SHREWSBURY, Massachusetts – There’s a scene in an old W.C. Fields movie “The Bank Dick” where a bank teller is wearing a straw hat because he has hay fever, wanting to protect himself from falling tree pollen. It’s doubtful whether that lid had any worth other than to get a laugh, and head coverings in general only have value as protection from the sun or extreme cold so it’s amazing how such a seemingly innocuous and fairly useless item can be used to immediately identify a person’s culture, a specific period of history, or the changing attitudes of dress. By merely seeing the back of a man’s covered head without getting a look at his face or skin color you can recognize an Arab, a sheik, a Russian, an Afghani, Indians (both Asian and American), soldiers and warriors, paupers and kings, or politicians from a bygone era. This is especially brought to mind whenever I see a film clip of baseball games from the 1930s and ‘40s where virtually every patron was wearing a felt, snap-brimmed fedora for no other reason than it was the style. Of course they were also wearing suits, white shirts, and ties so the hat fit right in although totally ridiculous, especially during hot summer days.
Comments: 1
i thought it was just my school but i guess not, i live in ny if thats were u live, BE A LEADER, NOT A FOLLOWER (IM NOT TALKING TO U, IM JUST SAYING :))