THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606220015
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: OPINION
SOURCE: George Hebert
LENGTH: 57 lines
Big umbrellas are big hits these days. And getting bigger.
The situation is remarkable enough to have put dimensions, sales reports and psychological theories on Page 1 of The Wall Street Journal several days ago.
As against the typical folding-umbrella span of 37 inches, the popular oversized versions start at 45 inches and go outward from there, The Journal found. One entry in the competition, a fast seller at a New York shop, opens up to 58 inches. Another, which can double as a beach sunshade, goes the full distance: to 5 feet. Labels like Doorman's Giant, Big Top, Super Sport and El Grande accompany the trend.
Overall, the paper reports, big-umbrella sales have jumped some 20 percent in the past three years, compared to 10 percent for the regular type. This makes the incidental point that a lot more umbrellas generally are out among us on rainy days. And some parts of the country have been having plenty of that.
I am reminded that long before the recent craze, I had a biggie, but it was nothing unusual in its context. This was a multihued golf umbrella, a gift from an out-of-town acquaintance; I had lent him some clubs, or something like that. At any rate, it never rained while I was playing after that, so I never got to use the huge, gaudy thing before it started falling apart from age. Using this monster as an around-town umbrella never occurred to me.
As to the current fad, the newspaper survey goes into some of the problems with the humongous rain-shields (collisions with other umbrella users, always a nuisance, are more likely) and some of the spin-offs (exciting splashes of color in some cases, and the printing of promotional material on give-away umbrellas, making them ``walking billboards'').
But the most fascinating part of the story has to do with the why - why so many men (in contrast to women, who go for ever-smaller models, like those that, when folded, will fit into a handbag) are seeking more and more tent-like weather protection.
Some observers interviewed by The Journal opt for a ``power-umbrella'' theory, convinced that the showier canopies are popular because they communicate a sense of male dash and boldness. I suppose there may be some macho reality in this. But another explanation has appeal, too: I think of the comment of an electrical engineer (carrying a large green umbrella on a rainy day) who was quoted by The Journal: ``If it had been any smaller, I would have gotten more wet.''
In other words, bigger is also much drier. Still seems odd, though, that recognition of this pragmatic advantage took so long.
Whatever.
At any rate, bad-weather life is becoming much more picturesque. And much less cramped with inhibitions than in the days when so many men thought of umbrellas as clumsy accoutrements (``bumbershoots'' conveyed the sentiment) or as too prissy - an attitude about on a par with the resistance of little boys (in my own little-boy days) to the wearing of galoshes. MEMO: Mr. Hebert, a former editor, lives in Norfolk. by CNB