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Sunday, August 11, 2019

Johnny Castle's hair was too long

When the Beatles arrived in the USA in January 1964, their hair lengths caused much controversy.

Hair that was outrageously long in early 1964
Their hair too long because it covered ....
* their foreheads

* some of the ears

* some of their collars.
Therefore, in early 1964, the Beatles' haircuts were perceived to be girlish.

The Enjoy Your Style website explains the gender rules of 1950s hairstyles as follows:
1950s hairstyles emphasized traditional gender roles. While women's hair was long, curled and high maintenance, men wore their hair in short, military-like cuts, or pomaded and combed back from the face. Men's hair was not supposed to touch the ears; this was even illegal in some parts of the U.S.

Film stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, and Marilyn Monroe all wore curly updos, while famous men like James Stewart, Cary Grant and President Dwight Eisenhower wore their hair in short, severe cuts. Younger men had a bit more latitude, but not much more; some emulated James Dean and Elvis in growing a pompadour or pompadour-like haircut. ...

Electrical shavers grew more popular among 1950s men. Many men, across the world, had seen military service in World War II, and liked the short, efficient military haircut. This led to the iconic "flat-top" hairstyle, which many young men wore, of a very short back with longer hair on the crown of the head.

Adventurous young men wore a pompadour or a quiff. The D.A. (duck's ass) haircut was popular among young men, though it was frowned upon by more traditional members of the community. ... it was very rare to see grown men with mop tops, or "bowl cuts," during the 1950s. Even young boys imitated their elders with short hair.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Patrick Swayze (born in 1952) wore haircuts that were common for that time:




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The social context of the concern about men's hair lengths was the common belief that homosexuality was mostly a willful, self-indulgent perversion. Adolescent boys have such strong sex drives that they can be seduced rather easily into this perversion by older homosexuals. Adolescent boys might be sexually aroused by mere hints of femininity in another male. Once a boy has been seduced into a homosexual activity, he might become addicted to the perversion.

Because of that concern, there was a strong tabu against males violating the hair rules, which did not have to be written in most circumstances.

The Beatles' violation of those rules was just playful, but it was noticed immediately by everyone, and it caused arguments in many families.

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The movie Dirty Dancing takes place in 1963, but it was filmed in 1986 (released in 1987).

When Swayze showed up for rehearsals in 1986, he wore his hair much too long for a movie that took place in 1963.

In 1986, Patrick Swayze's hair was as long as Jennifer Grey's hair
Filming began on September 5, 1986, and continued 43 days, until about October 17, 1986.

I think that Swayze's haircut at the beginning of the filming was the haircut in this shot:


Swayze's hair is rather long, but it is controlled by hairdressing so that it stays off the forehead, ears and collar.

As the filming continued through 43 days, however, Swayze apparently never cut his hair. At one point in the filming, his hair looked like this:

Men could not wear their hair like this in 1963 !!!!!
This hairstyle looked adorable to women in the movie theaters in 1987, but women in 1963 would have wondered whether Johnny was a secret sissy.

Max or Neil Kellerman would have reprimanded -- or even fired -- Johnny if they had seen him prancing around with this look.

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I speculate that Swayze kept growing his hair through the Dirty Dancing filming because he was preparing his long-shaggy-hair look for his following movie, Steel Dawn.

Swayze's hair in his following movie, Steel Dawn
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In this shot from Dirty Dancing, his hair is far too low over his forehead and ears. His hair could be that long, but then he had to control it with hairdressing, such as Brylcreem.

In 1963, Johnny would have dressed his hair
 in order to keep it off his forehead and ears


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Hairdressing would not, however, keep Johnny's hair off his collar. The only remedy there was a haircut.

Johnny's hair needs to be cut so it does not cover any of his collar
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1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for teaching me the wayze of the swayze.

    ReplyDelete