Saluting the hat -- not just for Easter but any time to spiff things up traveling or at home

Cookie's favorite royal, the late Queen Mum, sported a jaunty hat when she joined journalists and travel writers for her daughter's 1977 Silver Jubilee as Queen Elizabeth II.  The beloved monarch's hats became famous during World War II, when she wore them to visit bombed villages and cheer the people on during hard times.

From left, sisters Christene (Cookie) Meyers, Misha Minesinger and  Olivia Cosgriffe are hats off at niece Kira Cosgriffe's wedding to Mike Hill last summer.  Most of the wedding party celebrated the occasion with hats.

THE HATS HAVE IT: FAMILY TRADITION, FAVORITE MOVIES & THE QUEEN MUM

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER & CM

"The Carpe Diem Kids"

and FILM STUDIO ARCHIVES

That's a younger Cookie, left, her niece Amarylla Hayes (now Ganner and a mother of two youngsters herself) and the late Peny Hayes, Cookie's sister and Amarylla's mother, on the beach in Maui

SO WHAT IS IT about wearing a hat that makes everything seem fresher, brighter, hopeful?

A sense of play, suggestion of fun, a feeling that the occasion is going to be above the usual outing.

Cookie's late mother, Ellen, was never without a hat, here as she pets Yorkie Nora.

We're saluting the hat -- not just for Easter -- but for any time, because hats make us happy. 

There’s something undeniably joyful about discovering the perfect hat while traveling. I love to pick up hats while on the road. I look in whimsical street markets and vintage boutiques, to find hats that are more than mere accessories. They’re souvenirs of personality and place.

Hats make us take notice -- and be noticed.  I've loved hats since I was a kid.  My mum had a trunkful of hats. My grandmother wore hats and gloves to travel, and I wore many hats during my years in the theater -- literally (25 hats on my piano, which I changed during many productions, notably as the head of the Kit Kat Band in "Cabaret.")

Audrey Hepburn made this stylish hat famous in "Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Hats off to the Ascot scene in "My Fair Lady." 

FROM THE ASCOT scene in "My Fair Lady" to the delightful chapeau of the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland," or Indiana Jones' jaunty fedora, we remember a scene with a behatted character.

Remember Sherlock Holmes' dapper deer hunter hat? Charlie Chaplin's derby in "The Little Tramp." Wayne Campbell's Trucker cap.  Holly Golightly's swooping chapeau in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." We're saluting the hat because it's shaped so many film characters.

Gene Hackman's pork pie hat made his Popeye Doyle memorable. 

Cookie's been behatted since childhood.

Or Katharine Hepburn's sun bonnet as she toils at the church organ in "The African Queen." Gene Hackman's signature pork pie hat as Popeye Doyle. 

When I met the late Queen Mum in London in 1977, she wore a hat. She was beloved for her showy hats, dresses and matching purse and shoes.

SOME QUOTES for the behatted:

   "It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it. Sometimes with a hat and not much else." -- Mae West

Keller is not about to be outdone by the girls. Ready for his close-up.

"Women who love hats aren't jealous. They like a good hat on another. Women who wear hats know who they are.''  --Anonymous.

"Life is like a new hat. You don't know if it suits you if you keep trying it on in front of your own mirror." -- Shirley McLaine.

"Wearing hats has become like fine art for me."  --Tina Brown 

"I have 12 hats. Each represents a different personality. Why just be yourself?"-- Margaret Atwood

“I wear my hat as I please, indoors or out.” -- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass.

 "Luxurious, flirty, maybe a bit sexy. We believe a great hat can change your day." -- a sign in New York's Plaza Hotel.

BEST BETS: Phil Johnson stars in a brilliant one-man performance, "A Jewish Joke" at San Diego's Moxie Theatre. This Roustabouts production is on stage through April 8, a tour de force for Johnson, whose writer character is on the rise in Hollywood until Senator Joe McCarthy's red-baiting tactics force him to make a crucial decision about his partner and his future. Johnson and Marni Freedman co-wrote the moving often funny work, artfully directed by David Ellenstein. Stunning, poignant theater, not to miss. theroustabouts.org

A spirited ensemble involves the audience and creates an enthusiasm that weaves a spell on the audience at "Beachtown" in downtown San Diego.

UP NEXT: "Beachtown," in downtown San Diego, is a delightful throw-back to the innocent days of political fund-raisers, neighborhood potlucks and community gatherings.  Always original director Sam Woodhouse works his charms with a talented stable of San Diego Repertory Theatre actors to bring this unique Herbert Siguenza and Rachel Grossman work to the Lyceum stage. Remember to explore, learn and live and catch a new post each Friday for the weekend.