Nerd Processor
The Paradox of Jughead’s Hat
The strange reason Riverdale star Cole Sprouse wears a cap from a bygone era
If you’re a fan of Archie Comics, you know Jughead Jones: Lanky, laconic, and obsessed with eating. If you’re a fan of Archie’s TV adaptation Riverdale, you know that Jughead, too: brooding, a gang leader, and the show’s theatrical narrator. The two bear little in common but their name; their deep, abiding friendship with Archie; and, most important, a strange hat they never take off — a hat that represents one of comics’ most bizarre dilemmas.
In case you’ve never read the comics or seen the show, Jughead wears a strange, crown-like hat. He’s been sporting the hat ever since the character debuted along with Archie in 1941’s Pep Comics #22. It is — rather, it was — called a “whoopee cap,” a fedora with the brim removed and triangles cut into the bottom edge, which was folded up to create a vaguely crown-like appearance. (There’s a wonderful history of it here if you want to know more.) After the 1950s, the fad faded away, but Jughead kept his cap on.
The longer Jughead wore the hat, the more impossible it became for him to take it off.
