HAT GIRL
READER’S COMPANION
Copies are available for purchase from Amazon.ca, Chapters Indigo, or Signature Editions
http://www.signature-editions.com/index.php/books/single_title/hat_girl
Hat Girl is dedicated to artist Robert Murdoch
Percival (1924-1995). Born in England, he
studied fine art at the Liverpool College of Art
and painting in Paris. He moved to Canada in
1965 and became a Canadian citizen in 1980.
He worked as an artist, teacher and art
Curator of the New Brunswick Museum until
his retirement in 1984 when he moved to St.
Andrews, New Brunswick. The character of
Will Murdoch is based on Percival and his own
descriptions of his medical condition as they
appeared in an article by Douglas Hughes that
appeared in the New Brunswick Reader,
November 19, 1994. Percival’s books Ukiyo-e:
Art for the People (1978) and The Little Boats:
Inshore Fishing Craft of Atlantic Canada (1979)
are both mentioned in the novel.
The epigraph and all of the bullfighting
manoeuvres described throughout the novel
are quoted from the text and glossary of
Ernest Hemingway’s book on bullfighting
entitled Death in the Afternoon (1932). In the
first chapter Hemingway explains his attraction
to this blood sport: “The only place where you
could see life and death, i.e., violent death now
that the wars were over, was in the bull ring
and I wanted very much to go to Spain where I
could study it. I was trying to learn to write,
commencing with the simplest things, and one
of the simplest things of all and the most
fundamental is violent death.”
PRELUDE: DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON
12 - Elvis Presley (1935-1977), the King of Rock and Roll, sold over a billion records and died at age 42.
12 – Turkish born Canadian Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002) is considered one of the greatest photographers of the
twentieth century for his portraits of J.F. Kennedy, Pablo Picasso, and Albert Einstein, and other well-known
personalities. One of his most famous portraits is of Ernest Hemingway (1957) whom he described "a man of
peculiar gentleness." http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.1098.12
23 –Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a Dutch painter who despite a life of struggle is responsible for some
of the most recognizable paintings in the world including Sunflowers (1888), The Starry Night, (1889) and
Wheatfield with Crows (1890), widely considered to be his final painting before his suicide at age 37.
25 – bomb girl Like the head scarf of Rosie the Riveter, hair nets were often worn by munitions workers to
keep their hair out of the machinery.
29 – Jude Thaddeus is one of the 12 apostles and is considered the Saint of desperate causes, probably
because of his call to persevere in the New Testament book that bears his name.
32 – Marilyn Bell (1937- ) was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario in 1954 when she was only 16.
She went on to other long distance swims including the English Channel and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
35 – licence plates See past and present Canadian licence plates at http://www.15q.net/canindex.html
38 – Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) was an American author whose lean journalistic style was widely
influential. His life of adventure took him to Italy, France, Spain, Africa and Cuba. He published seven novels
and several short story collections, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Here he is fishing in
Michigan in the summer of 1913 and recovering in the American Red Cross Hospital in Milan, Italy in July 1918.
1
BOATER
Popular summer hats in the late 19th century and early 20th century, boaters were so named because
they were often used for boating or sailing. “Having long been abandoned by most schools as a part of school
uniform and with the retreat of vaudeville stage act to nostalgic obscurity, the boater primarily survives in its
original informal role as an item of leisure wear.”http://tragicocomedia.com/2011/05/04/loved-and-loathedthe-straw-boater-hat-a-history/ Many wonderful books on hat lore were used in the research for the novel
including Hats: Status, Style and Glamour by Colin McDowell, and The Hat: Trends and Transitions by
Madeleine Ginsburg.
46 – Hemingway’s old man The Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Old Man and the Sea (1952) centers on the
struggle between Santiago, an old fisherman, and a giant marlin far out to sea.
46 – right whale “Northern right whales, hunted to near extinction, are the rarest of all large whales. Experts
estimate that only several hundred exist in the wild.”
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/right-whale/
53 – Laura Ingalls Wilder’s (1867 – 1957) series of novels about growing up in a pioneer family included Little
House on the Prairie (1935).
54 –On 24 May 1881 the overloaded Victoria paddle steamer capsized in the Thames River near London, Ontario.
In spite of relatively shallow water, 182 perished. ~ Canadian Encyclopedia
2
MERRY WIDOW
Named for the plumed hat worn
by actress Lily Elsie in the 1907
English adaptation of Franz
Lehar’s operetta The Merry
Widow, the hat became a huge
fashion craze, satirized in a
series of postcards (page 73),
two of which appear below.
73 – Edgar Degas’ (1834 – 1917) 1885 oil painting The Millinery Shopis discussed at length by Gloria Groom.
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/sites/default/files/article/file-attachments/
Edgar%20Degas-The%20Millinery%20Shop.pdf
90 – Aristotle’s Lantern is the name of the complex chewing apparatus
of the sea urchin, after a comment by the philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 BC).
90 – Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 – 1931), was an Irish poet, songwriter,
and school inspector whose “Herring our King” appears in Songs of Old Ireland.
90 –James McIntyre (1828 – 1906), who came from his native Scotland to Ontario
at 14 was known for his poem "Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing Over 7,000
Pounds," written about an actual cheese produced in Ingersoll in 1866 and sent to exhibitions in Toronto, New
York, and Britain. http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/ode-mammoth-cheese-weighing-over-7000-pounds
3
DEERSTALKER
A rural hunting cap, the deerstalker
became associated with Arthur Conan
Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock
Holmes through illustrations by Sidney
Paget and others.
102 – John James Audubon (1785 –
1851) was a French-American
ornithologist and painter famous for
illustrating birds in their natural
habitat in works such as The Birds of
America. He visited the Fundy Islands
in 1833 on his way to Labrador.
103 – Elizabeth Bishop (1911 – 1979) was an American poet who spent part of her childhood with her
grandparents in Great Village, Nova Scotia. Her poem “Man-Moth” can be found at
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176997
117 –"Hurt" is a song written by Trent Reznor, covered by country superstar Johnny Cash in 2003 and made
into a music video the following year when Cash was 71, only seven months before his death.
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
4
BERGÈRE
This hat worn by Truly Scrumptious
played by Sally Ann Howes in the 1968
film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is similar to
a bergère from the French word for
shepherdess, a shallow crowned straw
hat trimmed with flowers and ribbons.
122 – Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (1770) and Thomas Lawrence’s Pinkie(1794) are often paired because
of their subject matter and the fact that they hang opposite in the Huntington Library in California.
132 – Jobst garments are tight elastic
compression garments used to prevent
scar tissue for healing burn victims. They
are named for German born mechanical
engineer and inventor Conrad Jobst who
founded the company in Toledo in 1950.
137 – Bronze door (c.1015) of Saint Michael's, Hildesheim, Germany can be viewed at
http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history/art-history-400-1300-medieval---byzantineeras/ottonian/v/saint-michaels-hildesheim
5
PILLBOX
Originally military headgear, the pillbox hat
was named for the round concrete defence
structures used during the World Wars
which resembled round pill containers. The
hats were popularized as haute couture by
Halston who designed those worn by the
First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Probably the
most famous pillbox hat was the pink one
she wore on November 22, 1963, the day of
her husband’s assassination in Dallas, Texas.
145 – Sylvia Plath(1932 – 1963) was a critically acclaimed American poet who suffered from depression much
of her life. She committed suicide on February 11, 1963, at the age of 30.
145 – Saigon monk On June 11, 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death at a Saigon
intersection in protest against the South Vietnamese President’s pro-Catholic policies, an act made famous by
American journalist’s Malcolme Browne’s photographs.
146 – “Girls Say Yes to Boys Who Say No” was a 1968 Vietnam War anti-draft poster featuring singer Joan
Baez and her two sisters, Pauline and Mimi. http://www.complexmag.ca/art-design/2012/11/10-iconicpolitical-posters/girls-say-yes-to-boys-who-say-no
157 – Jeanne Calment (1875 – 1997) spent her long life in Arles, France dying at the age of 122 years.
158 – “Affliction is a treasure…” John Donne, Meditation XVII http://www.online-literature.com/donne/409/
163 – El Espolio (1577-1579) referring to the Disrobing of Christ hangs in the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain.
Though Percival did paint crucifixions including Tormented Torsos (1968) and Crucifixion Collage (1969), the
four described in the novel are fictional, inspired by this famous works by the Spanish painter El Greco (The
Greek) so called because he was born in Crete. Pertice also mentions the Dead Christ (c.1480) by Italian artist
Andrea Mantegna.
6
SOU’WESTER
The Sou’wester like the one shown in
this drawing by Vincent Van Gogh, was
originally made of sailcloth waterproofed with tar. Popular with
fishermen, these rain hats were named
for storms blowing from the southwest.
The wild cloudberry which grows
close to the ground and ripens to
amber in early autumn is popular
for pies and jam.
168 –Allen Moses (1881-1953) was one of the most prolific taxidermists of his day. In 1953, he bequeathed his
substantial collection of bird specimens from the Fundy islands to the children of Grand Manan.
177 – Clive Brook (1887 – 1974) was a British film actor.
185 – Ferguson clan crest
7
ENDURABLE
The canvas sailing hat created by Alex Tilley in
1980 was the first of many items made by the
Canadian nautical gear and clothing company
that came to be known as Tilley Endurables.
193 – weathered old boat on a winter shore describes a watercolour by Robert Percival entitled Trap Skiff in
Snow that appears in his book The Little Boats: Inshore Fishing Craft of Atlantic Canada (1979).
197 – Veni, vidi, vici. (Latin for "I came, I saw, I conquered") was a phrase Julius Caesar was said to have used
in a letter to the Roman Senate after a military victory in 46 BC.
199 – Among the celebrities to own Tilley hats are Sir Edmund Hillary (1919 – 2008) first to conquer Mount
Everest in 1953, Pierre Trudeau (1919 – 2000) fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada, American actor Paul
Newman (1925 – 2008), and Queen Elizabeth’s second son Prince Andrew, Duke of York (1960- ).
205 – Dinesen’s Babette Danish author Karen Blixen (1885 – 1962), who wrote under the pen name Isak
Dinesen, is best known for her memoir Out of Africa. Her short story “Babette’s Feast” (1950) was made into
an Academy Award winning film in 1987. https://www2.bc.edu/~taylor/babette.html
205 – stained glass The story of Peter walking on water is in told in Matthew 14.
206 – The fictional Gammy Green is based on Gammy Brown, long-time midwife on White Head Island, who
did make a nighttime passage between islands as described.
8
CLOCHE
The cloche, so named for its resemblance
to a bell, was all the rage in the Roaring
Twenties, the era of flappers and jazz.
215 – Jacek Malczewski (1854 – 1929) was a Polish painter in the Symbolist style. His work can be viewed at
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/jacek-malczewski and http://culture.pl/en/gallery/works-of-jacek-malczewski-gallery
217 – "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" appears on Bob Dylan’s 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.
219 – For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 film based on Hemingway’s 1940 novel by the same name about the
Spanish Civil War. The name is taken from a line in John Donne’s Meditation XVII.
225 – Kollwitz. The powerful work of German artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) can be viewed at
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/kathe-kollwitz
226 – The Andrews Sisters, Laverne, Maxene, and Patty, were famous for their harmonies, selling over 75
million records. Their version of “In the Mood,” a 1939 song popularized by the Glenn Miller Orchestra
appeared on their 1953 album Sing Sing Sing.
226 – Though not visually stunning like the frigate bird or the bird of paradise, the bowerbird woos females
with elaborate structures. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/bowerbirds/laman-photography
9
BOWLER
The Bowler, created in 1849 by the London
hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler, may
be Britain’s most famous contribution to the
world of hats and haberdashery.
236 – A bowler is an iconic component of the
comic silent film persona the Tramp created
by British actor Charlie Chaplin (1889 – 1977).
236 – Magritte. The bowler appears often in the work of Belgian surrealist René Magritte (1898 – 1967)
including the evocative paintings The Son of Man (1964) and The Man with the Bowler Hat (1964).
240 – Schiaparelli’s “Eyelash Hat,” Hepburn’s hat, Stephen Jones’ “Wash and Go” and a Philip Treacy creation.
POSTLUDE: LIFE IN THE AFTERNOON
252 – Ukiyo-e: Art for the People Ukiyo-e means “Pictures of the Floating World,” and refers to the
Japanese prints of Edo (Tokyo) during the 17th and 18th century including masterpieces by Hokusai and
Hiroshige. In his book on the subject, Robert Percival describes it as a hugely influential art of transition.
265 –“college of the sea” Tradition holds that Henry the Navigator (1394 – 1460) used his villa on Portugal’s
Sagres (sacred) Peninsula as a gathering place for cartographers and navigators, initiating the Portuguese era
of discovery. Pictured here is the compass rose from inside the fortress there.
270 – The montera resembling a bull’s horns is worn along with a “suit of lights” by the Spanish matador,
and the green forcado’s cap is worn by the lead man facing the bull in a Portuguese bull fight.