THE PASSING OF THE THEATRE HAT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 28, 2 February 1907, Page 11

THE PASSING OF THE THEATRE HAT.

» . . What all the theatre-hat agitation has failed to accomplish ; what public protests and proclamations have vainly tried to bring about — namely, the disappearanco of tho "thcatr«-hat" — has now quietly, and even gracefully, been done by the authorities of a French casino. They also, like 1 all the rest of the places of public entertainment, had suffered from the tyranny of the large hat obstructing the view of stage or platform magnificence, and they, too, were loth to estrange tho picture-hat-wearing community by issuing an edict against them. But when all imaginable) forms of subtle Eersuasion had failed to remove the ats, the directors of the casino, .in a moment of inspiration, hit upon a new plan. Instead of protesting any longer, they mode it known that there was absolutely no objection to ladies wearing hats of any size at tho casino entertainments. And in they streamed, with the air of victors, the theatre-hat brigade steering straightway to their places — hero, there, and everywhere. But before they had gone many steps, an extremely polite and inexorably firm deputy of the powers behind tho casino confronted thorn with the explanation that the wearers of hats had their places allotted to them on the right, while the hatless part of the audience sat on the left. The men, being naturally without their headgear, followed the batless ladies, and the rest oat solemnly together, ■ plumes nodding, roses blowing, and veils fluttering above faces upon which there sat an ominous scowl. But the fact that they were partitioned off from their i male friends was only one grievance, and the other was probably almost as groat. For the ladies had now, perhaps I for tao first time, a fair chance of provI ing by personal experience that theatrehats betweon tho spectator and the stage are really more than a little trying. After the first night, when the seats reserved for the hat-brigade were crowded, an immediate decrease in its popularity was noticeable, and before many nights this part of the casino remained entirely empty. Thero is pence at that casino now ; peace and plenty, for it is more popular than ever, and there is not «v hat to bo found in tho length and breadth of the auditorium.