It was another FFC authenticity touch. In the Fifties, a mink coat or stole was the ultimate status symbol for wealthy women (or women who wanted to appear wealthy). They wore their minks on every and any occasion, in any and every season. One of my crime books shows a picture of opening night at Meyer Lansky's Riviera Hotel in Havana (1958). Even in that steamy tropical climate, every woman in the picture is wearing a mink stole.