Colonial Era Actors Get No Relief From The Heat
By Michelle Durham
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - In these oppressive temperatures, all of us are wearing the lightest clothing in our closet! But the actors who portray Philadelphia's famous from the colonial era don't have that option.
Director of History makers for Historic Philadelphia Doug Thomas is in full costume portraying Major Samuel Nichols.
"I've been doing this for 18 years. You get used to it," he said. "These are all natural fibers."
Those natural fibers draw the sweat away from the body, but Thomas says our inability to cope with the heat has a history of it's own!
"You've heard the expression 'mad dogs and Englishman go out in the noon day sun.' People in other parts of the world walk in the shade and stop moving in the heat of the day. We don't for some reason," he said. "I've watched people walk down the street. They could walk in the shadow of a building or they could walk in the bright sunlight. They pay no attention and walk in the bright sunlight where it's several degrees warmer."
Thomas says he drinks lots of fluids and stays out direct sunlight as much as possible so he can muster up the energy for his performances.
