Melinda Dillon's perm in "A Christmas Story"

Her looks are kind of sketchy to begin with. Like Cathryn Damon's.

Both need to take special care. Something you'd think Dillon would know.

The original Honey.....

She crimped her hair and went down the Stoney End.

very distracting hairs

Hello gorgeous

She's good in MAGNOLIA. (And apparently had a better hairdresser.)

Amy Irving headed down this dangerous path, as well . . . but she has the face for it.

I didn't think Melinda Dillon looked like she had a perm in "A Christmas Story." The mother in that movie would not have had the time or the money to go to a beauty parlor to get a perm (and would a beauty parlor perm look like THAT?). I don't think it was a home perm, either. When would she have had time to do it, and besides, she seemed to have no vanity, so her giving herself a perm seems a far-fetched notion. I always got the impression that the poor mother in "A Christmas Story" just had naturally unruly, frizzy hair and just let it go at that.

Still though, I love that movie.

She could have at least put that anachronistic, unruly perm up in a banana clip.

^^ Not always

Kate Capshaw, obviously influenced by the career of Melinda Dillon. And her hair.

Why is this piece of shit movie so beloved?

^^ I'm indifferent to it, too.

It’s better than Elf.

Probably the same reason people liked Norman Rockwell paintings, nostalgia for the past.

1982 was a rough year for hair. So many shake-and-go perms. Melinda was only one of many and is not to be blamed. The director of this movie however, should be. There was not a single woman alive in 1940 who had that hairstyle and they made absolutely zero effort to add any period touches to it.

Plus she and McGavin were both 15 years too old for the part. Actually, McGavin was 25 years too old for the part. Good actors, bad casting.

Melinda Dillon had that perm to fend off the advances of that pocked marked decades older fiend, Darren McGavin, who somehow was hired to play her husband. Ewwwwwwwww.

I read that her and Sylvester Stallone had a very hot affair when they made some movie together.

At least it’s not that tired af, treacly It’s A Wonderful Life. I absolutely hate that film.

r18 Sure it was unconventional casting and she had unconventional hair for the 40's but surely there were women in the 40's who had naturally curly frizzy hair, this is not outside the realm of reality. Sure, was it 80's hair and they decided not to fix it, yea that and the dads age don't ruin the movie, those two actors made the movie work for what it was.

It’s a Wonderful Life is Citizen Kane compared to A Christmas Story.

She used my stylist.

"Plus she and McGavin were both 15 years too old for the part. Actually, McGavin was 25 years too old for the part. Good actors, bad casting."

Oh, come off it. Dillon and McGavin were perfect, wonderful actors, both of them. They were obviously playing a couple who had children late in life. It was just another humorous aspect of the movie.

[quote]r18 1982 was a rough year for hair.

Oh boy, here we go . . .

The teacher looked much more in keeping with the time period.

Though SS was married to AI at that time, he was still seeing MD. (MD was in CEOTTK.)

Therefore, SS/AI inspired MD's "ACS" hairstyle.

r27 Oh sure very 40's but they still needed to appeal to an 80's audience and that hair is booorrrinngg.

For some reason the contemporaneity of hairdos is invisible to directors making period films.

R25 = J. Howard Marshall, Anna Nichole Smith's husband

Is this Melinda Dillon in A CHRISTMAS STORY?

Apparently the director spent his youth watching Happy Days and just slid the 50s era appropriate hairstyle back 10 years...….

[quote]1982 was a rough year for hair

No kidding. Both “The Pirate Movie” and “Joannie Loves Chachi” premiered that very year, much to the horror of anachrophobes.

Then there are the groovy hairstyles of the late -

1930s???

State your ages, r14 , r15 .

R34 Maybe Woody Allen was a Happy Days fan too.

Stacey Nelkin

R37, we both already know the answer to your question, they probably just sprouted pubes last year.

The reason this movie is/was so beloved by many is because it actually did *not* sugar-coat childhood. Ralphie was a little shit who lies to his mom constantly, bullied his baby brother, was capable of extreme violence, and dropped the F-bomb in front of his old man. His father was an archetype of MANY of our WW2 grandparents. That’s really what they were like — tough, simple, salt of the earth, working class, and unworldly. And many of the moms really were like her in that era, at least the good ones. They weren’t too harsh, didn’t helicopter, and had zero problem disciplining their kids. They never second-guessed their mothering, they didn’t waste time worrying about how they affected their child’s self-esteem (which obviously only works when one isn’t an abuser). Also true that the cool moms would hide trouble from dads (this was true of 70’s/80’s moms too when I grew up).

So while the movie may seem dumb to the generation with no social skills or human interaction, it really is emblematic of what life “felt” like. It captured a tiny little sliver of part of an era of Americana — warts and all. And again, though my grandparents were of WW2, I still was exposed to that generation through them, so the movie rings very very true.

Sooooooo much more interesting that most movies made now, it is so rare that characters feel authentic or make you feel like they’ve captured *any* particular era. Maybe I’m just too distracted by the plastic faces of all actors now. I can’t help it, I like things to feel real, natural, nuanced. This movie does that for me.

In the eighties everything was overdone and overblown, including hair. I see pictures of female celebrities from that era and their hairstyles are bigger than their heads.

R39 “extreme violence”? Raphie was’t exactly an ISIS recruit plotting jihad, dear. He was an ordinary, normal kid of his period who was an ordinary, predictable shit. He had a crush on his teacher, his little brother annoyed him. He was bulllied. For anybody who grew up post world war II until all y’all started running around with huggy bear be-safe therapists to ensure you never experienced hurt feelings, this was considered normal.

There’s nothing “extreme” about Ralphie. It’s funny as fuck that you’d think there is.

hate that movie and it's on every fucking channel right now. Bob Clark's BLACK CHRISTMAS is so much better if only for the Margot Kidder character

^^ Ditto that, but CHRISTMAS EVIL is my fave:

Darren McGavin was one of the highlights of this film for me. I can't believe all the hate posted above LOL. He was such a wonderful character actor - I can never get enough of him. While I will never place it as a favorite Christmas film, it is entertaining. Melinda did a great job in her role as well. It's a cute movie.

*Obviously* r41, the “extreme” violence was said tongue-in-cheek as I was countering the fucking ridiculous Norman Rockwell-esque comment made earlier. Rockwell wouldn’t have shown Ralphoe kicking the shit and snot out of his bully, dear. That was a little too real for Norm.

I wholeheartedly agree with your description of Ralphie, of course he finally stood up to an awful bully who had it coming. But having said that, I wasn’t speaking those who *get* this movie such as yourself — I was speaking to (younger) posters who don’t understand it. Comprende?

While it may have been a perm on Dillon, plenty of people have natural hair like that, so just assume Mrs. Parker's hair was frizzy.

As for McGavin, he was in his 50s when this filmed. So either he was a late in life dad, or people just looked old for their age in those days. (For instance, would you believe Carroll O'Connor was in his 40s when they started "All in the Family"?)

A lot to love about this movie. I can't say firsthand that it's an accurate depiction of that era, but my parents feel it was.

I slightly disagree with you, R45. Rockwell’s various illustrations of fighting boys, the schoolmaster beating Tom Sawyer, and the girl with the black eye sitting in the school hallway actually match “A Christmas Story’s” level of realism pretty well, I think.

Also the leg lamp, tongue frozen to pole, bunny suit, and BB gun are pure Rockwell in tone, but that’s part of the film’s charm. I find his work deeper than others give him credit for, even slightly unnerving because he blurs the line between romanticizing and criticizing American culture. There’s always something dark lurking under his veneer of cheerfulness.

It was absurd. I chose to believe that she had naturally curly, frizzy hair and just did nothing to style it.

[quote]r20 I read that her and Sylvester Stallone had a very hot affair when they made some movie together.

F.I.S.T. (1978)

[quote]Sure it was unconventional casting and she had unconventional hair for the 40's but surely there were women in the 40's who had naturally curly frizzy hair, this is not outside the realm of reality.

No. Women did not wear their hair that way in the 1940s. It would have been unthinkable to leave the house looking that way..

Certainly women had naturally curly frizzy hair but it was permed and shaped.

If it were kept natural it still would have been styled with a side part or pulled back or cut short.

it wasn't that good of a movie. it was glorified like the grinch which is beyond me.

In reality, in 1940s it's likely her everyday hair would have been pulled back with either barrettes or bobby pins. If she was going out, she might set it with rollers before pulling it back, or use a larger hair clip to do a low bun off the nape of the neck.

Unkempt hair had been popular in the 1920s with flappers but would have been way out of style by 1940.

Later in the decade, she might have tried something like this, but again it would require setting and possibly pinning.

I recall mom saying women often did their hair once, then wore hair scarfs while doing housework for the rest of the week to preserve the style, never washing it until the next time they styled. Yikes.

Even though McGavin and Dillon look like Ralphie and Randy’s grandparents, I can’t think of two actors who would have been better for the parts.

bad hair and makeup in film irritates me, it's not that hard to get it right, the floppy 80s perm is inappropriate for the era

hombre, starring paul newman is a great film with terrible hair and makeup, the women have 1960s hair in the film, distracting.

In my view, there are a few reasons this is an essential film for elders of the Gen X generation. You see, the very statiin that is playing it right now TBS, was the first "super station" and they played shows that were from the 60's like Leave It To Beaver, and other shows that depicted a perfect family situation that was completely resolved in 30 minutes. Yes, in the 70s and 80s the Norman Lear comedies were out and alike, but our Baby Boomer parents who were strangely neglectful on one hand, but were freaky about television. (I am not saying this was true for everyone.)

Then came a movie that was marketed to familes, A Christmas Story. We watched it. Guess what? They were nuts, and so were we. There was no Beaver, no Wally... things were not just resolved in 30 minutes. They were heavily flawed. Ralphie said bad things, was selfish, and lied.

It was relatable and we got it. We still do.

Side note- I was raised in Atlanta, TBS was a local station to us, until it was made nationwide. Sorry, I worked in broadcasting. My nerdiness is hanging right out.

R56, again *station, not statiin

On the subject of the hair- women DID have hair like hers (my grandmother did)... but would have pinned it in public.

"So A Christmas Story—despite Shepherd’s disclaimers—has become our cozy, sentimental holiday movie. “I’ve thought about this a lot,” says Billingsley. “I don’t know if it was the first, but it certainly was one of the best embodiments of a real family. There’s tension, there’s some fear of the father, there’s anxiety in the household, there’s very much a sibling battle, there’s a mother trying to hold things together and hold her place, there’s probably financial trouble, the father’s do-it-yourself aspect of the household: nothing is sourced out—he’s going to handle it! Yet through all that, there’s a genuine sense of love and protection within the house, and yet the words ‘I love you’ are never uttered in the movie. Still [one of the last shots] is just that simple gesture touching the mother for the first time in the movie. And in that moment it says all you need to know about that relationship . . . it tells you how that guy loves her, he’s there for her, and that’s it.”"

R39, how odd it would have been for me to have only sprouted pubes last year, at the age of 54. No.

Your prediction of my age is a very accurate indicator of your taste in movies as well. A Christmas Story is moronic, not funny, not entertaining. Some people are apparently very easily entertained by HURR HURR HURR humor. It explains the continuing popularity of network tv, I guess, and Trump’s election. I’d expect some taste and discernment on a gay forum. Alas — I can only hope the lovers of this armadillo feces of a film are our straight neo-fascist trolls branching out into film review.

A few points:

When the movie "A Christmas Story" was released in theaters, it really wasn't a hit. It didn't become a cult classic until it started broadcasting on tv.

The movie was based on the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd who was one of the most brilliant storytellers that America ever produced. His radio show was classic. "A Christmas Story" is made up from several short stories in the book and I actually think they did a pretty good job cobbling together the stories into a coherent film. And I love that on all of Jean Shepherd's books, his author's picture has him wearing a disguise, a big huge fake beard.

The book and the movie were very special to me. I grew up in the Brady Bunch era and they were so perfect. So to see a "normal" kid was refreshing. I really identified with Ralphie. The house only having one bathroom and someone always pounding on the door was very real in my house. Being super-excited about getting a toy was very real. Relatives sending stupid presents was real (no as exaggerated as a bunny suit, but I think there must have been a catalog for aunts and uncles about stupid gifts. One time my brother and I got three nail clipper sets each in the same year.) Your mother fixing gag-inducing dinners was real. The entire movie is really like the story of my life growing up in the 1970s.

And I think that the mother was just so busy and exhausted with the raising two boys and it being the Christmas season that she just didn't have time to mess with her hair. The narrator makes the statement, "My mother hadn't had a hot meal in --- years." In that time period, the mother had a lot more housework to do because she didn't have the modern conveniences of today, and so a lot of women just did their best with their appearances. I remember in the 1970s, my mother and several mothers would wear headscarves just because it was easier than fixing their hair. So if they were going grocery shopping, they would throw on a headscarf.

But A Christmas Story really is "my" movie because I really identified with Ralphie's life.

Jean appears in the film. He is the one that tells Ralphie that the line ends here and "starts back there" when they are seeing Santa.

The movie also gave a comical view into how the Baby Boomers (parents of the Gen X fans) were raised. If you get the appeal, that is great. If you don't, it ok, too.

Actually, A Christmas Story opened at the #3 spot its first weekend and moved to #1 the next. The theater where I worked showed it and it was our hit of the season. The problem was it had already booked the presumed big Christmas films and had no room to keep it.

Well, any look into how parents were raised was good. They sure didn't talk to us, more at us.

R39 and others, did you not know that A Christmas Story is satire???

Oh cool, R62. That was the weekend of my 9th birthday.

Hollywood has always been lazy about period appropriate hair. Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis, June Allyson in everything....

[quote]hate that movie and it's on every fucking channel right now.

It's on exactly TWO channels -- TBS and TNT -- on a nonstop loop.

My 'do was more period-appropriate when I essayed the role.

[quote]My mother hadn't had a hot meal in --- years

Fifteen.

I know more about this movie than anyone should.

Again, there's a lot to love about the movie. There are laughs, there are charms, there is the nostalgia. I think a lot of it is the way it makes us feel, makes us long for times passed. I'm not going any deeper than that.

If some of you don't like it, that's fine too. It doesn't change my experience one bit. And if R14/R59 wants to take the love and popularity of the film and expound on -of all fucking things - Trump's election, then have at it. You do you. I doubt very much there's a direct kind to be drawn between the two, but in that narrow universe where it's possible, I'm not even going to allow that ruin my enjoyment of the movie.

As for her hair... do we all wear the same style clothes or hairdos? Even if it wasn't the fashion of the times, it doesn't mean no one had that style. And she doesn't strike me as a character who had the time or money to be getting her hair done prior to cooking Christmas dinner.

R59, nobody likes people like you. Whether you're just trying to troll or that's how you really feel, going off on such an over-the-top rant with personal attacks and bringing in everything you dislike about everything, whether it's related to this movie or not, is incredibly unappealing.

[quote]As for her hair... do we all wear the same style clothes or hairdos? Even if it wasn't the fashion of the times, it doesn't mean no one had that style.

You truly don't understand the era.

[quote]r53 I recall mom saying women often did their hair once, then wore hair scarfs while doing housework for the rest of the week to preserve the style, never washing it until the next time they styled. Yikes.

Kind of off topic and not really the same, but there's this female historian who writes a lot about the Victorian era, and has followed a lot of their practices at times to try them out.

While she was wearing corsets for a year and farming, etc., she also simply brushed her long hair 100 strokes a night, and didn't wash it. Amazingly, it wasn't a problem at all. She said her hair did not become oily or even small bad. She was shocked.

So Yes, it is nice to wash and condition your hair, and that is how certain styles are achieved. But somehow, simply redistributing the natural oils regularly down the hair shaft (and removing dirt with thorough brushing) works alright, too.

[quote]A “revelatory” (Wall Street Journal) romp through the intimate details of Victorian life, by an historian who has cheerfully endured them all. Lauded by critics, HOW TO BE A VICTORIAN is an enchanting manual for the insatiably curious, the “the cheapest time-travel machine you’ll find” (NPR). Readers have fallen in love with Ruth Goodman, an historian who believes in getting her hands dirty. Drawing on her own firsthand adventures living in re-created Victorian conditions, Goodman serves as our bustling guide to nineteenth-century life. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work “imagines the Victorians as intrepid survivors” (New Republic) of the most perennially fascinating era of British history. From lacing into a corset after a round of calisthenics to slipping opium to the little ones, Goodman’s account of Victorian life “makes you feel as if you could pass as a native”

The movie was relatable to most of the country, which grew sick of every Christmas movie being located in New York. It deals with real people, which is the audience.

"Even though McGavin and Dillon look like Ralphie and Randy’s grandparents, I can’t think of two actors who would have been better for the parts."

Fuck off and die!!!!!!!

R45 Thank you for clarifying it. The pansification and pussification of America while blaming it on previous generations is nothing but a gigantic glass lantern generation.

Seriously, go put on a skirt. On wait. You already have.

I remember when I thought this was one of the funniest/best Christmas movies.

I watched it the other day and it seems to have lost some of its magic.

Women in the 1940s looked like Olivia in this video from The Midnight Special promoting XANADU in 1980:

[quote]She's good in MAGNOLIA. (And apparently had a better hairdresser.)

She also had a better hairdresser for her role in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind":

Well, she never had a worse hairdresser than in OP's photo.

Cute cut with swept bangs in Harry & the Henderson.

Looks like I really rattled your cage, frumpy Frau at r70!

r82 ,,, That's the first time I've rver heard Olivia Newton John sound bad. Whatever that key is, it doesn't suit her.

She had weird banana-shaped titties.

Years ago I saw the infamous Giuseppe Franco at his Beverly Hills salon. I had the same perm . At the time, I thought I looked so good . Now, I shudder to think how I looked

Some 1980's women/actresses looked amazing with those perms. Of course, they were likely in the minority.

Stevie Nicks was wearing a terrible perm around 1980-1983 from Tusk tour to her Wild Heart tour. It’s was a tight kinky poodle and then it was the shake and go ‘drop perm” look. Her hair was always best when it was layered, feathered, and blown out.

In Amy Irving's case, I think the perm look was her natural state.

[quote]frumpy Frau

Interesting that you and the other hysterical, sobbing "women are ruining everything!!!" trolls are also off on other threads being racists and antisemites.

Something tells me that the alt-righties we get think they're blending in by screaming about women and fraus all the time.

[quote]r87 She had weird banana-shaped titties.

LOCK 'ER UP!

I do wonder if Amy Irving, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford had contractual provisions to keep their modern day hairstyles in period films. Either Dillon refused to have her hair styled, or her character was eccentric enough to resemble the wild woman of Borneo by 1930s standards. (The mom in ACS was a bit kooky, come to think of it.)

R94, Streisand wore wigs in her period films - Funny Girl, Hello Dolly, The Way We Were, Funny Lady - ALL wigs.

Redford had bleach.

Redford’s shaggy Beach Boys hair was ridiculous in The Way We Were during the 1930s/40s scenes - especially since the other male actors had appropriately high and tight cuts.

It was hardly shaggy, R96, in fact I think the college scenes were believable. 1972 when the movie was filmed was during the height of long sideburns and hair over ears for men, he didn't have anything close to a modern do. What bothers me is how long it remained throughout the film, I mean he was supposed to be around 40 at the end and it's as long and as blond as it was in the youthful scenes. If anything, I think Redford's love affair with the bottle - the bottle of bleach - was in his movie contracts.

Forgot picture. The bangs were ridiculous at any age over 21, but they were part of the "drama."

^^ I thought Barbra’s costumes were slightly anachronistic too - if anything, they were pushing the limits of current fashion, but the glamour and sophistication of it did not fit Katie’s personality, IMO. Especially the 1950s scenes - she looked 20 years ahead of her time.

Totally Barbra’s style though, and I’m pretty sure she has some say in the costumes, which served the actress more than her character.

Who is that in R87's pic? Those are some ugly tits.

That perm always bothered me, took me out of the story.

The only thing that bothered me in the film was that dinner scene- where Mom slaps some mashed potatoes on their plates along with a slice of meat loaf. That's it?? Where are the vegetables???

"I chose to believe that she had naturally curly, frizzy hair and just did nothing to style it."

Of course that was why her hair looked that way. The character's hair was naturally curly and frizzy and she did nothing to tame it. That went with the character's personality. During dinner The Old Man and Ralphie are constantly asking her for this and that; I think Ralphie said she hadn't had a hot meal in years. All she was concerned about was her family. Spending time on primping or going the the beauty parlor? Not this mother!

[quote]The character's hair was naturally curly and frizzy and she did nothing to tame it. That went with the character's personality.

Completely false for the 1940s. A concerned mother would not wear her hair that way.

The very least she would do is pin it back.

"Completely false for the 1940s. A concerned mother would not wear her hair that way."

I'm sure not every housewife in the 1940s primped and styled and pinned and fooled a lot with with her hair. The mother in ACS let her hair go au naturale, which seems entirely plausible to me. It totally went with the character's personality; completely unpretentious and down to earth and unaffected.

It’s a crime that Jean Shepherds other stories The Grestest Christmas Pageant Ever has never been made into a good movie. I know there was a TV movie made but it was not good.

Never mind. Jean Shepherd didn’t write Pageant but it’s still an amazing book!

Excuse me R99?

In 90% of the movie's scenes, her wardrobe is dowdy, suitable for the 1940s and definitely not from Srreisand's closet. Dressy scenes, perhaps.

[quote]I'm sure not every housewife in the 1940s primped and styled and pinned and fooled a lot with with her hair. The mother in ACS let her hair go au naturale, which seems entirely plausible to me. It totally went with the character's personality; completely unpretentious and down to earth and unaffected.

No doubt she was completely unpretentious and down to earth and unaffected but not even the town Egg Lady or the town Cat Lady would have let herself be seen with hair like that in OP's pic in the 40s.

She would have been an object of ridicule and gossip.

R108 I specifically mentioned the 1950s segment of the film. That’s where things get weird. Too bad Barbra didn’t get her signature perm until the end of the film- she would have looked like she stepped out of a 70s blaxslpoitation movie in this scene:

Also, Barbra had a unique look, but she was far from the ugly duckling her character was supposed to be in TWWW. I think Babs or the director refused to frump up Katie for the film. She looks downright radiant in R108.

"She would have been an object of ridicule and gossip"

I really don't think anybody would have cared. Why would they? I doubt that women sat around their kitchens and clucked about the woman down the street with the frizzy hair. I think they would have been more inclined to gossip about the tacky leg lamp in her window. Or her obscenity spewing husband.

"she (Streisand) was far from the ugly duckling her character was supposed to be"

Next to Redford she was.

I can’t find one vintage photo of a woman of the1940s with Melinda Dillon’s frizzy hairdo, unless you count the women who hid their untamed bushes under silken scarves, leading to a perverse envisioning of the chaos beneath. Revealed, it would have been scandalous, indeed.

I'm with r109 & r114. The mother would have either pinned or done SOMETHING to her hair. All pics I've seen are women and girls with that jelly rolls hair.

her style is a floppy 1980s perm, a very specific look related to a specific time.

[Quote] her style is a floppy 1980s perm, a very specific look related to a specific time.

NO woman would have had hair like Melinda Dillon's character in the 1940's unless she was a mental patient or homeless. She would have at the VERY least rolled it. Many women used those spongy "curlers" that they rolled the hair around and pinned it (with the roller inside..which gave those "sausage roll" looks). Or she would have had a pompadour in the front. Women took great pride in their hair, even very poor women. Bobby pins were cheap. Women quite literally would never leave the house without a hat and gloves or without their hair being "done."

At least it wasn’t Jheri-curled. The horror!

ive pics of my grand moms, they never had any money but their hair was done, ALWAYS if they left the house, hair 'done', 'done' , gloves and dark red lipstick.

Maybe Melinda never left that house.

I take exception to the OP. Erin Moran distinctly had a soft Jheri curl style ala Lionel Richie during his “Truly” era, while Melinda’s nomadic perm channels Roger Daltry’s wild messiah from “Tommy.” There is absolutely no comparison.

Some of you don't seem to realize that mother in ACS just didn't CARE about doing her hair. I have no idea why that is so impossible to believe.

Sure, R123. Then why did she get a 80s perm???

She's gone full Diedre Barlow!

"Then why did she get a 80s perm???'

Her hair was naturally curly and frizzy. There ARE people who have hair like that naturally. Don't you know that?

R123 Take another look - on first glance her hair is an unkempt mess but on closer examination it’s a carefully trimmed coif, shaped with the care usually reserved for an ornamental topiary shrub. Note the symmetry of the angles and how thoughtfully they frame her cheekbones.

There is no way Mrs. Parker “didn’t care” about her hair - rather, she was gaslighting her family into believing that she was neglecting herself while doing the complete opposite. A secret rendevous at an underground salon, rare to find in a day when perms were expensive to obtain. One can only imagine what Mother Parker resorted to in order to scrape up the funds needed to create her perpetually “messy hair.”

I believe the hairstyle was also a reflection of Mrs. Parker’s martyr complex and her neurotic need to control others through deception. I don’t blame anyone for not catching that, however; the subtext is difficult to absorb from a single viewing of this film. It’s much easier to discern in retrospect.

I don't think it was a hairstyle so much as it was just an everyday part of life. In the movie while all Christmas stuff is going on and about the Mom never stops and fixes herself to take a picture by herself or with the family. Life in the 40's was drafty, cold, hardworking, a daily struggle. When people look up the 40's in their searches, them women their took hours to prepare for a photo shoot.

But that’s what Mother Parker [italic] wants[/italic] us to think, R128. Her seemingly harried life is a calculated illusion.

R129, u need therapy bro..

Seriously R130, Mrs. Parker is a deranged woman on the verge of psychosis, and her intentionally unintentional hair is symbolic of this harrowing break with reality. She also projects her oral fixations onto her helpless children. For instance, she forces Ralph to suck on a bar of soap - and then there’s the “piggy” scene.

If I need any therapy, it would be to cope with the nightmares induced by this terrifying film.

R131, oh grow up!

The mom in ACS is weird. One thing that bothers me is the way she smothers her sons and treats Ralphie like a 3 year-old as a senile grandparent would. The way she reacts to him wearing the bunny suit is extremely creepy.

**sigh**---it has been discussed in one or more interviews and discussed by Dillon herself at on point in the past, possibly during one of the endless ACS marathons on TBS, that the hair was Dillon's own, that she had the look going in to the production, that the team acknowledged that it was not really period appropriate, but that The decided to leave it anyway, because it seemed to work for the character.

And there's nothing more to the story.

[quote]r111 Barbra was far from the ugly duckling her character was supposed to be in TWWW. I think Babs or the director refused to frump up Katie for the film. She looks downright radiant in [R108].

Our Babs had the first cinematographer fired after 1 week of shooting, as she felt she didn't look good in the rushes. Then the director wanted her to reshoot the key telephone sequence after seeing it onscreen, and she refused, saying, "But I look so good in that scene!"

(Part of all that may have been that she felt insecure playing opposite someone so heralded for their good looks as the young Robert Redford.)

Presenting: Mrs. Anne Shepherd circa the 1940s. She did indeed expose her unstyled naturally curly hair in public, and does in fact look slightly insane. Bob Clark and hairstylist James D. Brown are hereby exonerated.

R136 Impressive research!

Lazy ass QUITTER!

She just needed 5 minutes, a ton of bobby pins, and this video.

To the people saying the parents looked too old, especially the father, go back and look at some old clips of early tv gameshows like You Bet Your Life, there were always people on there talking about having small children, even though they look ancient. And, they would say they were forty, but they look at least sixty, in today's world.

They'd lived through the Great Depression, and it showed.

Jean Shepherd’s real-life parents would have been in their 40s when ACS takes place, so the parents in the movie actually look the proper age. On the other hand, Ralphie is 10 younger than Jean was at the time.1930 was not a great year for childhood nostalgia; that might explain why the setting of ACS was pushed 10 years forward.

[quote]When people look up the 40's in their searches, them women their took hours to prepare for a photo shoot.

Google: "women 1940s". You'll see plenty of photos that are not staged.

I think the casting of McGavin could also be attributed to young Ralphie's perception of his father, that is, that he seemed older than he was and that he was an 'old man', which is how all the kids referred to their fathers when speaking to one another.

Actually, Dillon's anachronistic perm makes a bit of sense, if the parent's aren't necessarily supposed to be seen as they actually were but as Ralphie perceived them to be.

Her permed frizzie extremely eighties hair in that movie reminds me of Scott Baio on Happy Days. It's supposed to be 1960 and with his late 70's disco hair he looked like an extra from Saturday Night Fever.

she looks like a goddamned dog.

With that hideous hair style, no wonder her husband was so pissed off and cussing all the time. And became obsessed with beating off to that slutty leg lamp once it arrived.

So of course she broke it …. out of jealousy.

Only on DataLounge could you get over 100 responses to an ugly hairdo.

I don't think so R147, the husband was not a homosexual.

Yes - Scott Baio’s feathered hair was atrocious for the early 60s, R145. As with Ms. Parker’s perm in ACS someone figured Baio’s 70s hair was “close enough” to some obsure coif of the 60s and ignored how a even a tiny deviation from the norm can be picked up by the audience.

Salon stylists and wig designers are the unsung heroes of film and theatre, perhaps more so than costumers because of the intimate nature of hair and its impact on culture. One can communicate a great deal about a character’s background and psyche through shears and a hot iron.

id wipe my ass with her hair. looks soft and capable of removing shit.

Compare the real Mrs. Parker in R136 to the fictional version in R127. Anne Shepherd’s mop was a curly mess while Dillon’s had a mod shape that looks more Brian May than D-Day. Totally ruined the film for me.

when i saw that bitch's hair for the first time i thought "oh god why!?" i remember leaving the movie theater because it was so unrealistic.

ha!

the hairstyle is realistic.... for the 1980s!

Sure, most women in the 40s would make sure their hair was set before going out in public. But the mother is seen outside of the house only four times:

1. When they buy the Christmas tree. Her hair is covered with a toboggan-style hat.

2. When they go to Higbee's and the Santa parade. Again, her hair is covered with a toboggan hat.

3. When she breaks up the fight between Ralphie and Scut Farkas. She wouldn't have time to worry about her hair in that situation.

4. When they go to the Chinese restaurant. Her hair is somewhat pulled back, but still looks like an 80s hairstyle.

"Anachronisms A Christmas Story was filmed in in 1983 but was set in the 1940s. Melinda Dillon's hairstyle in the film is factually incorrect. Rather than the rolled or pin curled sculpted and sleek styles of the 40's, Dillon sports a frizzy 1980's perm for the entire film. Even if a woman's hair was naturally curly, she would have pinned it up under a hair net or snood and she would not have worn frizzy bangs or kept her hair in the style Dillon wears throughout the film."

I agree only HOMOS (including me) would obsess over a woman's hairstyle in a movie.

[quote] Anachronisms - The film is set during the holiday season of 1940; however, when Ralphie strategically sets his magazine with the Red Ryder BB Gun ad inside his mother's magazine, his copy of Boys' Life has a cover date of January 1939, and his mother's copy of Look Magazine has a cover date of December 21, 1937.

How are those anachronisms?

Anachronism: a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place

One of the movie's charms, in addition to the wonderful period flavor (Melinda Dillon's hairdo aside), is that, like episodes of "Leave It to Beaver," the entire story is told from a child's point of view.

So they are NOT anachronisms, r159. My point.

'mom hadnt had a hot meal in years!, makes me laugh!

mom accidently breaking the lamp, makes me laugh!

very funny movie.

I wonder how many of you were adults in 1983 and didn't get all of your big ideas from TV and movies instead of real life.

Dear lord, having magazines on your coffee table that are a few years old is NOT an anachronism, and was entirely common in the 40s on the heels of the Great Depression, when throwing perfectly good magazines out was unthinkable. Anachronisms are usually things from the future that don’t yet exist in the film’s universe.

Had DL has become infested with dumb jocks as of late?

huh? i was 12 years old. movies , films, tv and advertising have had an enormous influence on me, more than i care to admit

Again, r164, my point.

I was only 3 when the film came out and didn't watch it until 10 years later. By then, I knew her hair was not period appropriate but more of a recent bad 'do from the early '80s. Did people in '83 think it was out of place? Or were they used to seeing it everywhere that they didn't really notice it?

Holiday 1940?

The 3rd issue of 'All-Star Comics' would not have been an anachronism.

First appearance of the Justice Society!!!!!

R167 I saw it in 1983 and it bothered me because it was glaringly obvious because she looked like an 80s woman who time-traveled to the 40s. My BF’s mom had the exact same hairstyle. Every time Dillon appeared on screen, it was as if someone from craft services accidentally walked into the shot.

You want to talk inappropriate hairstyles...well, I thought the most ridiculous example of that was Suzi Quatro as "Leather Tuscadero" on "Happy Days." She was sporting a seventies shag and wore a leather jumpsuit. Yeah, shag hairstyles and leather outfits were SO prevalent among women in the the 50s.

"Even if a woman's hair was naturally curly, she would have pinned it up under a hair net or snood and she would not have worn frizzy bangs or kept her hair in the style Dillon wears throughout the film."

So every woman in the U.S., EVERY woman, without exception, would have "pinned it up under a hair net or snood and she would not have worn frizzy bangs or kept her hair in the style Dillon wears throughout the film." Really? Every last one? That sounds utterly absurd.

This is my go-to example for period-inappropriate women's hair on film -- Tuesday Weld and Ann-Margret in supposedly 1930s New Orleans in THE CINCINNATI KID (1965).

R171 perhaps not outliers, but definitely respectable women like Ralphie's mom would have. She was standard in almost every way except for her incongruous hair.

R172 they're also not wearing hats which would have been unthinkable.

Melinda Dillon sperm? Ew! Is she trans?

Oh my, R172. They look like a couple of topless go-go dancers on the way to their next gig at a swingers’ sex club - IN THE 1930s.

a shit perm from a shit film

[quote]So every woman in the U.S., EVERY woman, without exception, would have "pinned it up under a hair net or snood and she would not have worn frizzy bangs or kept her hair in the style Dillon wears throughout the film." Really? Every last one? That sounds utterly absurd.

Perhaps mental patients.

If you're doing a period film, you don't choose the most historically wrong hairdo for a character and expect the audience to create a narrative around it to justify it.

Look, you can justify anything if you really want to, even that bizarrely inappropriate hairdo.

The point remains: the hairdo in Op's pic not the way women wore their hair in the 40s.

ACS is bordeline dark and creepy from beginning to end. The lunatic mother and her Lynchian hair is the glue that holds the insanity in place. I don’t know what child-rearing was like back then, but by today’s standards, she is a frightingly abusive parent. Mother Parker is so spooky, in fact, I think Ryan Murphy should resurrect her in the next season of AHS (maybe “American Hair Error - A Christmas Story?”)

Are we sure that isn’t Kate Capshaw?

" I don’t know what child-rearing was like back then, but by today’s standards, she is a frightingly abusive parent."

How is she "frightingly abusive?" Because she has Ralphie hold a bar of soap in his mouth for cursing? Actually, that seemed more comical than abusive. Seems to me that on the whole she's a very indulgent, loving mother. She takes loving care of Ralphie after his Scut Farkus meltdown and behaves the same way after Ralphie breaks his glasses while trying out his BB gun. If she's abusive by "today's standards" it's only because today's standards are cuckoo.

"The point remains: the hairdo in Op's pic not the way women wore their hair in the 40s."

No, it was the way THAT woman wore her hair in that time period. She wasn't meant to represent the hairstyles of the day. She was an individual; one who obviously didn't spend any time at all fussing with her frizzy, unruly hair.

182 responses and nobody has mentioned that one of the kids grew up to be a porn actor (straight porn).

The point isn't that MD's perm-errific 'do COULDN'T have existed in 1940, it's that it WOULDN'T, generally, and at least 50% of the audience of the movie recognize it. That pulls you out of the movie. It looks badly out of place.

If you want people to focus on your movie, and not stray hairs, then you clean the shit up that pulls people out of the movie. Keep people focused. It's bad film-making to have one of your characters so poorly styled that she is a distraction. And before you say it doesn't matter, if these kinds of things didn't matter in a movie, you wouldn't even bother to have stylists. Why pay someone if you don't care if your cast looks like they exist in different decades?

"It's bad film-making to have one of your characters so poorly styled that she is a distraction."

I think the people who enjoy ACS don't give a shit what the mother's hair looks like. They just see her as a frumpy, overworked housewife with bad hair.

R185 true. My whole family loves ACS but they didn't know the mom's hair is inappropriate for the time period until I (a stickler for historical accuracy in films) pointed it out. I think most people are like that. They're not gonna know what people actually wore nearly 80 years ago.

Now wait JUST A MINUTE, girls!

In this publicity pic, Dillon's made just a bit of an effort by securing the sides of her hair ... which is the minimum a conventional 1940s housewife would do.

Does she actually wear it like this in any scene in the movie? Or was it just for this photo shoot? Because this is a look you could say, "Okay ... at least the woman tried."

^^ That hairstyle is basically a sloppy version of THIS, which (if you cut out all her talking) could be done in 5 minutes.

From everything I've read on DL over the years, these were the days when guys would go to the Y and swim in the nude in a large group. So where was that scene? Every time I watch this, I think of how inaccurate it is of a portrayal of American life at that time, because Old Man Parker isn't swimming in the nude with his neighbors and co-workers.

I just can't watch it any more.

I can’t find the link now, but I remember reading a few years ago that for some reason, Melinda Dillon refused to have her hair styled in a way that reflected the period, and in fact, did her own hair (and makeup, iirc) throughout filming.

Well, congratulations, Melinda.

You never looked worse!

R189 I haven't seen the film in years, but is there a Y scene? If not, then you have no point. Not showing every aspect of 1940s life is not being inaccurate. However, most every woman of that period took great pride in their appearance and attempted the latest fashions/'do, so portraying the mom with a contemporary '80s perm *is* being inaccurate.

Dearest Absolutely Everyone Who's Still Idly Speculating About That Hair :

Please read r134 .

End of discussion. No need to wonder any further, no need to keep guessing Why Oh God Why.

Solved. FIni.

r189 I agree with you, but I think if the screenwriter realistically portrayed the healthy male bonding that took place during that era, it would have distracted from the subplot of the overbearing mother and her toxic suffocation of her spouse and young sons. The dad, whipped and emasculated by his harridan wife, even turns to his leg lamp for comfort; this is emblematic of his complete mental breakdown and wish to dismember and “control” Mrs. Parker, ala Ed Gein.

Although the inclusion of virile nude men swimming at the Y and playfully snapping damp gym towels against each others’ tightly sculpted bottoms in the locker room would have provided a bittersweet note of “what could have been,” adding this to the plot and maintaining a tonal balance of the two worlds may have been beyond the scope of a holiday film. However, as with Ms. Parker’s perm, this subject is debatable and probably merits its own thread.

"I don’t know what child-rearing was like back then, but by today’s standards, she is a frightingly abusive parent. "

On the contrary, she was a 1970s-80s permissive parent. In 1940s reality, she would have smacked the kid for not eating and punished Ralphie for almost shooting his eye out - or gotten the father to do it. Big time.

r195 is right. Even in the scene with the soap, after she makes ralphie go to bed she tastes the soap herself and realizes how gross it is. You can tell she feels bad about making ralphie wash his mouth out.

Rather, it was Schwartz's mother who was a real 1940s parent. You can hear her beating the shit out of Schwartz on the phone (and he begging for mercy) after Ralphie's mom calls to tell her that he taught Ralphie how to say 'fuck.'

Ma Parker’s anachronistic hairdo clues us in that all is not what it seems. Its uncanniness reveals Ralphie’s descent into a parallel world where he maintains his individuality and masculine identity through fantasy. The Red Ryder carbine action rifle that he covets so greatly exemplifies his dreadful fear of emasculation and desire to break free of maternal bondage.

“Flick” and “Schwartz” are products of Ralphie’s ego splitting as a defense mechanism. For instance, suffering from an oral fixation induced by being repeatedly forced to fellate a bar of soap, Ralphie tongues a frozen flag pole and gets stuck to it - but in his mind it is “Flick” who commits this act after being triple-dog-dared to by “Schwartz.” Another fantasy sequence involves Ralphie imagining his alter-ego Schwartz being beaten instead of himself during the swear-word interrogation scene. Ralphie recasts Santa as his fantasy father since his real-life dad is an effeminate coward. There is even a brief nod to “The Wizard of Oz” in the parade scene, another film about a child trapped in limbo between the world of dreams and reality.

Despite the dark overtones, it’s an inspiring tale of the triumph of Ralphie’s imagination over the horrors of his childhood. On a side note, Terry Gilliam was apparently inspired by ACS and worked these themes of duality, escapism, and avoidance coping into his screenplay for “Brazil” (which was released only a few years after ACS.)

[quote]r193 End of discussion. No need to wonder any further, no need to keep guessing Why Oh God Why.

Nothing will ever change the fact that Ms. Dillon willfully betrayed every gay in the audience, and those in the generations to come, with that atrocious hair.

I'm sorry, but it's no laughing matter.

Her wild hair seemed totally plausible to me. Here's a woman who does nothing but cook and clean and take care of her eccentric husband and their two young boys. She doesn't have the time or inclination to go to the beauty parlor or pin it back or mess with barrettes or bobby pins. The teacher's hair looked more in keeping with the current styles because she was a single woman and had the time and money (her teacher's salary probably wasn't much, but she could spend it as she pleased, unlike the penniless housewife whose hubby controlled the finances) to indulge in keeping her hair looking nice.

There was a god damned war on and Dippity-Do was being rationed. Now leave me alone you prissy morons.

What about ME? My hair was completely wrong in “The Outsiders.”

[quote]r200 Her wild hair seemed totally plausible to me. Here's a woman who does nothing but cook and clean ... She doesn't have the time or inclination to go to the beauty parlor or pin it back or mess with barrettes or bobby pins.

Stop defending her shitty acting choice!

Middle class women were [italic]very[/italic] concerned with wanting to look respectable. It was a much less permissive time. Women had a morning routine where they pinned or tied their hair back, just as part of getting dressed. This wasn't only to look tidy, but because cooking and cleaning with sweaty hair hanging in your face feels unpleasant.

Going back to the Victorian era, only "loose" women wore long, loose hair. If it was sculpted, like Veronica Lake or Rita Hayworth or something, that was okay for night. But generally, wives/mothers did not wear hair that wasn't fastened in some way...even if it was just with a ribbon. Their hair was controlled in some way, as a representation that they themselves had control.

An 80’s mom in a 1940’s movie. It totally fucking bothers me!!!

[quote]An 80’s mom in a 1940’s movie. It totally fucking bothers me!!!

Outrageous.

#WillNotWatch

Melinda

R194, I would understand if the YMCA swimming and locker room scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, like the steamy sex scenes between Old Man Parker and Miss Shields. (There was no way to maintain a PG rating with Tedde Moore's full frontal as she rode McGavin in the reverse cowgirl position, and in the early 80s, you just couldn't release a holiday movie with a hard "R".) But the fact that the filmmakers didn't even think to include one or two male bonding scenes in the locker room or - my preference - steam room, tells me that they were complete amateurs with no sense for setting or developing a feel for the era. And you could maintain the PG with a few bare buns.

It is a Hollywood convention to use modern hairstyles in period pieces. Cinema audiences have a tough time relating to characters whose excruciatingly correct period hairstyles pull focus away from their faces. A Christmas Story was made for people in the early 80s. Kate Capshaw had a similarly inauthentic frizzy mod 'do in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

The story almost certainly takes place in December of 1939. That was the last December that the Little Orphan Annie radio program was sponsored by Ovaltine. Also, the two big movie tie-ins we see in the parade and dept. store are Snow White and The Wizard of Oz. It seems as though the stores are trotting out the unsold Snow White merchandise from Christmas 1938 alongside this year's Wizard of Oz -themed stuff. If the film were set in the 1940s, we could expect to see toys based on Disney's Pinocchio and Bambi and Dumbo. etc..

[quote]r208 Kate Capshaw had a similarly inauthentic frizzy mod 'do in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

But isn't that because they're out in the jungle? When we see her character in civilization at the beginning, her hair's done.

R207 The director’s cut retains the locker room hijinks, Moore’s full frontal ride on Mr. Parker’s pecker, AND the original ending where Santa gives Ralphie an actual rifle, which he promptly uses to kill his father much to the delight of Mrs. Parker, who announces that Ralphie is the new “man of the house.” When the forgotten turkey burns during the pandemonium, they dismember little Randy and eat him (an event eerily foreshadowed in the “piggy” scene.)

Unfortunately, this did not test well back in ‘83, and was replaced with the singing Chinese waiters scene. However - since the newer ending has been deemed “problematic” by modern audiences - it’s likely that the less offensive original ending will finally be restored in its full glory.

R207 are you one of those posters who also thinks a gay film is not 'legitimate' unless it includes graphic sex/nudity?

"Going back to the Victorian era, only "loose" women wore long, loose hair. "

So only respectable women wore their hair pinned back and only "loose" women wore their hair unpinned? Do you realize how totally ridiculous you sound?

R212 it's true. In Victorian/Edwardian times only the tarts and prostitutes wore their hair down and painted their faces. Respectable women didn't wear makeup and always wore their hair up once they came of age.

Hollywood had a problem with authentic period hair but I don’t think it’s because audiences couldn’t relate to it. Britain has been doing greatauthentic period costume pieces but Hollywood is getting better.

I can’t stand the old Westerns with bouffant dos on women and sparkling clean cowboys in studded shirts. So inauthentic.

Anglophiles are so annoying!

Back in my day, only women who commited the Great Evil and brown-skinned exotics wore their hair in such a shockingly untamed manner.

Get that bitch in a snood STAT!!

"In Victorian/Edwardian times only the tarts and prostitutes wore their hair down and painted their faces. Respectable women didn't wear makeup and always wore their hair up once they came of age."

"A Christmas Story" wasn't set in Victorian/Edwardian times. I doubt anyone considered the poor frazzled housewife "loose" because her her unstyled, unkempt hair.

R218 but they would consider her deranged.

[quote]r218 "A Christmas Story" wasn't set in Victorian/Edwardian times. I doubt anyone considered the poor frazzled housewife "loose" because her her unstyled, unkempt hair.

But the character was raised by a couple from Victorian times, or at least people very influenced by it in their youth. They would have stressed the need for a neat, orderly and respectable appearance.

A few bobby pins, a barette or a hair band really isn't asking too much, even if the character's supposed to have let herself go.

She looks like the Crazy Cat Lady from THE SIMPSONS.

[quote]Stop defending her shitty acting choice!

Hair styles are not an "acting choice."

"But they would consider her deranged."

I doubt that also. I think her neighbors and acquaintances probably didn't give her hair a second thought. Why should they? I imagine they had more interesting things to talk about than some poor woman's hair. I doubt they were obsessed with it, as you seem to be.

"But the character was raised by a couple from Victorian times, or at least people very influenced by it in their youth."

Who ever said Melinda Dillon's character was "raised by a couple from Victorian times, or at least very influenced by it in their youth?" You're making this shit up and it sounds REALLY crazy.

R223 you obviously have no sense of history nor the time period. People did gossip about stuff like that back then.

R224 The Victorian Age ended in 1901 upon Victoria's death. The story takes place in 1939/1940. That means Ralphie was born in the late '20s, which means his mother was born at the turn of the 20th century. Thus, her parents were born and raised during Victorian times. The mother was born and raised during the Edwardian era, which ended just before WWI.

" You obviously have no sense of history nor the time period. People did gossip about stuff like that back then."

Oh the fuck shut UP, already. You sound like the most insufferable pain in the ass imaginable, yammering on like an idiot about Victorian times and "loose" hair.

R208 makes a very valid point - in most older Hollywood period films the hair, and to a lesser degree the costumes, often have a good deal of the era of the filming mixed into the period of the film. Usually everyone involved wants the stars to look “good” so the current trends are worked in and rigid period details are often fudged from a little bit to a ridiculous amount.

There is also the issue that everyone is somewhat blind to the current standards of beauty, so some of this is done unconsciously by the creative team. There was an exhibit years ago about fine art forgeries that were only found out years later - once the standards of the day had changed and it was apparent that the “Renaissance Madonna”also looked vaguely 1920’s.

I think a bit of this was at work in ACS - as stated above the production team knew her hair wasn’t correct for the period, but it didn’t seem as glaringly off back then as it does now — at the time her hair looked “normal,” now it screams “Bad 80s Perm.” ACS was also a low budget film - aside from the teacher most of the hairstyles aren’t very period.

To chime in on two other arguments above - grew up in the late 70s & my mom would make fun of some of the other neighborhood mom’s hair - in that case it was because those women ALWAYS had perfectly lacquered beauty parlor do’s 24/7/365 - but hair does get gossiped about - those ladies probably thought my mom looked like she wasn’t trying hard enough.

And while we have no idea what values they might have instilled, Mrs Parker most certainly was raised by Victorians — and she very likely rebelled by being a flapper and running off with that foul-mouthed older man.

r226 Oh the fuck shut UP, already. You sound like the most insufferable pain in the ass imaginable, yammering on like an idiot about Victorian times and "loose" hair.

Listen, BITCH. That poor poster you've LASHED OUT AT isn't the one who went on about Victorian times and "loose" hair...that was ME.

[italic]Say it to my face, why don't ya??

Non-period hairstyles in movies go along with non-period music. How many rock power ballads have you heard in movies that take place prior to 1970s?

[quote]r223 I think her neighbors and acquaintances probably didn't give her hair a second thought. Why should they? I imagine they had more interesting things to talk about than some poor woman's hair. I doubt they were obsessed with it...

How little you know - -

You have to remember that for the most part, this was a time when a woman's worth was entirely based on how well she did as a wife and mother. She not only had to try to excell at that, but knew her progress in that field was about the ONLY thing being discussed about her. If her kids weren't dressed right, that was gossiped about. If her laundry hung on the line overnight, that was gossiped about. Surely if her hair looked like a rat's nest 24/7, THAT was gossiped about.

It was this rigid way women were expected to fill very strictly defined roles in society that lead to the Womens Movement.

Bumping this to see if we can take a thread about Melinda Dillon's perm to 600.

I second the motion at r231

Forever 1972

Who is that r234?

My aunt came home with that perm in 87. We called her Annie.

Marisa Berenson. Once she decided to go for the flat top perm in Cabaret, she never left it.

Guilty!

She’s a pig.

G.

r237 Thanks. I also don't know who that is at r238. I wish people would include the person's name in the signature line and not assume everyone will get the reference (unless it is a true icon like Livvy of course)

R238 is Linda Cardellini in Legally Blonde.

SPOILER ALERT: she did it

...and her perm played a crucial part in proving her guilt.

I knew I'd seen that hairstyle somewhere before...

Quicken Loans restroom.

R236 how come?

The right hairdresser can work wonders.