When Utah passed an "emergency" ban on tall hats at live performances

• 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.

• Similar proposals spread to Louisiana; Chicago; Des Moines, Iowa; Colorado; Washington State; San Francisco; New York; Boston; Wyoming; and elsewhere.

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.

• Meanwhile, I'll amuse myself with fantasies of misadventure that might one day befall anyone who puts a grown adult on their shoulders.

Previously in Old News

• No. 1 for ... forced sterilizations
• How Utah reacted to Vietnam's refugees
• Utah's deadliest day
• Black hole sneak peek
• How Utah learned of Lincoln's assassination