60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
A British manufacturing company shipped 1000 lbs of Beatle wigs to the US.
An American reporter later asked John Lennon, "How do you feel about teenagers imitating you with Beatle wigs?" to which John replied "They're not imitating us because we don't wear Beatle wigs."
Talk about striking while the iron was hot!
Somebody sure saw an opportunity to cash in on the latest fad ... and a collectors' item was born! (This topic came up again recently in Forgotten Hits when Tommy Smothers passed away.)
Forgotten Hits Reader Mike Mertes (my old guitar player!) knew what HE wanted to be when he grew up!!!
And he wasn't the only one!
Soon big-time celebrities were having fun with the new product ...
Check out Alfred Hitchcock behind the drums in his Beatle-do!
And how about the guy who brought them to most of our attention???
(Think about this for just a second ...
Ed had The Beatles on his show for the first time just ten days ago ...
And already the American market is about to be flooded with Beatle Wigs and other memorabilia.
Has any other phenomenon EVER caught on so quickly ... and so RAMPANTLY before??? Or since???)
Even our WLS jocks got in on the act!
Even if it wasn't necessarily a preconceived gimmick to draw attention to themselves (although it most surely was!), The Beatles impacted EVERYTHING to do with these times in terms of music and fashion. Soon, OTHER tie-ins to their hairstyle emerged ...
The hairstyle reportedly was first developed when former bass player Stu Sutcliffe came out of the bath with his hair combed down ... his girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr (for whom he would leave The Beatles to remain in Germany and pursue an art career), liked it and fashioned it in a French style ... a very European chic look at the time. While the other Beatles made fun of him at first, they soon adopted the hairstyle themselves (well, everyone but then-drummer Pete Best!) and soon there was one more thing to help set themselves apart from all the other groups ...
Until they, too, followed suit and adopted the longer, shaggy hair style. (Who knew Moe Howard would turn out to be such a fashion icon?!?!)
Order yours today!
