20-05-2025
When Utah passed an "emergency" ban on tall hats at live performances
With Kilby Block Party heralding the start of our summer concert season, I find myself torn between wanting to join in the fun and not wanting to spend hours staring at some guy's shoulder blades because I'm too short to see anything else.
Catch up quick: Turns out I'm not the first Utahn to tire of neck-craning. The legislature once passed an "emergency" ban on tall hats in theaters because no one behind them could see the show.
This is Old News, our weekly quest for an unobstructed view of Utah's past.
The intrigue: The 1897 ban was the first Utah bill ever filed by a woman.
Eurithe K. LaBarthe was one of two women elected to the state House in 1896, when Utah's new constitution granted suffrage.
When LaBarthe proposed the hat ban, the men in the chamber laughed at its frivolity.
Yes, but: "High hat" bans were sweeping the nation, starting in Ohio.
Context: Women's hats of the day were, admittedly, way over the top.
What happened: The ban swiftly passed both chambers and was signed by the governor as an " emergency measure."
How it worked: Guests at theaters, opera houses and other "indoor places of amusement" faced fines ranging from $1 to $10 for wearing hats that blocked the view for other patrons — about $40 to $400 in today's money.
Friction point: Women kept wearing their high hats, the Salt Lake Tribune reported, noting: "Just how many ostriches had been stripped to supply these mammoth creations would be hard to tell."
The next month, lawmakers called for the arrest of one theater owner who refused to sell them tickets in protest of the hat ban.
The other side: In an editorial, the Broad Ax newspaper of Salt Lake City argued that women looked prettier without hats anyway.
The Salt Lake Herald pointed out that men were constantly getting up mid-show to go hang out with their friends in the theater. The newspaper called on the legislature to ban that, too.
The bottom line: Until Utah implements a tall person ban, my 6' 4" husband will be avenging my shortness at all the live shows I skip.
Previously in Old News
