The Unsinkable Molly Brown … and my hat

As those who know me will attest, I am a Colorado girl with a love of old west history—and all things Titanic. The 1997 movie “Titanic” with Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet remains my favorite movie of all time. Even as a little girl, I’d watch the old black & white films based on the RMS Titanic’s fateful voyage in 1912 … over and over.

So, it’s no wonder when I stumbled across an authentic 1900 Merry Widow hat in an antique store in Granbury, Texas, I just HAD to have it. It was identical (sorta) to the hat worn by Kathy Bates in her portrayal of Molly Brown in “Titanic”. I had already been collecting vintage 1800 clothing and had a creepy-looking wire dress form attired in Little House on the Prairie garb. The hat would be a perfect addition, I thought, gleefully clapping my hands.

Now for a little history: a divorced (gasp!) Molly Brown purchased a first-class ticket on Titanic to return to the United States because of an ill grandchild. Her daughter Helen, a student at the Sorbonne in Paris at the time, almost accompanied her, eventually electing to remain behind. As the uppity ladies in first-class emphasized in the movie, Molly was “new money” (sniff), having only just recently made her fortune alongside her husband J.J. in the silver mining town of Leadville, Colorado.

We all know the Titanic hit an iceberg. Molly’s efforts were valiant as she assisted with the ship’s evacuation, taking an oar herself and urging the quartermaster to return for more people (to which she was ordered to shut her piehole, according to the movie script. Not sure as to the accuracy of that declaration, but it made for some high drama.) It’s unclear if the lifeboat actually attempted to return to the wreck to save more people, though it sealed Molly’s place in history for sure.

In later years, Molly’s Titanic fame allowed her to promote her causes with even more vigor—as a philanthropist and activist for workers and women’s rights, literacy, and children, to name a few. She ran for the U.S. Senate, and instead ended up in France after WWI to help with wounded soldiers and the overall devastation. She even pursued being an actress for a time and didn’t acquire the moniker of “Unsinkable” until after her death in 1932.

So … what’s all this got to do with my Merry Widow hat, you ask? Though my kids affectionally called my somewhat scary-looking dressed-up mannequin “Grandma”, I referred to the colossal, befeathered, and tasseled antique fashion statement as my Molly Brown hat. I can’t look at it without hearing Kathy Bates’ line at that snooty dinner table when Cal boldly orders Rose’s dinner for her, “You gonna cut her meat for her, too, there Cal?”

Alas, sadly, as I write this, my Molly Brown hat is on the auction block. The Ebay auction block, that is. It’s a bittersweet thing. As I enter a new and exhilarating phase in my life, I am rehoming nearly all of my possessions (yes, Grandma, too) in a giant effort to minimize belongings and claim what is truly important: family, relationships, new adventures, and writing. Possessions have a way of tying a person down.

As I sort and sell items collected over the years to those who will love them and give them a new life, I lighten my own and make plans to travel the world and write alongside my significant other. I try not to place too much coincidence on the fact that we purchased tickets on a big ship. To Europe. A two-week voyage. Fingers crossed there won’t be icebergs.

So much to look forward to in the coming months. I’ll keep you posted. Cheers! (Oh, and that’s a picture of my Molly Brown hat above. Isn’t it pretty??)