Coonskin Cap

In 1985 the Transformers were the most popular things in the world. I’ve read that they were responsible for a third of Hasbro’s revenue in that year, and I believe it. I had a lot of them, mainly because my dad bought them for me. Transformers were one of the only non-electronic items that I ever acquired a collection of, and I can’t wait to see the new movie that will likely destroy my memory of them.

Anyhow, the 1955 version of the Transformers was Davy Crockett. It was the most popular show on television, and every kid seemed to have their own coonskin cap. My dad really wanted one, but his parents had been affected severely by the depression. They even hated to spend money on necessities. “Two piss one flush” was a common maxim around their home. I understand that that’s not proper grammar, but it’s as I heard it.

So it’s no surprise that they wouldn’t spend money on a silly hat so their kid could prance around like a Disney outdoorsman. That would be ridiculous - far less ridiculous than going hunting, killing a raccoon, and making the damn hat yourself.

When my father first told me that story, he told it in a way that made it sound like a let down, and my knee-jerk reaction was to comment on how much cooler it was to have a “real” one than something from Hudson’s. It took me a few seconds to realize that he knew that from the start, but I won’t tell him that I know that he knew that.