The things you find in library archives

When Ellen DeGeneres hosted the Oscars in 2007, she wore a gold tux designed to make her look like one of the statuettes being awarded. Are you with me so far?

Turns out that one of the regulars at the library once had a twin brother who lived in California. The twin died a couple of years ago, but before he died, he sent a large piece of the gold material from which Ellen's tux had been made, along with a signed note from her, to the Kilbourn Public Library to put in its archives. He assured the library that someday it could be worth big bucks.

Absurd, but then, who knows? People sell stranger things than that on eBay just about every day of the week.

At any rate, apparently this inspired one of the librarians to suggest that we have an Oscars Day at the library (I assume on Saturday, March 6, the day before the broadcast), and that the staff all dress up in formal attire. That means evening gowns for the ladies and tuxedos -- NOT gold -- for the men. Jim and I, the two male librarians, both pointed out that we do not have tuxedos hanging in the closet. I don't know if I want to rent a tux to wear to work, but it could be entertaining. I had suggested as an alternative that we wear a costume connected to one of the movies being nominated, but I was assured that that would be too complicated.

When you consider that Saturday is even-more-casual-than-usual-clothing at the library, evening gowns and tuxes would be a big change. Jim sometimes wears a tie to work, but on the weekend he usually shows up in jeans with his shirttail out. The women often wear jeans any day of the week, and weekends tend toward sweatshirts or seasonally-appropriate sports team t-shirts.

I suspect this formal dress-up idea will fade into the night. Not into Oscar night -- just into the night.

BTW, if you, like me, have no idea which movies have been nominated for Best Picture this year, the list is below. I can proudly say that I have seen none of them, and I have only the vaguest idea what half of them are even about. Maybe a costume connected to them would be too complicated, although I suppose one could always just paint one's face blue.

Best motion picture of the year Oscars 2010 Nominees:
*“Avatar”
*“The Blind Side”
*“District 9″
*“An Education”
*“The Hurt Locker”
*“Inglourious Basterds”
*“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
*“A Serious Man”
*“Up”
*“Up in the Air”