The Washington times., 1936-12-21
FURNESS HATS )
ARE TOO DIZZY
FOR LYDIA
BY LYDIA CALVERT
Special to The Washington Times

HOLLYWOOD, CAL, Dec. 2l'
OF all the dizzy hats
Oh, but that's not nice. To go
to persons house and drink tea
and then come away and say
things like that
But still, in all fairness to your
correspondent, let her put the case
before you and you judge. Maybe
you would say the same thing.
Her name is Betty Furness and
you saw her last as the "other
woman" in Swing Time" She
lives with her very charming
mother in an apartment high up
in the hills outside Hollywood.
She met me clad in a lovely
striped burgundy house coat with
ballet slippers to match.
She likes hats.
That's no secret in Hollywood.
When they say "Betty Furness"
they always follow it up with
'you ought to see her latest hat" ;"
Once she made q bet with Bernard
Newman, the. designer, that there
wasn't q hat too dizzy for her to
wear. -'.
Takes Dares
Mr.. Newman and Miss Hattie
Carnegie got their heads together
and concocted q hat that had
fallen in the succotash and-She
wore it! She's a girl who can take
a dare, because saw the hat. Said
hat may be seen in the accompany.
ing photo. Why it didn't bite me
I'll never know. .',
ooh, no." says the gay Miss
Furness, 81 don't dress for men,
1 dress for myself. But they
still take me out"
You know they do because
(under the hats) she's nice, SEN
Sible young thing with an. excel
lent sense of humor and quick,
throaty laugh that is dead attrac-
tive to more men than Allan Lane
with whom her name is being "ro-
mantically linked"
! have been warned by the
vegetable plate and so when she
brings in her dozen or so hat boxes
I steel myself for the worst.
'When I go in to get a hat"
she says, 'T say What have you
got that's dizzy?' But they've
got to have style, too"
QUESTION MARK
The first-hold yours, cause
here we go-is a question mark
hat. IriS-colored velvet with a
colossal question mark poised on
it in eternal interrogation. She
wears it with iris gloves with black
suede palms and plain black dress.
The girl has style! no doubt about
that. 49, ....-.
The second she pulls On over
her curls and swings around for
me to see. It is black felt peak,
quite tall, with veil coming out
of the top covering the whole
works. Medieval-no doubt about
it-but admit it-becoming!
The third Is a flower pot with
flowers growing in it. Nc it isn't.
It's a piece of pure yellow cham
ois shaped that way.
The fourth is my pet" Listen:
It's a piece of black net shaped
into a skull cap completely sur
rounded with Is turquoise quills
curls down, tails up. I call it
madness but she calls it millinery.
Conservative
"Here's a conservative little
number" says the irrepressible
Miss Furness, bringing out
brick red cloche buried in about
so vari-colored bows and sporting
a veil that was copied from the
chickens wire.
"I love this one. I guess it's
sort of silly, but I kind of like
that hOOtnanny."
She points to the big cotton
paizley bow Of still another hat
that ties up in a big pleated
pussy-cat bow on top. 1t has a
saucer croWn-What fun a cat
could have with that hat! Milk
in the saucer would not be in
congruous.
None of her hats have brims.
All would turn heads on the
weather vane. Someone else may
have claimed the title before
but the real Mad Halter" of
America is Betty Furness.
Through her doors, by her own
admission, pass the dizzie6t hats
in the world.