"High hats" at Ohio theaters once spurred high drama

Flashback: When Rep. Philip C. Fosdick of Cincinnati first proposed the "high hat" bill, some fellow lawmakers and newspapers considered it a joke.

• It threatened to fine theater managers up to $10 for letting female guests "wear a hat sufficiently large to obstruct the view of persons sitting behind her."

Faced with scrutiny, Fosdick said his wife put him up to it.

• He also pawned it off as a "temperance measure," claiming men who couldn't see left mid-show to drink.

Yes, but: The House passed the bill amid threats and cigar bribes.

• It then went to the Senate's Committee on Railroads and Telegraphs, lest you think creative legislative maneuvering is a modern invention.
• The bill was expected to die there, but the Senate passed it nearly unanimously.

What they said: "Of all the ridiculous and farcical pieces of legislation this is the worst," the Summit County Beacon newspaper opined. "The assembly had better shut up shop now and let its members go home before they commit any more such pieces of arrant nonsense."

• Women sought a "retaliation measure" to outlaw men from spitting tobacco juice on the theater floor.

The big picture: Others praised the law as a common courtesy and it ended up inspiring similar laws across the country.

The intrigue: Fosdick only served one term at the Statehouse. Despite a long career in business and public service, the saga followed him the rest of his life.

• His 1917 obituary's headline: "Author of Anti-Hat Law Dies."