What kind of hat style did the Green Hornet wear and what color was it?

[BiffPow]

Just lightening the photos without changing underlying colors, I think A. Pennyworth nailed it. The mask is obviously green. The hat appears to have some green to it, and the overcoat - if it has any - would have very little green. (Looks gray to me.)

[BatToys]

Pennyworth, thanks for posting the blu-ray photos.

Has Van's hat ever been to auction? Those pictures might have more accurate colors.

Is this comic cover accurate colors?

[Lou Szabo]

Some key links
John’s web site
http://apennyworth.batcave.net/greenhornetcostume.html

https://cyproductions.com/greenhornet.htm

More to ponder…

[BiffPow]

If you look at the gum cards and the TV Guide the hat looks more obviously green in the pictures. I don’t know how color correct those are.

I have an autographed photo of Van Williams as the Green Hornet tucked away in an autograph collection book. I have seen the photo used for the autograph online, and it shows both the hat and the jacket (to a lesser extent) as green.

Of course, the gum card wrappers and box shows the hat and the coat as green. But, as depicted on the gum cards themselves, the hat is a little more obviously green, while the overcoat remains a little ambiguous.

In other product depictions, such as the model box, books and the toy puppet, the overcoat is usually represented as green, but, oddly, the vintage felt hat is black!

I found one photo of what may have been an original complete costume that is attributed to the Uncleoduescollectibles site, but when you click on the link, the page is not there. I will post the photo. It’s not helpful, as there is a green light shining on the entire thing, but it’s interesting.

There are a lot of good representations on the Bruce Lee Museum site.

[DrewMasie]

Great detective work by the forum members. The costume changed from the initial promotional materials and during the production of the show itself. As we've discussed before, Van had three different masks, and if you watch the screen tests of other candidates for the role of Britt Reid, they wore a black cloth mask that looked like it could be made of velvet and a large white scarf, but that look was not used for the final costume.



I imagine that most people would describe the '66 GH costume as a green coat, hat, and mask, even though the earlier iterations may have been gray, black, or some other color. Goodness knows it is difficult enough to find a Chesterfield-style coat, let alone a green one (unless you're GMartin58, who has a knack for such things). But I think the hat and mask should definitely be green (more hunter green than olive) if you are doing GH as cosplay. Also black tie, black pants, black loafers, and a white scarf. Or do your own interpretation and get creative.

[GMartin58]

I imagine that most people would describe the '66 GH costume as a green coat, hat, and mask, even though the earlier iterations may have been gray, black, or some other color. Goodness knows it is difficult enough to find a Chesterfield-style coat, let alone a green one (unless you're GMartin58, who has a knack for such things). But I think the hat and mask should definitely be green (more hunter green than olive) if you are doing GH as cosplay. Also black tie, black pants, black loafers, and a white scarf. Or do your own interpretation and get creative.

LMAO!!! I just got lucky finding someone to make one...and now he's disappeared so was he actually a mystical GH tailor that only appears once every thousand years?!

[BiffPow]

[ so was he actually a mystical GH tailor that only appears once every thousand years?!

Was he also wearing a green outfit? Is THIS the guy?

[GMartin58]

Seee!!! There ya go...YOU'RE ALWAYS AFTER ME LUCKY CHARMS!! Sick 'em KATO!

[BiffPow]

“They’re tragically delicious!”

[rsaffle]

This is an interesting exercise.

I used the best Blu-ray photo and a program that samples the photo colors and converts those into a Pantone Color match. I use this program daily to match customer colors for paint matches. Once I have those numbers it's interesting to find where the color falls within the chart.
This Pantone chart does not have every color in the world, but it has enough to point you into a direction.

Hornets hat & coat have a slight visual color difference but the Pantone chart selected PMS 431c for both, which it calls a SILVER. So, it is saying it's a Silver tinted to the greenish side. You can see with the colors surrounding the chosen color how far the hat and coat really is from green.

Also, Kato's "black" coat falls into a super dark green.

This is no way accurate to anything other than the supplied photo, but I do think it helps to know the color characteristics and creates a good reference point.

[GMartin58]

RSaffle!! Awesome idea. Getting the color correct is always going to be an issue since all the source materials/suppliers are 57 years old!!!

[BatToys]

Does anyone know who owns the original screen used Green Hornet hat? Has it ever been auctioned? If it's still exists the Pantone color chips could be used on that

[GMartin58]

Does anyone know who owns the original screen used Green Hornet hat? Has it ever been auctioned? If it's still exists the Pantone color chips could be used on that

I've asked that question before and to my knowledge no one has any inkling of where the original costumes went. I'd love to be proven wrong. The other issue with clothing from nearly 60 years ago would be some fading issues unless they were kept in pristine conditions.

I hate to say that this is one case where...and I really hate this in doing cosplay...IT'S CLOSE ENOUGH! (I will hate myself in the morning...)

[DrewMasie]

This looks reasonably close for a low price. Just remove the feather and change the grosgrain ribbon to black.

https://pin.it/4Wk5YbG

[GMartin58]

This looks reasonably close for a low price. Just remove the feather and change the grosgrain ribbon to black.

https://pin.it/4Wk5YbG

Looks fairly close and the price is good. I haven't seen this one!! stuff...more money! Thanks DrewMasie.