Missing Any Hair?
Yesterday afternoon, I was perusing some books that I haven’t looked at in awhile, though I have lugged them with me from house to house. There are a few books that I just will never give up, as they are from a time when I was a sound designer for the theater and I have fond memories.
The following is from an instructional book on Theatrical Makeup. Richard Corson’s Stage Makeup has a line drawing reference that includes the hairstyles of ladies and men throughout the years to help the makeup crew finish off the look for historical plays and film. Do you notice anything amiss with this?
A few of you may have pointed a finger at the gentleman from 1962 with his faux handlebar mustache. That could have been considered something that was just plain wrong, though it was actually not an error. Just picture him with a natty tweed jacket and a pipe to transform him into everyone’s favorite college professor. He could also be a sitcom eccentric uncle.
While this illustration is not meant to be exhaustive of all the possible hairstyles that someone could have had throughout history, there is one glaring omission. It appears, according to this, that there was only one hairstyle for men during the entire 1940s! It was a slightly parted down the middle style full of pomade. I definitely recall the style from a variety of early 40s films. But wait…aren’t they leaving out one hugely iconic hairstyle?
During WWII, the short cuts of the enlistees was everywhere. Of course, on the stage of war, but back home, too. In fact, my grandfather has maintained this hairstyle since he was a private in the Army. There were a couple of dicey years in the 70s where it was about 1 1/2 longer and his sideburns were 7 millimeters longer, as that was the decade of letting it all grow out. Maybe it wasn’t the times, but because his grandchildren, like me, drove him crazy, and he was too busy to go to the barber.
Since the illustrations end with an entire page of styles from 1989, which is entertainment all its own, perhaps the author decided that the 40s were not a banner decade for hair. Perhaps, it was felt that it was just “more of the same” and the decade was just a holdover from the 1930s. I would like to think that it just didn’t have its heydey with reenactors until the 90s, as surely there was much more to talk about than what the chart lets on.
1940s, 1960s, hysterical and historical hair | Comment (0)1974: How to Turn Her On!
Step One: Take her out and treat her like a la-dy…
No, that’s the wrong year and that song is kind of stupid.
In 1974, Clairol knew that the way to “turn her on.” or more properly, connect her to a large supply of electricity that prevented her from going near water, or otherwise there would be an accident. You buy her a Clairol 3 Way Mist Hairsetter, an Air Brush, or a Crazy Curl! And remember those mirrors that made everyone look like they were sitting in front of a bug light and made everyone look orange? Yeah, that’s the way to a woman’s heart.
Take that, 1984 and your jelly bracelets or 2009 and your ipod! This Christmas, ladies know what they REALLY want.
Beatles “Come Together” with CGI Beards
I was just simply fascinated by the new Beatles Rock Band video game commercial. Clips of the Fab Four from the Let it Be sessions were spliced in seamlessly with new footage of modern day extras. Of course, in “Let it Be,” John and George were beardless. They used the magic of CGI to add beards so they matched the look of the Abbey Road time frame, in order to use the iconic street crossing scene in the same ad and making it seem like it was happening just a moment or two before. There were some folks on the internet that believed that an actor stood in to play John, but that is most definitely him. It may be because they are used to seeing that clip of him smiling from “Let it Be” and with the beard it doesn’t look quite right to them.
I would love to see a “makings of” video. If anyone has something to that order, please leave a comment so I can check it out.
There were a few commercials in the past that have used old footage. There was a commercial that I can’t seem to find that had Humphrey Bogart in a bar. This earlier Coors commercial features John Wayne. There is a big difference in the quality of the execution. Wayne doesn’t have as much contact with the other actors, and it is hard to tell with the poor video quality, but the quality of the film Wayne is on does not appear to be the same as the rest of the scene. (By the way, Wayne appears at about :34 seconds into the clip.)
entertainment, hysterical and historical hair, music | Comments (2)1974: New Hair!
1974: what a year!
Brylcreem ran an ad touting the virtues of the “NEW” short hair. They “explained the difference between the short hair that went away and the short hair that’s coming back.” Ads, I guess, were always more lenghty then, and they used their space to tell you how to order your barber around to get the “NEW HAIR.” The style was a hint at the Luke Skywalker ‘do (or non-’do that was to come. Do you think barbers were helpful that their customers knew what they wanted, or do you think ol Bob and Gus who were cutting the dude’s hair since they were five years old thought, “Don’t tell me how to do my job?”
At any rate, here is how to get it:
Ask your barber to scissor your hair – no clippers – to a length of about an inch on top and in back, graduating to about an inch and a half in front and on the sides.
Around the neck and ears hair should be left shaggy enough so that it will still meet your collar and the tops of your ears. Trim your sideburns slightly, to the middle of your ears. Now you have only two problems to cope with: fuzziness and dryness. In no time short hair can look like sunburned straw. It needs frequent conditioning.
Re-enter Brylcreen, the conditioning hair dressing.
Oh, so this is not REALLY a public service announcement. You can’t get the style if you don’t use Brylcreem! By the way, Virginia Slims may have said “You’ve come a long way, baby,” but Brylcreen says:
We’ve come a long way since “a little dab’ll do ya.”
Wait a sec. My first grade teacher said that about glue! We used to use so much that we would have to peel the rest off our hands like we were shedding snakes when we got home.
One may wonder what the difference between 1974 and the current “I am sort of starting to grow my hair out” looks? This was actual a specific style that one worked towards versus just “letting it happen.”
The part that I thought was particularly funny, is that the ad proclaims that this would be the style SURELY that would last for many years to come. SURELY the writer didn’t see Disco or hair bands, or even Robert Plant coming. Or they didn’t want to.
1970s, grooming products, hysterical and historical hair | Comments (3)HairCut Saves Woman From Bad Relationship
In the old days, maybe a guy would come bring a gal the head of a dragon to win her heart, but nowdays guys don’t go that far out of their way. It is just too much work. Boy, maybe things should go back to that because there are sure a bunch of guys who make themselves look like screwballs.
This is the story of how the wrong haircut saved the VintageGent-ette from a miserable relationship.
The VintageGent-ette went on a blind date once. Her friend met a guy in line at a store (in the south, they call that “standing online,” but they met face to face so I didn’t want to confuse you), and thought that they would be a cute couple. She went to the restaurant with her friend and waited at the bar, but the dude never showed. His family actually owned the place, and later he called V-Gette’s girlfriend to tell her he was embarrassed because he was pulled into working and couldn’t come out. Later on he told V -Gette’s pal that he thought VG was ugly.
Then, a week later he begged for a date! As strictly a favor to her friend, V-Gette showed up and so did the dude, but he didn’t tell her that he cut his collar length hair, and that he was wearing a jacket and tie (which V-Gette prefers cleancut guys anyways). She was looking for a guy with collar/shoulder length hair and a black button down shirt whom she was told to look for. Needless to say, they didn’t ever meet. The dude thought that she didn’t like what she saw and didn’t come over. V-Gette’s friend called later and verbally slapped him for throwing a curveball.
He begged for one more chance. I don’t know why. V-Gette said no, but one day they went to the same club/restaurant, the two gals, just to listen to some jazz. The dude showed up and bumped into V-Gette – literally – and then walked up to some drunk lady and started kissing her. His intent was to make V-Gette jealous for not accepting another blind date, and to somewhat think that V-Gette would want him to kiss her next.
V-Gette thought he was an idiot. And no, she wasn’t jealous. She was happy that a spontaneous haircut on the dude’s part saved her from a miserable meetup.
Anyway, a word to the wise. There were two crucially bad pick-up/dating mistakes here.
1) DO: Girlfriends talk. It is good to let the girl who set up the meeting know you are interested in getting to know her friend better. She is the gatekepper. DON’T: Tell the friend she is ugly. Women do not see that as a challenge to prove you wrong. They will not explain to you that you couldn’t possibly know from the other side of the restaurant. They will not appreciate your ability to “tell it like it is.” They will just think you are a jerk.
2) DO: Let the lady see you acting gracious to others. A man that is willing to open a door for a lady entering a room at the same time, even though he does not know her, is being a gentleman. It shows her you are not just being nice to her artificially. DON’T: Kiss another lady. Do not play tonsil hockey. It is just as bad as telling a woman you are married in hopes it would prove to her you are capable of making a commitment. Ladies assume you are physically able to kiss someone, and don’t need you to prove it when they are deciding to give a man the “green light” to meet them. It proves you have no manners and no self control.
Where are the manners?
A better approach would have been just to come up to V-Gette and lay some cheesey pickup line. If its obscene, he would have gotten nowhere, but if it was clever, maybe he would have gotten a laugh and at least broken the ice.
My all time favorite “Bad Pickup Line:”
Hi, I’m Ken, You Must be Barbie!
(Of course this can be reversed for the ladies).
V05′s Ultimate Flirting Championship is On (brought to you by Extreme Style by VO5!) If healthy, bouncy Victory Hair is the key to attracting a mate, a line like that will certainly offset it. It may be dumb, but at least you won’t be hit with anything for saying it. Well, some people say Victory Hair is actually messed up hair because the guy wins the heart of the girl, they kiss, and someone’s hair gets pretty messed up in the process. Or someone’s fingers get stuck! Just like in some college movie where people get locked in the closet together. Aww…misguided youth!
Test your flirting skills now and join the challenge! If you are really serious, don’t go for a radical haircut right before a date, like that dude did. V-Gette could have had the satisfaction of straightening him out!
hysterical and historical hair, Uncategorized | Comment (0)
