For National Hat Day: The Hats of Vaudeville

It’s National Hat Day!  In light of that, a little picture essay inspired by this quote from my book No Applause: Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous. 

“The ethnic variety of vaudeville made it the theatrical equivalent of the melting pot. Black, white, Jew, gentile, men, women, children, Irish, Italian, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese, shoulder to shoulder, toe to toe, cue to cue. The hat rack in the dressing room had top hats, derby hats, fedoras, turbans, sombreros, bejeweled head-dresses and Apache war bonnets. All were equally important.”

Maurice Chevalier

Princess White Deer

Joe Frisco

Eva Tanguay

Vesta Tilley

Will Rogers

Unidentified

To learn more about vaudeville, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,