Out to Play

Yesterday I went to see a play called The Italian Straw Hat. It was a period piece, reworked, from a French late 19th century source. Silly. The plot was so senseless, but it was funny, rather like a post silent comedy film from the 20s or 30s, full of slapstick and innuendo, and as such, enjoyable, if you didn't expect it to make much sense. The program even said that the original was judged to be so funny that a person at the premiere laughed himself to death! I guess if one has to go, that's not the worst way.
Oddly though, there are no reviews of the show around in the papers. I thought it merited more than that. The singing was good, the jokes, while very silly, were cute, and the actors' timing was excellent. One can't ask more than that for a piece like this. And certainly there's a place for such entertainment. I think if people knew about it, they would probably go to see it.
As always with a period piece, there are insights into another time. This one was based on the whole idea that it was considered indecent not so long ago to go outside without a hat. I even remember this sort of attitude from my early childhood. One could not go downtown without gloves and a hat. It was sort of like being naked, showing one's bad breeding. My mother would insist on a clean tablecloth and cloth napkins when we stopped for lunch or tea downtown. Now you're lucky if you get a styrofoam box and some paper napkins on a table that hasn't seen a sponge in some time! And hats of course revealed all sorts of things about their wearers-- their profession, social class, aspirations, etc. I used to like trying on hats for hours in Wanamakers department store, pretending to be every sort of person imaginable, though I seldom bought one. Now I never wear hats, except if I'm somewhere cold. Does that signify a social equalization or just the unwillingness to give away one's class by outward appearance? Hard to say.