Selections from his post;
When we think of the raccoon hat, we invariably think of the American frontiersmen -- those stoic, hulking figures who bore shotguns and frayed leather jackets thundering through the Great Plains on horseback. While these men did popularize the hat, they actually appropriated it from the natives they extruded while making their way out West.
European pioneers migrated westward in two major pushes -- first to the Mississippi Valley (late 1700s to early 1880s), then to what is now the Northwestern United States (mid-1800s to the 1850s). These ventures were, of course, fueled by wars and money: The Louisiana Purchase (1803), the Mexican-American War (1846-48), the acquisition of the Territory of Oregon (1848), and the Gold Rush (also in 1848).
As early pioneers settled in the Mississippi Valley, they observed native tribesmen sporting the raccoon hats. For centuries, natives in the region -- the Mound Builders, and later the Sioux -- had followed the spiritual beliefs of the Abenaki people, an Eastern-US tribe that had been largely eradicated by early European settlers. In Abenaki spirituality, animals were often mythologized: According to pictorials, there existed a spirit named Azeban, a “trickster” raccoon who “deceived animals and other beings for food.” When hunting, natives would wear raccoon caps in the hopes that the spirit of Azeban would mischievously attract prey.
By the late 1700s, white settlers had evicted large numbers of indians; simultaneously, they chose to adopt native attire -- including the coonskin cap:
“A pioneer wore moccasins of deer or buffalo skin, thigh-length buckskin leggings, buckskin shirt, and a broad leather belt which held his powder horn, bullet bag, skinning knife and tomahawk…[and a] coonskin cap.”
At the time, Walt Disney was trying to find a way to finance the construction of Disneyland, his grand theme park. In 1954, eager to raise funds, he signed a deal for a television series with ABC, and launched a serial titled “Davy Crockett,” chronicling the life and times of the famous frontiersman who’d died at the Battle of the Alamo. “It’s time to get acquainted, or renew acquaintance with, the robust, cheerful, energetic and representative folk heroes," Disney said in a press statement. “Who better than Davy?”
Airing in five one-hour installments from December 1954 to December 1955, the show was insanely popular: Nearly 12 million viewers tuned in to each episode, a full-length, color feature (Davy Crockett, King of the WIld Frontier) was released, and the show’s theme song -- “Ballad of Davy Crockett” -- rose to become a #1 Billboard hit:
Ironically, there is also no definitive proof that Davy Crockett -- the real man -- ever wore a raccoon on his head, other than an unsubstantiated statement from his daughter, who recalled seeing him “dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coonskin cap” just before he embarked to battle Mexican soldiers at the Alamo.
Nonetheless, a Davy Crockett frenzy swept the nation -- and right at the center of the craze was the coonskin cap. Among the likes of the yo-yo, frisbee, Teddy bear, and ouija board, the coonskin topped the Times’ “must-have” toys of the decade. By the end of 1950s, Americans had purchased over $300 million worth ($2.6 billion in 2014 dollars) of “Crocketmania” merchandise -- nearly $10 of product for every US consumer aged 5-14! To put this madness in perspective, Disney's 1958 Zorro craze, which was by all accounts tremendous, grossed only $20 million in merchandise sales.
Some 3,000 Davy Crockett products, ranging from lunch boxes to wristwatches, were released:
“Children wore coonskin caps to school and wore them to bed. They wore them with their Davy Crockett plastic fringe frontier costumes while they played with their Crockett trading cards, their Crockett board games and puzzles, their Crockett color slide sets and their Crockett powder horns. They pestered their parents for Crockett toy muskets and Crockett bubble gum and Crockett rings and comic books.”
“Put on your coonskin caps, kids,” beckoned gossip columnist Hedda Hopper-- and society listened. Far and away, the coonskin hat was the favorite emblem of young Crockett enthusiasts: For a period of three years, 5,000 caps were sold every day. Initially, Disneycontrolled the market, but unlicensed knock-offs were soon sold in virtually every clothing store in the nation.
Most of these hats were made from real raccoon fur, which subsequently rocketed from 25 cents to $8 per pound. When the "raccoon supply became nonexistent," says one trader, similarly-shaded critters were used as an alternative, according to Time Magazine: "Seattle’s Arctic Fur Company, which has been shrewdly buying up wolf pelts for years, is producing 5,000 ersatz coonskin hats daily."
Many fondly recall owning the hats.
“I still have the memory of my father buying me a Davy Crockett outfit, complete with a coonskin cap,” evokes Victoria Advocate columnist Lewis Grizzard. Another Crockett fan, Russ Kane, says it was a staple of his childhood:“I was four years old [when the series came out]; I still remember wearing my coonskin cap with its furry tail, as my friends and I pretended to hunt bears and shoot unruly bad guys.”
Mark Graczyk, who was a child in Batavia, New York at the height of the craze, has vivid memories of his city’s “Davy Crockett Day” in 1955:
“An estimated 2,000 youngsters and their parents lined up along Jackson Street in downtown Batavia to enjoy the day's festivities. The Batavia Kresge's store became the city's ‘Davy Crockett headquarters,’ selling Crockett T-shirts and hats for $1 apiece, cap pistols for 69 cents, frontier bags for $2.98 and bill folds for 59 cents. You could buy a package of Davy Crockett cookies for 35 cents or enjoy a Crockett sundae for a quarter at the Kresge's soda fountain.”Coonskin caps still sell, as a novelty item. At the Alamo gift shop in Texas, they’re purchased with fervor: Some 15,000 are rung up each year at $12.99 a pop. Specialty fur shops like Arkansas’ Crockett Coon Caps boast “the best coontails available,” and continue to unload hundreds of caps per year.
