Magic Hat, 1933

[Fletch]

From Popular Science Monthly, September, 1933. Via that mindbending repository of future past, Modern Mechanix.

Cheap entertainment being very much in demand back then, here is "How you can look like a clown" five different ways. Er, that is, a clown and four other things that add up to a one-man show, altho at least one of them is female. (I'm not real sure about the clown.)

Keep the family in stitches with French priest impressions - "horr horr, mah name eez Fazzer Maurice, blezz yew mon chouchou!" (for extra fun, do Napoleon in the exact same accent!) - and Salvation Army hymns sung in a tremulous falsetto. (A dab of Sister's lip rouge adds to the illusion.)

"At the end of the entertainment" - and when, pray tell, is that? - "pull the ring down around your neck and say, 'Myself.'" With a ring around my neck.

If the felt is stiff enough, John the Baptist is another possibility.

 

[rcinlv]

Harry Anderson, of Night Court fame, had a stand up Comedy/Magic Act in the 1980's based upon that "magic hat." He would come out on stage and talk about how he started wearing hats as a kid, and spend the next 5-10 minutes folding and flipping the floppy piece of felt into various conformations. It was hilarious, and fascinating to watch...

Cheers,

RC