America loves its folk heroes, and in the 1950s, none more so than the beloved Davy Crockett. This was a guy that killed a bear with his bear hands when he was only three, for goodness sakes, a Tennessee mountain man who possessed not only honor and courage, but just for good measure, his very own television show as well. Millions of kids across America wanted to be just like Davy and that meant one thing – a prized coonskin hat perched atop their noggins.
In 1954, the Disneyland TV series, hosted by Walt himself, brought Davy Crockett into the living rooms of millions of little adventurers. And as a result, his popularity soared to staggering heights. It quickly became apparent that there was a huge market that demanded some raccoon headwear. The only problem was – where to get the supplies. The price of a pound of genuine raccoon fur soon skyrocketed from 25 cents to over $8 seemingly overnight. Similar critters such as rabbits and muskrats were scooped up and dyed to look like raccoon skin and people started searching their attic for old raccoon coats so they could cash in on the coonskin craze. In the first few months that Davy Crockett-mania swept the nation, it is estimated that over 100 million dollars worth of coonskin caps were sold, complete with dangling furry tail in the back. Disney merchandising was receiving 200 calls a day and working 14-hour days, seven days a week just to try to keep up with the sales requests.
But the sad fact was that demand was so high, it simply wasn’t possible for every adventurous youngster to get their hands on a genuine coonskin cap and they weren’t all that accepting of substitutes such as those made from artificial fur. For those empty-handed little mountaineers, they would have to settle for the moccasins, clothing, underwear, watches, lunch boxes, etc. to get their Crockett fix. And although certainly disappointed, most settled for whatever they could find, anything to show their loyalty to the Coonskin King.
Like every fad, the everything-Davy days were numbered. When the series ended, kids turned their attention to other heroes, such as the brave men that were beginning to step forth into the regions of outer space. Today, about the only place you can even find a coonskin cap is at one of the Frontierland gift shops at Disneyland, and even those aren’t the real McCoy. If, however, you should wish to see the real thing, the actual cap, that actor Fess Parker wore in the original series, you will be happy to know that it is safely preserved and on display at the Smithsonian Institute – a tribute to a simple hat worn by a simple man that set off one of the biggest fads to ever sweep the nation.
