Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Fun Finds: Shake Your Head, Darling

Oh, trust me. We did shake our heads! We may have even rolled our eyes a little. Knowing how much we adore anything campy and/or tacky in The Underworld, one of our regular readers saw fit to send me as a birthday present, this delicious self-help book "Shake Your Head, Darling" published in 1982 by celebrity hairstylist Jose Eber. (As Mr. Eber points out in the earliest part of the book, it's "Joe-zey" not "Hoe-say" because he is French.) The book has a 20-Question quiz whose answers determine if you are a Life-Style Red, Life-Style Green or Life-Style Blue. (Reds are super busy, Greens work for a living and Blues are lazy bums and/or trophy wives. LOL!) What follows are most of the photos contained in the book, generally a two-shot of Eber with his celebrity pal and then one of the celeb in a posed portrait. We were happy to see four members of our (self-imagined) Disaster Movie Club along with two honorary members (thanks to The Big Bus, 1976) and other assorted friends. Each two-shot has text written by the lady in question, often revealing and interesting. Let get shaking! First up, the Life-Style Reds:
Channing's questionnaire had personal remarks written across all but two of the answers! God only knows how he arrived at any determination of her Life-Style.
Not too much to shake, here. The third sentence of her text made me snort!
Ms. Fawcett was probably one of the celebrities most associated with Eber.
She's the only one who ranked a second portrait in the book. What about this look?! I don't believe one was used in this case, but this sort of style was (semi)achieved all over the nation with the aid of "banana clips" if you remember those... A lady at work still has one and uses it and I always tell her that The Smithsonian is still waiting for her to donate it to them!  LOL
Marshall's text is hilarious and unsurprising, considering how glamour-proof she's always seemed.
This might be the most glam picture ever taken of (the now ballcap-wearing) Marshall!
Wow. Whole lotta shakin' goin' on!
Ms. Ross starred in The Swarm (1978.)
Next we examine the Life-Style Green ladies. What fun to see Sandra Dee included!
Ms. Principal co-starred in Earthquake (1974) and is no stranger to celebrity self-help books!
Ms. Sinatra didn't write her own text like most of the other participants. I have never really understood what she did for a living! LOL There were a smattering of acting gigs and a producing job or two surrounding her father, but I can never zero in on why she's famous. The book says she "needs a hairdo that is easy to take care of, because she is so busy." ??
Too busy to smile?
Ms. Vaccaro starred in Airport '77 (1977.)
I love her expression in this photo!
Ms. Walters is the sole participant who did not take a photo WITH Eber (thus denying him another opportunity to eye-fuck the camera - Ha!) She didn't take the quiz or write any text either. Frankly, I think this photo looks a tad ridiculous.
Ms. Warren knew a thing or two about hairstyles, having once been the wife of famed snipper-turned-producer Jon Peters.
Now the Life-Style Blues, starting with exotic Barbara Carrera, who co-starred in When Time Ran Out (1980.)
Carrera was so elegant and mysterious, but I truly doubt that she ever shook her head (darling) at any point in this photo shoot!
Johnny Carson's third wife shook him down for about $20 million if you asked him! In one of those "you can't make this shit up" moments, Johnny married a Joan, then a Joanne, then a Joanna! His final, successful marriage was to an Alexis.
Another of Eber's clients who was closely associated with him and arguably THE most famous of the lot was Cher. But the biggest shock is that she was considered a "Life-Style Blue!" She was clearly busy as hell at all times if she needed a haircut at 1:00am.
Dallas' Linda Gray is one of those people who always seems to be greatly enjoying having her portrait taken. Her enthusiasm always shows through.
I love this photo of Gray! She did eventually cut her hair fairly short on the show, but grew it back out over time. Gray is the only famous actress I've ever seen completely naked in person! (LOL It was during her tour in the stage play "The Graduate.")
This is also a really neat portrait of Ms. McCoo of The Fifth Dimension (and, to my generation, the host of Solid Gold!)
I think this book just bounced off the camp-o-meter with the combination of Eber and Zadora!
I've actually seen Family Dollar cashiers who still sport this exact same hairstyle more than three decades hence!
Be sure to look at this back cover more closely as the photos are different from the ones inside (and thanks to the heavy 1980s makeup, far more garish looking in color!)