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June 27, 2008
Hollywood Hair
So, I've been taking a look at portraits of Hollywood stars from the 50's, a time when the studio system was collapsing, and I noticed a few things.
The quality of studio portrait photography was dismal. The images are, for the most part, bland, with little creative inspiration. Everyone seems bored—the photographers and the stars. Hollywood once employed geniuses like George Hurrell and C.S. Bull, whose iconic photography helped mold the G-d-like images of Hollywood's golden age.
Gene Harlow by George Hurrell
Clark Gable by C.S. Bull
But as the studios were shrinking in power, they drastically cut back on their still departments. And because actors were no longer under long-term contract to the studios, the technocrat executives who replaced the original passionate moguls had no stake or ability to carefully shape and control the images of their most promising thespians.
Since then, Hollywood stars have been shrinking at an incredible speed, eventually collapsing into what we have now: not movie stars, but celebrities who fight for media space with reality TV personalities, serial murderers and scandal choked, drug addled rock stars.
I also noticed hair.
Something was happening to the hairstyles of Hollywood stars in the 50's. There was, in the cultural air, a reversal in the natural order of masculine and feminine. In the past, great Hollywood female stars were often defined by luxurious and cascading curls. But in the 50's a startling number of Hollywood women submitted to a radical and often sexless 'do.
The resulting images come uncomfortably close to evoking memories of post WW II photos of European women who were publicly humiliated and punished as German collaborators, their proud locks severely shorn, harshly clipped and plastered down into tight, impenetrable helmets.
But the men, like vain peacocks, display incredibly complex hair architecture—frequently built in layers like towering wedding cakes. The sensuality just drips from their rococo, thickly gelled cuts.
What was happening? Did the apocalyptic nature and mass slaughter of the Second World War turn fashion conscious Hollywood women into hard-to-define gamines? If so, a new generation of Hollywood men, with pillowy lips and come-hither eyes, stepped into the breach morphing into sexually charged male objects, yet seductively hinting at the inner female.
I'd love to get some input on this vital issue from my readers.
Here are a few samples:
Robert Wagner, '52
Shirley MacLaine, '55
James Dean, '55
Jean Seaberg, '57
Burt Lancaster, '57
Leslie Caron, '55
Tony Curtis, '52
Audrey Hepburn, '56
Elvis Presley, '56
Lilli Palmer, '56
Charlton Heston, '50
Claire Bloom, '52
And finally:
Yul Brenner, '57
Karen and I wish all our friends a lovely and restful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at June 27, 2008 08:51 AM
Comments
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Robert Wagner is your # 1 photo....
Posted by: Tamstert at June 27, 2008 10:20 AM
Tamstert:
The pics are in no particular hierarchy of stardom. I just went random on this post.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 27, 2008 11:20 AM
I was fortunate to see Yul Brynner live in The King and I. He was exceptional.
Posted by: DrCarol at June 27, 2008 11:59 AM
I had a crush on Yul Brenner as a kid. Is that wrong?
I love your selection of photos. I'm wondering, was it all about rebellion? Maybe it was rebellious for the guys to get fancy with the hairstyles and just as rebellious for the women to cut it all off? Did movies get more rebellious in the 50s?
Have a peaceful Sabbath.
Posted by: Alice at June 27, 2008 01:37 PM
Dr. Carol:
I never go to the theater and so my memories of great Yul Brenner performances are strictly celluloid.
Some of my favorites are:
The Ten Commandments (1956) Ramses.
The Sound and the Fury (1959) Jason Compson.
Solomon and Sheba (1959) Solomon.
The Magnificent Seven——the Hollywood remake of Seven Samurai——(1960) Chris Adams.
Taras Bulba (1962) Taras Bulba.
Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) Asher Gonen. Brenner was a vocal supporter of Zionism.
Westworld (1973) The Gunslinger.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 27, 2008 02:25 PM
Alice:
A crush on Yul Brenner seems to be quite healthy. He was solidly masculine, yet radiated a deeply sensitive nature.
Films of the 50's discovered youth culture, the teenage audience. The Wild One (1953) with Marlon Brando was a real ground breaker:
Mary (Kathie Bleeker): “What're you rebelling against, Johnny?”
Johnny (Brando): “Whaddya'got?”
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 27, 2008 02:34 PM
Yul Brynner is my favorite. I suppose if I didn't have such kinky hair I might feel otherwise, but I don't see a hairstyle among the men that I can emulate, other than Yul.
And that is the bald faced truth. ;)
Posted by: Jack at June 27, 2008 03:08 PM
great pics...I don't know the reason for it, but I love those hairdos on the men.
I think Tamstert might be asking if photo #1 is Robert Wagner...it really looks like him
Posted by: cruisin-mom at June 27, 2008 03:19 PM
Jack:
Smile, you can do a Jew-fro:-)
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 27, 2008 03:23 PM
Cruisin' Mom:
Oh right, thanks for the clarification and correction.
That's what I get for blogging quickly between screenplay pages.
Or maybe I just can't tell the difference between boring Robert Wagner and boring Jeffrey Hunter.
Whatever.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 27, 2008 03:26 PM
Robert,
Sadly those days are behind me, at least the days of the full JewFro. Now I fear I would look like a Art Garfunkel with far too much "forehead" to have a 'fro.
Posted by: Jack at June 27, 2008 04:24 PM
I agree with Alice. It's all about rebellion and going to extremes. What else is new with fashion and youth? The men show that they are "rebels without a cause" by growing their hair long, and the women shrug off the "drudges" of feminity by going for a boyish look.
Posted by: Karen Avrech at June 27, 2008 04:40 PM
Taras Bulba!! I LOVED that movie! I saw it on television and just adored Yul Brynner. He was as excellent in person as he was on the screen.
Posted by: DrCarol at June 27, 2008 05:19 PM
Something was happening to the hairstyles of Hollywood stars in the 50's. There was, in the cultural air, a reversal in the natural order of masculine and feminine. In the past, great Hollywood female stars were often defined by luxurious and cascading curls. But in the 50's a startling number of Hollywood women submitted to a radical and often sexless 'do.
That's something that's always bohered me about the 1950s. I can remember, as a child, coming to the very definite conclusion that the women's hairstyles of the 50s were were much less feminine and attractive than those of the 30s or 40s and men's hairstyles downright silly, but I don't think I'd ever given any serious thought as to why it should have been so until just now.
By the way, my (belated) congratulations on your wedding anniversary, Mr. Avrech.
Posted by: Hospitaller at June 27, 2008 08:58 PM
Hospitaller:
Fashion, in clothing or hair, does not just happen in a vacuum. Powerful cultural forces exert conscious and unconscious pressure on those who make fashion and those who accept or reject the trends.
Thanks so much for your kind wishes.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 28, 2008 09:22 PM
A vital issue or a Vidal issue?
Posted by: ralphie at June 30, 2008 03:21 PM
Ralphie:
LOL!
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 30, 2008 06:11 PM