The San Francisco call., 1896-10-07
TIME CALLED ON
THE THEATER HAT
Drop Curtains Might Be
Used to Banish 1t
From View.
Novel Suggestion Made by an
Actress Which Provoked
Many Smiles.
AGE LIMIT TO REGULATE.
Managers Have Not Followed the
Example of the Baldwin Yet
and May Not Do So.

Ladies S5 years old and upward will be
permitted to wear their hats in this thea
ter. Younger ladies will please remove
their hats"
That's the inscription which witty and
somewhat satirical actress has proposed
for the adornment of the drop-cur tains of
every theater in San Francisco.
THAT would take off the theater hats
and permit the general public to see US, !"
said this actress.
Would it? The managers of all theaters
admit that it would be good move if all
the ladies would take off their hats while
attending performances. The size of this
stf'' is undetermined. They all hailed the
suggestion of the thirty-five year limit
last evening with hilarity. Their gIee
ranged from a somewhat elastic smile to
q resonant ha hal
The hats came off at the Baldwin Thea
ter again last night; much as on the pre-
ceding night. On all sides the people in
the seats who were enabled 10 see the stage
asked that the, choicest blessings might
fall on all who were concerned in inducing
this blissful condition. The people on the
stage beamed in the consciousness that at
last they were visible to all the audience,
and that no cartwheel-like aggregation of
hat brim, haring feathers and projecting
ribbons would blur the vision of any man
or woman in the house.
Some of the ladies in attendance at
other theaters voluntarily removed their
hats, in the absence of any request by the
management IN that direction. These
ladies could have had any political Office
in the gift Of the people present and would
have been certain that all other citizens
who attend plays at any time, including
all the Judges of the Supreme Court,
would have ratified the choice, on the
ground that if the law did not make the
election legal then it is so much worse for
the law.
Mr.. Gottlob of the Columbia Theater
said that the removal of hats by the ladies
was a strong indication of good sense. He
would say, IL fact, that it would be good
thing if all the hats were voluntarily re-
moved Undoubtedly the big theater hats
are nuisance. 1t is difficult to success
fully dictate what lady shall do in this
matter, but he hoped that the day is not
far away when all ladies will think as he
does. No rule has been made at the
Columbia, and probably none will be, re-
ferring to the wearing of hats.
Oliver Morosco said at the Grand Opera
house that no rule would be made there.
The Grand Opera-house is a family the
to ask the ladies to come hatless or to re-
move their hats and sit bareheaded during
the play. 1t would be well if the hats
were not worn.
Mr.. Walter of the Orpheum said that
nothing had been done at his place of
amusement concerning the wearing of
ladies' hats. If the ladies will agree to sit
without their hats during the performance
that would surely be good thing, but it
all rests with the ladies to do what they
desire.
No rule has been made at the Tivoli nor
at the Alcazar, nor is there any immediate
prospect that one will be devised to cur
tail or in any way interfere with the hats
ladies may wear into their precincts. The
regulation of the circumference of such
appendages will depend entirely upon the
wearers thereof. The developments of the
season which has opened are sure to be
watched at home and elsewhere with in
terest, for the conditIons are reversed, and
the wearing of big theater hats less con-
Germs the ladies than it does downtrodden
man, who can dodge runaway trolley
car easier than he can keep bobbing
around TO catch the view shut eff by the
periphery of phenom hat.