Swastikas on His Hat


In a scene fairly early in the movie Joe E. Brown is shown wearing a cowboy hat. The hat has a hat band on it and there are several closeups where one can see that the band is decorated with some symbols. Most seem to be of American Indian derivation, but also several swastikas can be very clearly seen. This was apparently not an attempt at being insulting, but as the movie was released in 1932 this was just barely before it became recognized internationally as a symbol of hate.

There is also a scene early on when Brown is in a restaurant and picks up a menu with Hebrew writing and is confused. He asks another patron about that and the man tells him to just ask the waiter for want he wants and it will be brought to him. Among the things he orders and receives is bacon. Again I don't believe this was meant to be insulting, but no Jewish restaurant would have a waiter accept an order for a pork product and certainly no patron would ever be served such a thing.

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The Swastika symbol was widely used before the Nazis as a symbol of peace. I believe American Indians were among the groups who used this symbol.

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FlushingCaps ~ The Swastika symbol was widely used before the Nazis as a symbol of peace. I believe American Indians were among the groups who used this symbol.

Not only that, it's been traced back to ancient Greece, ancient Hindu culture, ancient Teutonic ritual and several others and has even been traced back to the 5th or 6th millenium, B.C., in the Neolithic Period. It is speculated that there may be some common origin for this to have been spread all throughout the ancient world, however, no one has described one authoritatively. I would imagine that it's under speculation.

Hitler's appropriation of the symbol for the Nazi party first occurred in the early 1920s. It would be several years before the rest of the world really took notice of Hitler and his party. I think that 1932 might still have been a little too early for that.

The symbol is important in Native American culture and ritual and is considered a good luck charm. It is sometimes referred to as the wheel of life. The word, "swaztika" is thought to be from Sanskrit, and has been translated as "lucky charm". Jackie Kennedy was photographed wearing an outfit decorated with swaztikas for a Native American event.

I think Joe E. Brown's hat is decorated with Navajo symbols and not Nazi ones.

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Re: The Diner. Just because a diner/restaurant has a Kosher section on the menu doesn't mean everything they serve is Kosher. BTW, not every Jew adheres to Kosher practices, I dated a Jewish girl that loved bacon.

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A year after the last post, but I have something relevant to add.

The orientation of the symbols on his hatband are telling. The symbols are "flat", as in a square (flat sides on bottom/top and left/right).

The Nazi party placed the symbol at a slant, as in a baseball diamond (corners on bottom/top, left/right).

As the symbols are oriented flat and the film was made in 1932, no question that it has nothing to do with Nazis and is Native American. Also, the character in the film is from Texas, and lotsa westerns in that era played up the "cowboys & Indians out in Texas" angle.

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