Chief Nah-mee's top hat is an item from the Jungle Cruise.
Description[]
This item was one or possibly two top-hats in the possession of Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest during the early 20th century. The top-hat has sometimes been shown to be decorated in macaw feathers.
History[]
Background[]
Trader Sam[]
This hat originally belonged to wealthy englishman MacGregor Houghton. In 1916, the top hat was traded to chieftain, "Trader Sam" of the Puka Michuna tribe in the Amazon rainforest by MacGregor's sister Lily Houghton. In return for this, Sam translated writing on the Arrowhead of Lukarina which lead to the mystical Tears of the Moon tree which Houghton was searching for.
Chief Nah-mee[]
By the 1930s, another chieftain named Nah-mee either came into possession of this hat or a similar one. Nah-mee often wore the hat in accompaniment of an umbrella, inspiring his cousin (also known as, "Trader Sam") to write a book titled Top Hats and Umbrellas by around 1938. Also by the December of 1938, the top hat was seemingly lost in the jungle and recovered by Sam to be kept at his Gift Shop! where he sold off stolen items for British colonizers of the Jungle Navigation Company.
Development history[]
Nah-mee's tribal garb mixed with his top-hat and umbrella was a gag designed by Marc Davis, seemingly lifted from the film Peter Pan (1953). In this film, a racist stereotyped depiction of an Indigenous American took the top hat and umbrella from the British boy John Darling. The top hat may have also been inspired by Queequeg from Herman Melville's Moby Dick (1851), a cannibalistic Pacific Islander with facial tattoos and shrunken head trades. The ideology behind this gag had racist connotations, with the implication being that Nah-mee is, "Uncivilized" and, "Savage" while wearing, "Civilized" garb, feeding into racist myths of Jivaroan peoples.
Appearances[]
Attractions[]
Jungle Cruise[]
Nah-mee wore this hat prior to his 2021 removal.
Jingle Cruise[]
In the 2021 Jingle Cruise, the top-hat was located in Trader Sam's Gift Shop! along with Nah-mee's Santa Claus coat.
Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions[]
Nah-mee still appears in this incarnation of the attraction where he is accompanied by Ellie the elephant and sells fruits and pendents.
Skipper Canteen[]
A book by Nah-mee's cousin Trader Sam is in the library titled, "Top Hats and Umbrellas".
Skipper Society[]
The entrance has a carving of a gorilla holding the top hat.
Trader Sam's[]
Pictures of Chief Nah-mee show him in the umbrella.
Film[]
Jungle Cruise[]
In this film, Lily Houghton trades the top-hat to Trader Sam in return for her translating the Arrowhead of Lukarina.
Trivia[]
- Nah-mee's hat in Trader Sam's Gift Shop is decorated with red and yellow feathers, in a style reminiscent of the Puka Michuna tribe from the Jungle Cruise film.
Gallery[]
