Woody Allen Redux: Having Someone Else Hold an Umbrella over You

Continuing on the random Woody Allen search brings us to an interesting issue about umbrellas: having someone else protect you with an umbrella. In this instance Woody Allen is just one of 16 celebrities captured in umbrella-assisted mode. While some folks consider this aspect of celebrity as absurd--see PerezHilton giving it to Hugh Jackman ("diva") when similarly captured--it is worth exploring broader issues about this practice.

Taking an inital stab at this, in random fashion, first it is good to know that under the laws of family purity, a husband CAN "hold an open umbrella over her to protect her from the rain." What about if you aren't married? One blogger of the dating ritual writes about "the umbrella problem": "I consider sharing my umbrella as an act of proximity. Only people who are close to me can come under it with me."

Then there are the etiquette issues: Melissa Kirsch's The Bumbershoot Manifesto says that, among other things: "It is good manners to shelter unfortunate fellow pedestrian" and that "Taller people must raise their umbrellas over those of shorter people."

More to mine!