Holiday liked it so much that it became her signature, although it once proved to be quite dangerous. According to her biography, before a show at Carnegie Hall in 1948, she was sent a box of gardenias, some of which she secured to her head. What she didn't know is that among those fragrant white blossoms was a hat pin. It cut into the side of her head during the show and made her pass out at the end of her third curtain call.