Hats Off to Hats
Although Doctor Suess created the storybook character Cat in the Hat, another kind of cat also affiliates herself with millinery.
Not a feline at all, Joyce Catt of Butler Township has become known for her collection of vintage hats, often used in presentations to groups in Butler County.
The hats range from wide-brimmed displays fashioned after those in Colonial times to flapper hats from the 1920s and "whimsies" of the 1960s, made mostly from netting to avoid crushing bouffant hairstyles popular then.
"Most of my hats, I know who wore them," Catt said, pointing to a military nurse's hat worn by the late Marjorie Leith of Butler and a U.S. Navy WAVES hat worn by the late Mary Etta Eberhart, a school teacher in Meridian.
"The WAVES were not allowed to go overseas, so Mary Etta repaired airplanes stateside," Catt said of Eberhart's enrollment in Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, which granted only temporary Navy careers to women.
Eberhart's story is among many passed along with the vintage headwear that Catt so often receives as gifts.
But other such stories are personal: A cardboard box labeled "1940s" contains a white straw beanie to match the navy and white wedding suit purchased for Catt's honeymoon.
"I am a natural born pack rat," she said, showing cuff link-style buttons that fastened the suit's tiny jacket.
Catt also displayed many hats from the World War II years, describing with sadness how her 19-year-old brother was shot down over Tokyo in May 1945.
"I was 13, and it was terrible," Catt recalled, describing how the incident changed her family forever.
"My father's hair turned white within two weeks. My mother got rheumatic fever."
"Most people who didn't live through World War II don't understand how really awful if was," she added.
"I'm (also) interested in the Civil War because my grandfather's name was Ulysses S. Grant Curry, and they called him Grant. His father was Jacob P. Curry, and he fought in the battle of Gettysburg," she said.
Although she once owned more than 500 hats, a recent downsizing has caused Catt to cull many from the collection — saving only those used in her show "Yesteryear Returns."
Although expanded versions of the show include wedding gowns, swimsuits and other historic clothing, Catt has reduced her vintage wardrobe to just a few pieces."My oldest wedding dress is from the 1890s,"she said, explaining the dress belonged to the Krut family of Butler, who once owned a flower shop on South Main Street.Favorite swimsuits include a dress-style suit with bloomers, as well as once-piece wool suits for men and women.The women's hat show was started in the mid-1970s, when Catt served on Butler County's bicentennial committee. "Very little was being planned for the bicentennial," Catt said of reasons the history program was started.Now performed with friends Carolyn Pithers and Pat Eisenhuth as well as Catt's sister, Beryl Tait, the show includes narrated summaries of past decades. As Catt narrates the presentation, volunteers often chosen in advance from the audience model hats to correspond with the time periods.As part of the program, Catt showcases notable women like journalist Nellie Bly of the 1800s, astronaut Sally Ride and suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony."She covers a lot of years, and she has hats for every one," said Polly Berry of Butler. Berry saw the hat show last year at a spring festival at Sunnyview Home and again last month at a GFWC Butler Woman's Club meeting at the YWCA."If she's doing it with a group, she gets models from the group. She usually has a man. ... He comes in walking with one of the women some of the time. A lot of it is humorous," she said."She has hats and caps from nursing and different branches of the service. It's just very interesting."For more information on Yesteryear Returns presentations, call 724-679-5069.
