The 23 Jan 1909 Moving Picture World offered the following description: “It is often you are annoyed by the fact that it is simply impossible to see the screen of a motion picture show owing to the enormous size of some of the lady spectators’ headgear. Persuasion, pleading, prayers are all in vain, and so the Biograph set to work to invent a contrivance to remedy the evil, a demonstration of which is shown in this picture. The scene is the interior of a motion picture theater during the performance of which the ladies with the big hats are very much in evidence. From the ceiling are let down grappling tongs which clutch the offending millinery, hauling it up out of sight. This is a comedy picture too funny for description, and it would make a splendid subject to start a show with instead of the customary slide.”
       The action on stage and in the audience were filmed separately and joined together as a matte shot.
       The 30 Jan 1909 Moving Picture World ran the following review: “The Biograph folks have illustrated the big hat nuisance so graphically in this film that it needs no praise. It speaks for itself. It might be a good thing if one of the dredging machines shown here was in operation in every theater, removing hats. More could be seen on the stage and screen.”
       Those Awful Hats shared a split-reel with The Welcome Burglar (see entry). It was restored in 1975, although some blemishes from nitrate deterioration remained. The restored picture was screened at the Twenty-Second Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival on 3 Jun 2017 and at the Kansas Silent Film Festival in Topeka, KS, on 26 February 2021.