough resemblance of the hat’s signature to the online signatures to say claim it is a James Arness autograph. But it certainly remains an intriguing possibility.
Could # 11 be Jan Bradley… the soul singer?
Interesting suggestion, Brandy. I looked up Jan Bradley. Her career only started in the 1960′s, so it is highly unlikely her signature is on the hat.
Could #1 be Richard Long? He started his Hollywood career in the mid 40s.
Thanks for the suggestion, Keith. I’ve looked at numerous examples of Richard Long’s signature online from a wide range of time periods, and this signature on the hat just doesn’t look at all like any of the others.
http://www.donaldsauter.com/Richard-Long.htm
Do a side by side comparison of the sigs, especially the “Long”. The “d” in Richard on the hat looks like a capital letter, but observe how the end swirl mimicks the “d” in the Sauter sample. The beginning swirl on the R in Richard is absent in the later sample, but that would be expected as the actor matured and simplified his autograph. The slant and the letter shapes (particularly the L O N and G are very similar). If the actor were a youth when he signed the hat, it would explain the crudeness of the overall signature vs the later more dignified version. I’m pretty confident the penmanship is the same.
Could the 2nd signature be that of Sonja Henije the ice skater? (not sure if I spelled her name right)……..
Thanks for a wonderful post !!
Two random memories shaken loose by trying to decipher the hat’s mysteries …
The first is a guestbook from Pickfair that was auctioned not long after Mary’s death in which, along with Schencks, Crosbys and a Mountbatten or two, some bold hand had signed “Ignatz Kockenlocker” and to this day, I’m convinced it had to be Preston Sturges.
And the second is the “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy reads the shriveled grapefruit autographed by “Rishr Wimrk” (Richard Widmark).
Have you checked to see if #4 might be James Arness? I’m not sure, but it’s probably worth checking it out. Hope you can get them all deciphered.
Faded signature #1, after adjusting contrast, etc., looks to me to be Rand Brooks. Though perhaps considered too “minor” to be in such illustrious company, in 1939, his career certainly seemed to be on the ascent, when he played Scarlett O’Hara’s first husband, Charles Hamilton in “Gone With the Wind”. Did Cecil have any GWTW connections, I wonder?
Perhaps a stretch, but #9 looks to be “mon tristess,” similar to “mon tristesse,” or “my melancholy” in French…the little expressionless face drawn above it, a precursor to today’s “emoticons”? Could it perhaps be an addendum to the signature before or below it? Just a stab…thought I’d throw MY “hat in the ring”! Good luck!
Faded 1 to me looks like Regis Toomey. I’ve seen his autoraph and it looks similar. Do you have his autograph to compare?
Undeciphered 2 could be william haines, if he signed wm, and the part above is an A.
And Undeciphered 7 looks like Art Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy’s photographer at Roach Studios. It would then be Art B Lloyd.
Now I want to find more of them. Thanks a lot.
jonsmith
Oops I meant to say word “above” Lupino
Regarding unknown #11 Lupino Lane,
could the word about Lupino be Stanley?
Stanley Lupino was Lupino Lane’s cousin and
co-star in Lupino Lane’s silent comedies
and better known today as Ida Lupino’s father.
That’s a clever guess, Karen, but since the mystery word (as well as “I Am”) seem to be in the same handwriting as “Lupino Lane,” I don’t think it was Stanley writing his name.
#15 could be Charles Dana Gibson. It looks very much like the way he signed his work.
“Warwick” is probably the actor Robert Warwick, who seemed to be everywhere in Hollywood at that time.
Thanks for the ID, Dan. Charles Dana Gibson was certainly a long way from home, strolling thru the MGM Make-Up Dept. It’s such a distinctive signature. The Mysteries section will reflect the deciphering of this signature, some time in the next few days.
I think Warwick is someone else, as Robert Warwick also signed the hat as Robert Warwick.
It could be author Warwick Deeping, whose novel “Sorrell and Son” was filmed in 1929.
#3 I believe is Albert Conti, a character actor who’d been around since the mid-1920s.
Great ID, Mary. I found a match for the signature at http://www.thecead.com. Thanks! The Mysteries section will be updated in the next few days to reflect this autograph has been deciphered.
One of your unknown deciphered signatures is almost but not quite right. Uncle John Daggett (not Daggetty) was radio station KHJ’s ?rst station manager, and host of the popular ”Children’s Hour” show.
He was also the mad genius who came up with the idea of Uncle John’s Dog Carnival, a fall 1931 celebration of mixed breeds held on the grounds of Loyola High School. Heavily advertised on KHJ, the Dog Carnival proved much, much more popular than anyone had anticipated. More than 8000 people turned out for the event, with hundreds of children lugging their dogs to the athletic fields to compete in such categories as homeliest dog, skinniest, funniest looking and best dressed. The Dog Carnival was never repeated, but I reckon few who attended ever forgot it.
(I stumbled on the story of Uncle John’s Dog Carnival while researching one of my true crime tours, Weird West Adams, and added it to the tour as a respite from the blood and guts.)
Kim, that’s a great story about the Dog Carnival. Too bad there were no iPhones 80 years ago; footage of the melee would be priceless to watch. And thanks for identifying “Uncle John” Daggett. The website will be updated to reflect your id’ing of him sometime in the next week.
4 looks like it could be James Arness
Thanks for guessing. James Arness was my initial guess, too. But he didn’t get to Hollywood until years after the era of “The Hollywood Hat” and the Arness signature examples I’ve found are quite different.
Your “undeciphered #14″ is Otto Kruger
Thanks very much, Valerie. That is a bullseye. It IS Otto Kruger’s very distinctive signature. Who knew happy faces were around in the early 1930?s? The website will be updated in the next week to reflect your id’ing of Otto Kruger’s signature.
Delighted to have helped, Joe. Your “sleuthing” work was fascinating! V.Y.