The Beloved Mad Hatter of Saratoga SpringS M illiner ’ s e nduring l eg Acy

What you put on your head is hugely symbolic. I should know - I collect hats and have for 40 years.

I sometimes wear a Homburg, a gift from my children. It’s a style popularized by King Edward VII and worn by Neville Chamberlain, Churchill, Eisenhower, Anthony Eden, Michael Corleone, Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina and, yes, Roger Stone.

My collection includes an authentic pith helmet, which only gets worn on Dr Livingstone, I Presume’s birthday. My wife finds this troubling since I seem to be the only person on Planet Earth celebrating the occasion, but she knew that when she married me.

WRITTEN BY JPV OLIVER, GENT | IMAGE PROVIDED

The late Alfred Z Solomon, whose portrait hangs in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, understood the significance of headwear utterly and it made him wealthy. But Solomon was hugely generous as well and nearly every Saratoga-area museum, cultural venue and hospital benefits to this day from the organization he set up, The Alfred Z Solomon Charitable Trust.

But it’s how he made his fortune that’s the brilliant bit. As a young man, Solomon spied expensive women’s hats in Manhattan department stores - and dreadfully cheap ones too. He instinctively understood this was a gap he could fill, so he flew to France and created knockoffs from the best Parisian designer ateliers.

He created Madcaps, a Manhattan-based wholesale hat company, that held licenses for Yves St. Laurent and Givenchy for decades.

Solomon came by his business acumen naturally; he was an autodidact in the truest sense and despite great wealth and success, he possessed not a molecule of hauteur or snobbery. He was a much-loved regular guy.

Even after his death, summer parties were held in Saratoga Springs in his honor. These affairs were joyous, as was he. In a city well-accustomed to celebrities, that’s no small accomplishment.

Such was his affection for the area that, in the late 1940s, he and his wife bought a nearly 300-acre farm near the Hudson River in Northumberland, NY, so they could be near the Track for each year’s meet. Naturally, they called it Madcap Farms.

Solomon sold his hat company at 95.

“The Solomon Trust is a huge force for cultural enrichment in our region,” says James Parillo, Executive Director of the Saratoga Springs Historical Society Museum in Congress Park. “Many of our exhibits owe their existence to that Trust.”

Among the local institutions the Trust supports are Yaddo, the artists’ retreat, Skidmore College’s Tang Teaching Museum and, especially, Saratoga Hospital.

“I never knew Alfred Z. Solomon, but his contributions to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame have been instrumental and his generosity continues to this day through his charitable foundation. He was a familiar face for generations at the Saratoga Race Course and he is honored with a race named after him,” said Cate Masterson, director of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

“He was an innovative businessman and a great philanthropist who’ll always be remembered fondly by the Saratoga Springs and racing communities.”

A Runyonesque character at the Track for decades, Solomon was an avid cigar smoker who played golf at age 100 and danced at a summer gala at 103. He was a beloved Saratoga fixture, and the feeling was mutual. Inevitably, in his later years, Solomon would be asked about his secret for a long and vigorous life. His regimen, he’d reply, consisted of Maker’s Mark, a daily teaspoon of raisins soaked in gin, and cigars.

The Track has always had its share of unique individuals, but Alfred Solomon was among the very best of them. He’s my hero because we share a great affection for hatsand in a world of baseball caps, that’s a gift.

JPV Oliver, Gent’s memoir, I Know This Looks Bad, is available at Northshire Bookstore, Saratoga Springs, and online. SS