The Beret. Hat of the Stars. Really.

A

Now that the cooler months are setting in, it’s time to pay tribute to my favorite headgear—the beret. 

For many, many years, a black beret has been my chapeau of choice, mainly because they’re warm, they go with every coat you have, and they tend not to leave you with hat hair as much as, say, an acrylic knit hat when you pull them off.  And you don’t really have to take them off if you don’t want to.  This lady is perfectly chic sitting down to a highball with hers.
 

B

I have gotten many comments over the years on my beret—especially derisive comments from a sister who thinks I’m weird.  However, she brought back a Navy blue one from Paris for me once, so you can see even she’s a good sport about my fondness for the beret.

Although she claims to have been mortified when someone told her that she recently saw her sister. My sister asked, “Which one?” 

The lady said, “That one with the beret.”
 

C

I have received a few French greetings from time to time.  Though my first name is French and I wear a beret, my command of that lovely language is limited to counting to ten and knowing that when you're driving in Montreal, "Droit Suelement" means right only.

One fellow, opening a door for me at, I think, a bank, remarked, “Ooh-la-la!”  I like to think it was in reference to me and not the hat, but that may just be a pitiful fantasy.

Last spring, a family member was ill and I conferred with the doctor in the hospital corridor.  The next time I spoke with him he did not recognize me because, he said, the first time I was wearing a beret.

D

Once at church, a visiting priest from overseas broke ranks in the recessional and came over to me, saying in broken English, “I like you hat.” 

The blogger replied, “Thank you, Father,” genuflecting as he passed, and bit her lip so as not to laugh over the determined organist thumping out Holy God We Praise Thy Name.

Ah, yes, Ite Missa est.  You betcha.

So if you, too, live in a climate where it can get so cold your nose hairs freeze, I recommend a nice woolen beret.  A black one will go with every coat you have.

A white one?  Well, this debonair chap has his own style.

 

E

Tell me who these beret-wearing folks are and from what movies.  One hint, though, the first one is not from a movie, but from the old Studio One TV show.

***

Next Wednesday the 16^th, I’ll be speaking at the Ames Privilege Community Room in Chicopee, Massachusetts for the Chicopee Historical Society on three fellows from the Ames Manufacturing Company during the Civil War.  I’ll have copies of my new book to sign.  It’s also available as an eBook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords.  It’s available in paperback currently from Barnes & Noble, CreateSpace and Amazon.