There’s a holiday that’s observed every April 17th and is known as There’s Nothing Like a Dame Day. This is a holiday that celebrates the talented women of the theater and movies. This holiday’s name is based on the song found in the 1949 musical South Pacific known as “There’s Nothing Like a Dame,” although the meaning of that song and the meaning of this holiday are quite different.

This song is sung by male sailors who are longing for the women in their lives. Of course, this holiday isn’t celebrated the same way in every country. In the U.S., it’s a celebration of theater women, but in the UK, it’s observed to celebrate pantomime dames — men dressed unconvincingly as women and played for comic laughs at Christmas. So, we’ll just let people celebrate this holiday as they see fit.

The History Of There’s Nothing Like A Dame Day

This holiday was created after Roger Michell made the film documentary “Nothing Like a Dame” in 2018. This documentary featured actresses Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and of course, Dame Judy Dench. This documentary revealed these women’s lives and how cinema and theater changed over the years. Not long after, There’s Nothing Like a Dame Day was created.

Observing There’s Nothing Like A Dame Day

As we said earlier, this holiday is likely observed in different places in different ways. Even so, we feel that it’s our duty to list some of the ways that it CAN be celebrated.

You can share your love of iconic actresses and what their movies have meant to you, you can watch the documentary by Roger Michell, and you can spread the word about this holiday using the hashtag #NothingLikeADameDay on social media.

Of course, there are likely other ways for people to observe this holiday, all they really have to do is to decide for themselves how they want to celebrate it.