Today's theater Public Service Announcements are played before the feature films are shown warning us to turn off our cell phones and hush the chatter. One of the very first PSAs, if not the first one, was aimed towards women in 1909 who wore their fashionable tall hats into the theater, obstructing the view of the screen from those sitting behind them. D. W. Griffith, in a rare comedy for him, directed "Those Awful Hats," a three-minute short with comedian, Mack Sennett, him of later Keystone Cops fame, seen in the checkered coat.
"Those Awful Hats" was rediscovered in the late 1920's after being withdrawn from public viewing. The existing paper print showed only a blank screen where the movie inside the theater was to be shown. Restorers used a newly-invented matte effect, the Dunning-Pomeroy Matte process, to insert an old Griffith movie.
"Those Awful Hats" was rediscovered in the late 1920's after being withdrawn from public viewing. The existing paper print showed only a blank screen where the movie inside the theater was to be shown. Restorers used a newly-invented matte effect, the Dunning-Pomeroy Matte process, to insert an old Griffith movie.