TOP OF THE MORNING TO YA!

FIRST - I NEED TO RANT

(Elaine did not feel well this morning and went to  the local hospital for observation. Because of the 58 covid patients lined up, waiting for a room or a bed to become available, the ER Doctor had to examine her and run tests on a gurney in a hallway close to a swinging door that poured an icy cold wind on her for ten hours.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, it's because I was told that almost all of these 58 covid patients had not been vaccinated. Elaine was, of course, fully vaccinated. It is a complete mystery to me that some people would take a chance on dying, rather than take an unintrusive injection which might save their lives. What the hell is wrong with such people?!

Enough of that.)

Meanwhile. let me write about a pleasant subject: TOP HATS.

Top Hats

Cylinder Hats

Toppers

Collapsible Opera Hats

Stove Pipe Hats

No matter what the hat is called, it is a stiff, high covering for the heads of "important" people, such as ambassadors, diplomats, politicians and "grifters."  The hat was popular from the 1830's to the 1930's, and is still available for "Grand Functions."  ($177.00 at Amazon)

President Abraham Lincoln wore his top hat almost continually and even used it as a filing cabinet.

With the hat on top of Lincoln's 6'4" height, he was almost 7 feet tall, an extreme height for anyone in the 1860's, when the average men's height was 5'4". Check out his picture at Mead's encampment during the Civil War.

My Great Grandfather Vaughan had an undertaking business in New Bedford, Massachusetts during the first decade of the twentieth century. Part of his funereal uniform was a conservative top hat, as shown in this picture.

 

Famous dancer Fred Astaire starred in a 1935 movie with the title: Top Hat.  A bit of "fluff," that featured the wonderful song: "Isn't it a Lovely Day."

But the song that everybody was singing after seeing the movie, had lyrics like this:

"... I'm puttin' on my top hat

Brushin' up my shirt front

Puttin' in the shirt studs

Polishin' my nails ...

For I'll be there 

Puttin' down my top hat

Mussin' up my white tie

Dancin' in my tails..."

Don't you just want to start tap dancing like Fred when you hear this "toe-tappin'" music?  I know that I do.  I was the seven-year-old "Fred Astaire" at Al Sanger's dance studio.

(My top hat was a captain's cap.)

W. C. Fields always used a top hat as part of his costume.

Capitalists are often shown wearing a top hat.

Scarecrows are often the recipients of worn-out top hats.

Famous people have been shown in cartoons wearing top hats even though contemporary pictures do not show that.

Such was the case of Giulio Gatti-Casazza (1869-1940) who was the opera manager for LaScala (Milan) from 1898 to 1908, and opera manager for the Met (NY) from 1908 to 1935.

(He was so liked that Time magazine placed him on their cover for two issues (Nov. 1923 and Nov. 1926.) He took good care of Arturo Toscanini, Enrico Caruso, and Baltimore's own Rosa Ponselle.

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Go, and tip your top hat.