,
“THE HANNIBAL”
Inspired by the memorable hat worn by the late Pete
Duel in the cult classic TV Western series “Alias
Smith and Jones” original crafted by Eddie Baron! Order
Hat now by clicking here!
For
the past several years we have had the delightful
experience of working with dedicated fans of the cult
classic “Alias Smith And Jones”. A week
doesn’t go by without our receiving an e-mail
from a fan asking if we can reproduce Pete Duel’s
“Hannibal Heyes” hat. They had learned
through various fan sites and blogs that Baron’s,
that is, the legendary founder of Baron’s, Eddie
Baron, made Pete's and Ben’s hats for the series
back "in the day".
These
fans are not only loyal, but amazingly knowledgeable,
and through our own production notes (which, since
the series is over 40 years old, are a bit sketchy!),
and the fan’s wonderfully hyper-scrupulous detail,
we have now created the most accurate hat possible,
right down the crescent shape of the Conchos, and
the weave of the stampede strings.
The series was created by the equally legendary TV
Producer, Glen A. Larson, who seemed to have found
a formula in the 1970’s and 1980’s for
creating TV shows that were, in many cases inspired
by great classic movies. (Besides, “Smith and
Jones”, remember Battlestar Galactica –
“Star Wars”, “Automan” –
“Tron” and “Knightrider” –
“The Lone Ranger”). But the formula obviously
worked, and these and other Larson-created shows have
gone down in history as some of our all time favorites!
It’s no secret that “Smith and Jones”
was encouraged by the then box office smash “Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, right down to
the casting of two young actors who resembled Paul
Newman and Robert Redford. The series had the same
dry humor and was peppered every week with well known
(or at least very familiar looking) western character
actors, not to mention some other interesting casting
including Sally Field and Rudy Valle!
Even though this series only lasted three years, and
was hit with the most devastating of tragedy’s,
it has continued to live on through a network of an
ever growing fan base throughout the world, especially
in the UK, now made even more popular with the release
of the full Series on DVD. The casting of Pete Duel
as Hannibal Heyes (alias “Joshua Smith”),
and Ben Murphy as Jed “Kid Curry" (alias"Thaddeus
Jones") was pure genius, and obviously was the
reason for its popularity at the time, not to mention
and all these years later.
For the uninitiated, the premise is a simple one.
Heyes and Curry are two very “wanted”
outlaws, beloved by everyone, except the banks and
trains they have robbed through the years. Since the
public loves them, the law isn’t too anxious
to put them in chains or put ropes around their necks,
so they offer them a deal. If they stay out of trouble
for a year and take on new names (thus “Smith
and Jones”), they will be free. However, that
doesn’t stop them from using their smarts to
help others in trouble and get into trouble themselves!
The series was headed for a long run, when on New
Years Eve 1971, Pete Duel shot himself.
Hollywood, sometimes known for a brevity of emotion,
didn’t wait too long to morn this tragedy, and
in fact, the series went back into production the
very next day, on January 1, 1972 (after the studio
gave the stunned cast and crew a half day off "in
respect"!), with actor Roger Davis taking over
the role. Roger Davis had been the narrator of the
series before this, and in fact had played a small
part the year before (in which he was gun downed by
Ben Murphy!).
One of Baron Hats business partners was, at the time
of this misfortune, a high school intern at Universal
Studios, and he relays a rather spooking story about
that strange New Years day in 1972: “I was
working in post production, and heard the horrific
news about Pete as soon as I came to the studio. Everyone
was in shock. I was told to go to the dubbing stage
to deliver some scripts for recording. At the time,
I just couldn’t believe that it was possible
that Pete was dead. My disbelief was heighten when
I walked into the dubbing stage and saw Pete's image
projected up on the big screen in a scene from 'Smith
and Jones'. Suddenly I could hear his voice, as he
was rerecording dialogue! I looked in the dark, and
backlit from the screen was a man standing at a microphone.
It had to be Pete! It sounded just like him. It freaked
me out. What was going on!? All the news reports said
he was dead, and there he was standing with his back
to me, just ten feet away from me, rerecording dialogue!
The lights went on, and I almost didn’t want
to look, but suddenly the man turned around and said
to me: ‘hey kid – do you have new pages
for me to read?' Of course it wasn’t Pete, but
Paul Frees, one of the greatest voice actors in the
industry (and a big favorite of Walt Disney), who
had been called in just hours before to impersonate
and dub Pete’s voice. He had it down perfectly.
It made you think how easy we are all replaceable
in Hollywood! Which is something I have never forgotten
in all these years I’ve been in the business!”
Without question the untimely death of Pete Duel has
given both the actor and the series cult status, just
as it did James Dean, Bruce Lee or Marilyn Monroe.
But that has only heighten Baron’s resolve to
make the Pete Duel hat as accurate as possible.
The original production hat was made of 200XXX 100%
Beaver, which is the best on the market. However,
we also make a reproduction in 100% Western Weight
Fur Felt.
As
beautiful as this classic high-scoped-crown Western
hat is, the special hatband is really what defined
this as a "Hannibal". Baron's took special
care and great research to craft the two silver Concho
shapes so they would match the original as close as
possible. Each "Hannibal" (both in Fur Felt
and Beaver), comes with an exact recreation of the
original leather hatband, with both hand-inlaid crescent
and rhombus shaped "dedos del ángel" silver
Conchos surrounding the band.
In
the second season the Heyes hat had stampede strings.
Some fans like them and others would rather have the
hat without
them. It's a personal decision. If you do want them,
we will install these special strings, each hand-woven
to order, in the original pattern, for an additional
price.
The hat is shipped to you brand new, but some people
want us to do our special "aging" process
as we do on our production hats, and as was done on
the original
hats for the series. The aging process, by the way,
does not effect the integrity of the furs, so they
are just as long lasting either way.
Since
each "Hannibal" is hand crafted to order
for you, please allow at least eight weeks, both for
the creation of the hat, and the silversmithing of
the original Concho hatband. And yes, we do ship to
virtually every country. You can select various shipping
options, both domestic and international, in our shopping
cart once you place your order.
Our custom "Hannibal" comes with an engraved
leather sweatband, silk-satin lining, our special
Lifetime Guarantee and a Signed and Numbered Certificate
of Authenticity. They are also packed in a custom
hat-box, which you can use to permanently store your
"Hannibal" for safe keeping!
We also have a Flex Pay Payment
Plan for this custom order at no extra cost or
interest.
It’s been years since fans of this great series
have asked us to put this hat on our site. And now
that we’ve perfected it to their satisfaction...
and ours... here it is for you all to enjoy!
KID CURRY HAT NEWS!
We will soon have the special Kid Curry hat available
with the special linked silver Conchos.
Click
Here for
More
Information.
FAN
CLUB DISCOUNT!
Special note to "Alias Smith and Jones"
and "Pete Duel" fan clubs and blogs: as
a special thanks for your years of help and support,
if you'd like to order the "Hannibal",
e-mail us with
your affiliation, or recommendation (from one of the
fan club moderators), and we'll send you a very special
discount code!
Know Someone Who'd Love This Hat?
Crown: 5 ½”
Brim: 4 ¾”
Special Leather and Silver Concho Hatband:
¾” TO ORDER IN
THE ORIGINAL 200XXX 100% HAND BRUSHED
BEAVER Click Here
TO
ORDER IN
100% WESTERN WEIGHT FUR FELT Click Here
Also available with Optional Hand-Woven
Leather Stampede Strings (see order
options below)
FLEX
PAY
4 EASY PAYMENTS PLAN ALSO AVAILABLE!
(see order options below)
Available for this Hat Only!
Chose the Payment Plan and
Schedule that works best for you. Email for Details
Our
Classic Reproductions hats are custom hand-made-to-order,
so please allow
eight
weeks
for delivery. If you MUST have the hat
sooner,
e-mail us
for special Rush Delivery prices and your delivery
date needs to: rushorders@baronhats.com
COMING SOON!
"THE K.C."
INSPIRED BY
THE HAT WORN BY
BEN MURPHY AS
"KID CURRY"
AND ORIGINALLY
MADE BY EDDIE
BARON
As
beautiful as this classic high-scoped-crown Western
hat is, the special hatband is really what defined
this as a "Hannibal". Baron's took special
care and great research to craft the two silver Concho
shapes so they would match the original as close as
possible. Each "Hannibal" (both in Fur Felt
and Beaver), comes with an exact recreation of the
original leather hatband, with both hand-inlaid crescent
and rhombus shaped "dedos del ángel" silver
Conchos surrounding the band.
In
the second season the Heyes hat had stampede strings.
Some fans like them and others would rather have the
hat without
them. It's a personal decision. If you do want them,
we will install these special strings, each hand-woven
to order, in the original pattern, for an additional
price.
inal
hats for the series. The aging process, by the way,
does not effect the integrity of the furs, so they
are just as long lasting either way. 
