With All The Frills, by Rich Paschall
Will you be buying a new hat for Easter? A beau chapeau, perhaps? For many, it is a tradition. For others, the practice has died out. Maybe you never even heard of it.
When I was young my mother and usually her aunt (my grandmother’s sister) would have to get new hats for Easter. It might be the only time during the year that they would add a hat to their wardrobe. It could not be just any hat, of course. It had to be colorful. It had to be decorated. It had to signal Spring. Artificial flowers would typically be included. In other words, they had “all the frills upon it.”
It has been said that the practice of wearing an Easter Bonnet started here after the Civil War. It may have already been a European tradition at that point. A wreath of fresh flowers or a hat decorated with them would be a sign of springtime and rebirth.
In this country, we have the popular Easter Parade song to talk about your Easter Bonnet. The very prolific Mr. Irving Berlin used the song on Broadway in 1933. It first appeared in the movies in 1938 with Don Ameche doing the honors. My first memory of it is from the 1942 holiday classic, Holiday Inn. No, I was not alive in 1942. This movie brought us a song for each holiday and popularized several tunes, including the most famous song of all, White Christmas.
In the film, Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds were leaving church on Easter Sunday morning. You will notice that many of the women are wearing fancy hats. Bing Crosby takes the slow ride home in the horse and buggy and sings the now-famous song.
In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.
I’ll be all in clover and when they look you over,
I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade.
You may recall the song mentioning Fifth Avenue. From the late nineteenth century through the middle of the 20th Century, there was a somewhat informal “parade” in New York down the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday morning. People strolled along the avenue in an attempt to be seen in their best springtime wardrobe. If those walking down the sidewalk were lucky, a fashion photographer would take their picture. That could mean that they would find themselves in the “rotogravure.”
What is a “rotogravure” you may ask? Technically, rotogravure is a method of printing where an image is engraved onto a cylinder for printing. It is certainly a process that pre-dates this century. It could also mean pages of a newspaper or magazine that used such a process. If your picture was caught on film it may have been printed by this imaging process and you might find that “you’re in the rotogravure.”
This informal process of seeing and being seen has died out. While the “Parade” may have drawn a million people to Fifth Avenue by the time the famous movie Easter Parade starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland hit the silver screen, it was reduced to about 30,000 in 2008. New York declared the event canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
If there is an Easter Parade where you are, be sure to wear your best Spring clothes, and of course, your favorite Easter bonnet. There might not be a rotogravure, but at least snap a digital selfie or two.
See also: “I’ll Be All In Clover,” SERENDIPITY, April 3, 2021.
Categories: Entertainment, Holidays, Music, Rich Paschall
Memories of the movie, the song, the parades and even getting a new hat (Easter Bonnet) each year.
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For some reason, no one was playing it yesterday. It’s the first year we couldn’t find it on any of the movie channels. I used to really love hats but head rests in cars have made them impractical.
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I never thought about the head rest problem, but that does ruin it.
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Yes, there some good memories tied to this. I don’t recall getting a new Easter hat, however.
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A joyful, colourful post. Thank you 😊 I bought many hats 2nd hand while living in UK. 2 of them for weddings 🤩
I only loved that monsterlong movie 🎬 for the parting of the sea! But once was enough…
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Yes, once is a lot for The Ten Commandments.
I guess you can find some good buys in the second hand shop. How often does one wear an Easter bonnet?
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My sister and I always got new hats for Easter as children. Things sure have changed!
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Easter hats don’t seem to be a thing any more. When I was young women always had to cover their heads in church anyway, so you might as well get a new hat for Easter.
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Yes, the times sure have changed.
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This one of Garry’s favorite musicals and my mother must have liked it because I know all the words, so she much have sung it to me. I’m pretty sure we have a copy of it too and will watch it tomorrow. We had to survive “The Ten Commandments” tonight because we do it every year, but I’m allowed to provide background commentary. Ah Easter. Oh, musicals!
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Ten Commandments is too long for me to watch it every year.
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I wrote a piece, drew another piece, and posted ALL today’s pieces while it was on. You can’t just WATCH it. Cecille B. was a total ass anyway and there isn’t a single item of accurate information in the movie. Big time racist, too. But Garry just loves watching the Red Sea part for Moses, Moses, Moses.
So it shall be written. So it shall be done.
That’s a take. Wrap it up.
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I have seen it a number of times, and while some things are interesting from a film making point of view, other things are just hard to take. Anything with Charlton Heston is really hard to watch in recent years.
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I know. But you know, before he went all NRA, he really was a very nice person. Very easy going and normal — pretension free. I think as he got old, he probably was a little demented. Low-level dementia lasts for a long time. Garry’s mom was like that for at least 15 years before it began to get serious. It is also hard to recognize in those early stages unless you know how to look for it.
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He did seem to be a little out there as he was getting older. I loved Ben Hur and saw it in the theater. That is hard to watch too.
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I met him when he was in his early or mid 50s. He was very tired, but entirely normal. But he got pretty ill after that and he changed.
All those religious epics are hard to watch, especially now.
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I have seen The Ten Commandments on television a number of times. It is long enough and with commercials it is REALLY long. I saw Ben Hur in a theater. It was amazing then but I don’t think I could ever watch it again. It is too bad some of these actors ruin their reputations later in life.
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