Whoopee cap

George Lindsey as Goober Pyle wearing a typical whoopee cap

A whoopee cap^[1] is a style of headwear popular among youths in the mid 20th century in the United States. It was often made from a man's felt fedora hat with the brim trimmed with a scalloped cut and turned up. In the 1920s and 1930s, such caps usually indicated the wearer was a mechanic.^[2]

In popular culture

Television and film

• The character Goober Pyle in The Andy Griffith Show wears this.
• In the 1974 film Death Wish, Jeff Goldblum wore one in his screen debut as the truly deviant 'Freak #1'.
• Leo Gorcey wore a similar beanie playing opposite James Cagney in the 1938 film, Angels with Dirty Faces.
• The character Skuzz in The Berenstain Bears wears one in the 2003 show as well as in the books.
• The character Frank Taylor in Black Legion (1937), Humphrey Bogart wears this.

Other media

• Archie Comics character Jughead Jones wears this cap, which remains one of his trademarks even decades after it has gone out of style.
• The Encyclopedia Brown novels have the primary antagonist, Bugs Meany, don this cap.
• They popped up in several popular songs of the day, including "The Whoopee Hat Brigade", which was recorded by many different bands.
• In A. E. Hotchner's Memoir, especially King of the Hill, he refers to it as a 'feltie'. He made it from his father's old fedora, decorated it with buttons he collects and puts it on whenever he leaves the house.

See also

• Fedora
• Feltie
• Beanie

Notes and references