[Ads-l] propeller beanie

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 2:47 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> JL posted an April 27, 1948 citation containing the phrase "atomic
> whirling propeller beanie hat". Here is an April 13, 1948 citation
> with the phrase "beanie skull cap with a propeller on the top".
>
> This might be the earliest description published in a newspaper. But
> this description did not provide a compact name like: "propeller
> beanie", "propeller cap", "prop beanie", "beanie 'copter", "propeller
> hats", "helicopter hats" and many others which appeared subsequently
> in newspapers and magazines.
>
> Date: April 13, 1948
> Newspaper: Somerset Daily American
> Newspaper Location: Somerset, Pennsylvania
> Article: Impressions Here and There
> Quote Page 3, Column 6
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/509997763/?terms=propeller&match=1
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> IMPRESSIONS HERE and THERE
> LIKE A HELICOPTER is small Jack Nicholson, who wears a "beanie" skull
> cap with a propeller on the top which whirls when he runs or when the
> wind blows. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Nicholson.
> [End excerpt]
>
[snip]

Footnote: It's not *that* Jack Nicholson, who grew up in Neptune City, NJ.
(He was the son of the showgirl June Frances Nicholson and an unknown
father, and was raised by his grandparents, Ethel and John Nicholson.)

--bgz

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