Thursday, October 29, 2015

Look, I'm Only Teasing!

Well, yes, I'm teasing, but I'm also curling, piling and shellacking! It's a hair-brained post devoted to some of my favorite big-tressed looks of the 1960s, '70s and beyond. We've followed this strand before here and here, in case you wish to revisit some of the other amazing looks that have been put forth over the years. Our cover girl today is Priscilla Presley, sporting a teased, towering 'do that apparently can withstand the force of a jet engine! She and then-hubby Elvis are looking terrific here in everything from clothing to makeup.
  
Elvis costarred with Miss Nancy Sinatra in Speedway (1968) and the occasion called for her frosted locks to be forged into a fun, back-hoed, up 'do.
An even more serious pileup occurred with Austrian actress Susan Denberg, whose brief career included Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), shown here.
 Yvette Mimieux is looking rather stacked here.
German actress Elke Sommer could usually be counted upon for a pretty big 'do.
  Sommer's 1966 campfest The Oscar was made at a time when tall hair was at or near its pinnacle.
 Natalie Wood chatters on the phone at home wearing soup can-size curls.
We adore Elizabeth Taylor's elaborate hair confection here.
 Ursula Andress is all curled up in 1979's The Fifth Musketeer.
Probably our all-time favorite movie hair belongs to Ava Gardner in Mayerling (1968), thanks in no small part to the fact that she's the one wearing it!
The outrageously voluminous hair might seem a bit much to take in but, truth be told, her character in real life, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, was known and admired for her considerable locks.
Check out this doozy, sported by Shirley Jones, who is congratulating her then-husband Jack Cassidy on his role in the Broadway production, "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman" (Actually, it was a flop, though several attempts with varying degrees of success have been made in an effort to revise and revitalize the property.)
The world of gospel music was often a fertile breeding ground for big hair. Listen and you might hear the aerosol cans buzzing as The Harmonettes get ready.
And brace yourself for this combo, Mama with a washboard of curls heading heavenward while the daughter learns how to balance a cornucopia of curls atop her own wee head!
Hee Haw (1969-1997) has also provided some teasy looks over the years. Here we find Junior Samples sandwiched between Dianne Scott and Gunilla Hutton.
Frequent guest star Lynn Anderson is positively impenetrable here!
Another familiar guest on the show, Jeannie C. Riley has a serious mane going.
But series regular Lisa Todd seems to have really won in the Hee Haw hair-off!  Wowza!
Now let's look at a few movies, starting with 1964's Youngblood Hawke, which seemingly had one hell of a hairspray budget. Suzanne Pleshette has her raven locks curled, teased and set.
The story, set amid the publishing world, has her attending this function and that, always decked out.
Sometimes, a large piece is added to the top for added drama!
She's shown here with the film's star James Franciscus and another hair hopper, Eva Gabor. In a typically ridiculous example of anachronism from this era, the story takes place in the 1940s, yet not one woman looks like anything other than 1964...
Eva piles her hair even higher than Miss Pleshette in her handful of glitzy scenes.
This film gives us a pretty good look at what Eva looked like before she dove into the false eyelash drawer that would be her stock in trade through Green Acres (1965-1971), which was right on the heels of this.
Also costarring in the movie is French actress Genevieve Page.
   Miss Page gets dolled up with a diamond-encrusted 'do during one of her key scenes in the film.
Movies are always more entertaining to me when they include styling of this nature!
In 1968, Jane Fonda appeared in one segment of the Poe anthology film Spirits of the Dead. She played a spoiled, selfish Contessa who sets her romantic sites on a cousin of hers (who, amazingly enough, was played by her own real life brother Peter! You can probably thank her kinky husband at the time and the director of this, Roger Vadim, for that.)
The hair designer went all out here, particularly in this archery sequence! (Apologies for the graininess of this one...)
She also had a big teased 'do in this scene with a young admirer/plaything.
In 1969's Age of Consent, which stars James Mason and Helen Mirren, Mason is courted by a lonely widow played by Andonia Katsaros.
Katsaros possesses one vivid head of vibrant red curls.
A few days ago, I got a serious treat. After waiting for thirty years (yes!), I FINALLY got to see the 1971 Joan Collins movie Quest for Love, which had eluded me all of that time. Some treasured soul has put the alternate reality romance on youtube and one of my faithful readers and friends turned me on to it. Collins, who has long been one of our idols, is dressed and coiffed beautifully. 
Not only does she look dazzling over and over (and not just in the glamorous moments, but in other more subdued ones), but the little-known gem of a film contains what I and more than a few others consider to be the best acting she ever did on screen. She's absolutely marvelous, filled with emotion and nuance, throughout.
If you have any affection for Miss C. and her work at all, seek this hour and a half movie out on youtube and give yourself a Halloween treat.  
Another loyal reader, knowing how much I worship and adore this stuff, sent me a scan of this book cover! See, you too can determine how best to apply and arrange your favorite falls and wiglets! The cover girl on this tome is none other than Susan Blakely of The Towering Inferno (1974.)
 Also came this one, featuring supermodel-turned-actress Lauren Hutton.
Inside, Hutton goes brunette in the lower left corner for a wiglet demo.
We'll wrap this up today with shots from one of the campiest miniseries ever to come out of that genre's hey day, The Last Days of Pompeii (1984.)  Lesley-Anne Down starred as a whore with a heart of gold (and hair for days.)
Here we see her plying her trade before some gentlemen (although they appear pretty snug on their little chaise!)
Down has a huge heap of hair, but her styles are nothing compared to high priestess Olivia Hussey who must have needed a brace in-between takes on this project! (Poor Linda Purl, as a blind slave, has to make do with that simple side-roll look.)
Hussey has the good fortune to be adored by the humpy Nicholas Clay. But, seriously, look at her hair!
In another scene, her up-do lives up to its name in spades! She's lucky her hood will cover as much of it as it does.
Hussey and her brother Benedict Taylor are under the heavy influence of evil priest Franco Nero (who in this miniseries is shorn close to the scalp.)
  Lovers of big, elaborate hairstyles cannot afford to miss this the next time it heads their way!

7 comments:

Scooter said...

Seems like many of today's entries have visited that most famous of hair salons...the Curl-up and Dye.

Unknown said...

OMG, Poseidon, my neck hurts just looking at these hair did (don'ts?). As a young girl in the 60s, these styles epitomized glamor for me. I, of the super straight, lank hair. I can remember watching the Miss America contest and rooting for the contestant with the biggest hair. My sister idolized Julie Andrews and wanted her Sound of Music pixie cut. Not for me! I idolized Dean Martin's Goldigger dancers! The higher the hair and the shorter the skirt. Guess that's why I never became the nun my mother prayed for. Perhaps if there were an order with sequined habits...

All in all I think Joan Collins and Suzanne Pleshette pull the look off pretty well. They don't look quite as anachronistic as the others. (Of course, neither can do no wrong in my book!)

Thank you also for the picture of the pre-Green Acres Eva Gabor. Without the fake eyelashes and the heavy makeup, there was actually quite a sweet face. While I loved her as Lisa Douglas (remember how she washed dishes? She's just throw them out the window and buy new ones!)it's nice to see her in a serious movie with a more realistic look (OK, except for the hair).

I so enjoyed when the 70s came along and straight, parted-in-the-middle hair came into vogue. At last I didn't feel follicaly challenged. Susan Dey, Peggy Lipton and Marcia Brady were my flowing tressed idols.

But don't fear, once the 80s came along, I finally got to indulge my high hair fantasy with the help of perms and the two cans of hairspray I carried with me at all times!

I look forward to each post from you, Poseidon. You make my day! Now I think I'm going to fire up my curling iron and hot rollers and break out a can of Aquanet!


IwannabeClaire said...

Oooo! I just ADORE 60's movies with scads of updo's! The 1968 version of Mayerling has to be one of the best, you're right, but Ava wasn't the sole recipient of fab hair in the film; all of the ladies depicted wore some pretty sensational do's, including Catherine Deneuve, who's always had such gorgeous hair. Other "hair" films of note of hers are "Umbrellas of Cherbourg", "Belle de Jour", "The Last Metro" (love those 40's Victory Rolls!), and "The Hunger". Lot's of other great "hair" films or memorable movie updo's: gorgeous Gibson Girls on Bridget Fonda in "The Road to Wellville", Jane Seymour in "Somewhere In Time" (and her lovely do's in "Live And Let Die"), along with Jessica Lundy's truly gorgeous Gibson in an absolutely dreadful move, "The Stupids" (http://www.nabet700.com/portfolios/photos/2010/04/13/pic3_407.jpg).

Romy Schneider depicted Empress Sissi in a trio of films back in the 1950's, and her hair looked wonderful, but I think it took Ava Gardner to elevate that to amazing!

I love looking at old Western's from the 1960's as well as saloon girls are often seen sporting big, 1960's bouffant updo's. An anachronism for the 1890's but I don't care; I just love seeing them!

Who can forget Faye Dunaway's amazing updo in the chess scene from "The Thomas Crown Affair"?

Nancy Sinatra wore a lovely date night 'do in "Way, Way Out!" with Jerry Lewis as the first married couple on the Moon.

But my all time favourite "hair" movie has to be Shirley Maclaine's "What A Way To Go!" where she became the increasingly wealthy, accidental widow to a string of then prominent Hollywood leading men (Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Gene Kelly). The various gowns and hairstyles (wigs mostly) created for her are simply stunning!

https://alexdonald.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc05441.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RGGZmgINQA

Hugs & Fab Hair!

Claire

Gingerguy said...

Poseidon this was hair heaven to me. I would rename the "Harmonettes" the "Aqua Nets". I love Suzanne Pleshette in all of her 60's movies, and her hair was always amazing. My theory (not that I have spent years thinking about it or anything)is that with dark hair you noticed the outside shape more, so Liz and Edie Gorme (another big hair winner) really looked striking with updos. I recently got an old wig book on e-bay and it broke down the styles that Elke Sommer wore, basically her own hair was in a French twist with a wiglet pinned on top of that. You could just go higher and higher. I will definitely watch "Youngblood Hawke" and "Quest For Love". And finally there was something a little rougher about Lynn Anderson's do's on Lawrence Welk than the other singers, she brought the country with her, in an aerosol can.

Unknown said...

I am also somewhat obsessed with wigs and big hair. I went through it as a kid in the 60s and remember thinking there was nothing odd about Barbra's big hair in Funny Girl. I don't think I was old enough to understand that it was arguably supposed to be a story of someone's life in the past.

I loved What A Way To Go as well, and the Lush Budgett sequence is possibly my favorite 5 minutes of film ever.

I still to this day am not very good at being able to tell whether (current) stars are wearing wigs or using their own hair. I now realize that most stage shows of any budget at all have all the stars wearing wigs unless it's some depressing "realistic" kitchen sink drama. But I'm not sure about real life other than I'm pretty sure Beyonce's hair is totally fake.

Anyway, I think the Olivia Hussey dos are absolutely amazing even if they don't have all that much to do with "hair." It's more like an architectural hat on your head that just happens to be made out of fake hair. Right?

http://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/ said...

I just watched "The Only Game in Town" with Liz Taylor and Warren Beatty on YouTube the other night. Alexandre of Paris designed some wigs for Liz that were literally way out...and way UP!

Poseidon3 said...

Hello, everyone! I'm glad to see that a lot of you got swept up with this one! Ha!

Roberta, I agree about both the Golddiggers and about the ability to see Eva with the less overwhelming makeup (not that I disliked it on her.) And, of course, Joan Collins is a legend as far as I'm concerned. I was a hair abuser in the '80s and '90s and would burn through a small can of Aqua Net every week or two! Scary... It's a wonder I can breathe now.

IwannabeClaire, I am totally in tune with your hair affections. Hopefully, you clicked on the links in the first part of the post that take you to previous posts on this topic! One of them has my own personal favorite, Nancy Ames, in a spine-cracking up-'do! And I do adore "What a Way to Go!" The clothes and hair are so eye-popping.

Gingerguy, that's an interesting point about the hair colors. So often, especially with dark hair, it's all about the lighting if you want to see the intricacies of the curls and swoops, etc... I think I probably first became fascinated with these sorts of looks when attempting to figure out just how Baroness Schraeder achieved her look in SOM. But then early-'70s TV featured a lot of tall hairdos, too, often on background extras who hadn't yet let go of their '60s beehives. I'm always in favor of vertical hair. LOL

Dave, I have watched that "Lush Budgett" thing so many times, too. So funny that, like Lana or Susan, there is a costume change around every corner! Also in WAWTG, I love when Shirley and Paul Newman are shown in progressively smaller bathtubs. One of the big things about wigs is that they save performers time, instead of sitting for hours in the makeup room, as well as daily wear and tear on the hair. And then there is the consistency of a wig versus trying to match the desired look over and over. Today's wigs are wildly convincing and it makes one wonder when or if we ever see anyone's real hair! (Travolta excluded! LOL)

Rico, I agree with you about Liz' hair, but for some reason that movie annoys me. I can't decide if it's because I absolutely do not buy her as a Las Vegas showgirl or if knowing the whole thing was filmed in Paris rather than Vegas. I also recall disliking quite a few of her costumes in it.

Thanks all!!