Delicious and tragic, all mixed together. That's Hollywood.

In what year was the picture of your grandmother taken?

I like looking at attractive women as much as the next guy, but the beauty pageant uproar is beyond me. Why do we care about what any of those women have to say.

They may be nice people, but this is just narishkeit.

Jack - I don't think anyone cares what the contestants said except for how Carrie was being treated for having an opinion that reflects the majority of people

I'm sure that the usual "world peace" stuff was uttered ;-)

What's your favorite decade for women's hats Robert? The 40s seemed to be my favorite.

1890s seemed a bit over the top for me.

Ruti:

Hollywood lives are endlessly fascinating.

Kishke:

Approximately 1914, in Berlin. I think. I'm checking with my Tante Pearl.

Jack:

On the contrary, the savage assaults on Carrie Prejean is an important cultural moment. A watershed. For when an articulate and widely held opinion is savagely attacked by elements in the left and the homosexual community, well, we should all be on notice that totalitarian methodology is at work.

V.I. Lenin said: "We are not interested in debating our opponents, we only want to crush them."

In short, ignore the issues, attack the individual, intimidate your opposition, and reserve free speech for your side only.

The ultimate scene for womens hats has to be the black and white hats the women wore at the Ascot races in My Fair Lady. Now those were real hats. No mere baseball caps for those ladies.

Bill:

The gilded age was definitely over the top, millinery wise. I like the hats of the late 20's and early thirties. They're incredibly modern and sleek, and flattering to most head shapes.

The nadir is hats of the 50's. Madness.

Jack - I don't think anyone cares what the contestants said except for how Carrie was being treated for having an opinion that reflects the majority of people

Bill,

I think that it is a real stretch to suggest that she has the majority view. Not so cut and dry, but that is immaterial.

On the contrary, the savage assaults on Carrie Prejean is an important cultural moment.

Robert,

I disagree about this being a watershed moment. This is not new behavior. I watched eight years of the Clinton admin going through this and then another eight with Bush.

There has been a terrible change in which far too many people think that mudslinging is appropriate and I see it from both sides.

I vehemently disagree with this behavior. Prejean doesn't deserve it. So what if she doesn't believe in gay marriage. She is a glorified pinup girl.

Had they not made a ruckus and turned her into a celebrity this wouldn't have been any sort of issue and no one would have cared one whit what she said.

This really is the height of narishkeit. There are so many more pressing and important issues.
It is a unnecessary disaster.

The crazed hyperbole that has come out as a result of this is very sad and very telling.

Johnny:

I actually don't like that version of My Fair Lady. I think it's leaden and dull, except for the scene you reference, yes, because of the hats.

Take a look at the non-singing 1938 Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller "Pygmalion." Spectacular. Script by George Bernard Shaw.

Jack:

There are so many more pressing and important issues.

Let's see, the Taliban are marching on nuclear installations in the failed state of Pakistan.

50,000 people are murdered and starve to death every month in Congo.

Genocide and millions of refugees in Darfur.

Syria is building a chemical and bio weapons factory on the very spot where they tried to build a nuclear reactor.

Iran is going nuclear and Israel is the only power who will stop this terrorist state from exercising hegemony over the region. Obama is less than useless in this vital matter.

Russia is about to help Venezuela go nuclear.

And, oh yeah, Obama's budget deficits are about to bury us under a blizzard of debt and printed monopoly money.

But in America, practically all we hear about from the left is the drumbeat for the absolute necessity of same sex marriage.

This is not coming from me or my fellow Conservatives, but from the left, and it is, as I say, a telling moment in our culture.

Robert:

I love the cinematography of MFL. I love Stanley Holloway in MFL. I think the songs in MFL are some of Broadway's best (my favorite is On The Street Where You Live). I always skip to the musical numbers when I watch it.

But Pygmalion is way better movie once you get past the fact that it is not a musical. MFL is such a dominant version of the story I know kids in high school that thought Shaw wrote a musical, not a play.

And we are told that gay marriage is inevitable and a right, not just a necessity. Anyone opposed to gay marriage is portrayed as a knuckle dragging caveman that only wears his wifebeater undershirt to church every weekend. How I wish Carrie had just said she feels the same way our president does about gay marriage and see if they attack him. Ha!!!

Johnny:

This is funny, singing the praises of the musical MFL and then segueing into, y'know, gay marriage.

Not saying that gay people love musicals any more then others—except they do. I've asked all my gay friends in Hollywood and that's the exact answer I've been given.

Anyhoo.

Here's one of the things I've learned through a lifetime of studying Torah and watching American culture turn decadent and her Judeo-Christian values trashed:

If taboos are not written down, codified and observed by society then there will be no taboos in the minds of our children.

As I've said a million times, I have no problem with gay unions, but I believe, as does every religion and every society, that marriage should be reserved for one man and one women.

Robert:

I have one friend that I know is gay. We've known each other for over 30 years since college. We've gone to a lot of hockey and baseball games together. We've played cards till 3 am or until the beer ran out. I think we spent a weekend in New Orleans during Mardis Gras but we drank so many hurricanes neither one of can remember many details.

But even though I have season tickets for summer musical theater I've always taken my daughter or niece or sister-in-law. And even though he has season tickets for the symphony, he's never asked me to go with him but he has given me his tickets when there is a performance I'm interested in.

We've always done guy things together. Somehow whether he likes musicals has never come up. The only movie we went to see in a theater was Road To Perdition. So now I'll have to ask him if he likes musicals but I'm guessing he does. I do know he doesn't care about gay marriage but he has never been a militant when it comes to gay issues.

Gay people struggle with the part of the Bible where it tells us that God doesn’t want men to have sex with men.

Carrie Prejean struggles with the part of the Bible where it talks about covering your body in public. Bless her heart.

"...perfect for a stroll in the park."

With a potential suitor perhaps?

You're lucky to have such a wonderful family member photo from yesteryear.

Where in the Bible does it talk about covering your body in public? Nowhere that I'm aware of.

This is not coming from me or my fellow Conservatives, but from the left, and it is, as I say, a telling moment in our culture.

Robert,

It is sheer idiocy for this sort of debate to take place. Perez Hilton is a moron and the question was stupid. She doesn't write policy and has no influence.

I am truly disgusted by all of this. The people carping about her comments need to move on.

kishke - here's an interesting article

http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/235,1993219/Can-you-quote-from-the-Torah-the-command-to-dress-modestly.html

From this author's perspective, you are kind of right yet wrong.

Are you telling me that there are no beliefs within Judaism and Christianity about dressing modestly? If she's against gay marriage because 'the Bible says so' than she should reflect upon her own behavior. It's not complicated.

Kishke:

Spoke to my Tante Pearlie, my grandmother's youngest daughter, and she dates the photo to about 1909. My grandmother traveled from her home in Stanislawe Poland to live with relatives in Berlin. My grandmother made a living as a seamstress. She sewed all her own clothing.

Alice:

I didn't say there's no such belief; I said there's no such verse. And there isn't. There is a verse, however, that expressly forbids homosexuality.

The article you cite concerns Judaism. It does not apply to Prejean, who is a Christian. I'm not sufficiently aware of the requirements of Christianity, but I do know that many, if not most, Christians go swimming or to the beach wearing bathing suits, which leave lots of the body uncovered. Are they all violating their religion? I have no idea. You say they are, but you haven't proved it.

1909. Wow. Amazing, isn't it, the time-machine technology of photography.

LOVE these glimpses into how the past and present merge....