From the March 1951 issue of Profitable Hobbies Magazine, the news that we’ve all been waiting to hear:
“Mrs. J. E. Woodard of Reform, Alabama, has figured out the answer to one of life’s hardest questions — what to do with old straw hats.”
If you, like I, were surprised to learn that this matter of what to do with straw hats was a question of such deep importance to society that it joined the ranks of “What’s the meaning of life?” “Is there a God?” and “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”, thus meriting the One of Life’s Hardest Questions title, then you’ll likely find the answer, turning straw hats into baskets & purses, anti-climactic.
Frankly, I thought straw hats & purses were made from straw baskets. Thus this brief vintage article shatters my paradigm — or at least perverts my perception of the natural order of things…
Which came first, the straw basket or the straw hat? Where do straw purses fit into the scheme of things?
Oh, how can I live my life without knowing…
If this is news is so tantamount to human existence, then why didn’t the publication’s cover boast of such enlightenment? Why bury the true lead on page 17? And what’s a scoop without photographic evidence?
In any case, you likely won’t be surprised to learn that Profitable Hobbies Magazine only turned a profit for about a decade before becoming defunct.
Yikes! I must go get an old straw hat immediately so that I can explore life’s hardest questions more deeply! Perhaps if I study the making of hats into purses, other things will come in time, like turning pigs ears into silk purses, and eggs into chickens (and children into decent responsible adults!).
I must go get an old straw hat immediately so that I can explore life’s hardest questions more deeply! Perhaps if I study the making of hats into purses, other things will come in time, like turning pigs ears into silk purses, and eggs into chickens