I just got the box set of 'Tales Wells Fargo' (the early half hour black and white episodes) In the episode 'The Thin Rope' a young Chuck Connors guests, wearing what looks suspiciously like Duke's battered cavalry hat, right down to the nick in the crown. Could this have have been loaned to him by Duke as a 'good luck' gesture? Duke apparently acquired the hat because he wanted something as authentic as the one Ford wore. It was almost lost in a river crossing scene during the shooting of 'Rio Grande' and was obviously regarded by Duke as a kind of talisman.
I read somewhere that the hat was finally ruined when he loaned it to Sammy Davis Jnr to wear in 'Sergeants Three'. Everybody kept pulling it down around his ears.
