Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Jat Sebring cuts Dennis' Weaver's hair... $50 Haircut

This is an excerpt from a newspaper article that came out on August 9, 1964, in the Kingsport Times-News.  It talks about Jay's amazing skills at "creating a new look" for Dennis Weaver.  Jay had extraordinary skills as a hair sculptor...
TUESDAY 'Moment Without Armor" is Actor Gets $50 Hairdo, Loses Limp For Series HOLLYWOOD -- The remaking of Dennis Weaver rivals anything Prof. Higgins ever did in "Pygmalion" to turn Eliza Doolittle into a lady. Leaving "Gunsmoke" and his Chester limp behind him was easy. But to become Kenneth Yarborough Jones in his new "Kentucky Jones" comedy series, Dennis has undergone major surgery. The Prof. Higgins in Dennis' transformation is executive producer Buzz Kulik. Whenever he hears Dennis slipping even slightly into his Chester twang, Kulik yells, "You're doing it!" In his new role Dennis is a country gentleman-type, a former horse-trainer and presently a veterinarian with his own 40-acre horse ranch. "Chester was an ignoramus, but Jones is bright and has some sophistication. He also is articulate," Buzz explains. "If there's even a trace of Chester in Jones, we've failed our job." 

The first thing Prof. Kulik did was take Dennis to a barber-not just any barber. An appointment was made with Jay Sebring for a "consultation." Sebring is Frank Sinatra's barber. It's said, in fact, that one of the phones in Sinatra's car is a direct line to Sebring's shop. The only house-call Sebring will make is to Marlon 1 Brando. Dennis was placed in Sebring's barber chair where the master studied him for 10 minutes. The session cost 30 bucks. "He gave us his ideas, then set up another appointment for the $20 cutting," Kulik says. "I couldn't go with Dennis the second time, but when he came back I fell through the floor. "The Sebring haircut had changed the whole structure of Dennis' face. I hardly recognized him, believe me."...


August 9th. Wow that's creepy.

Anyway, I don't know if I've shared this or not, but back in the late 80's I met a girl whose brother was living in LA and studying at the Sebring International Salon. She offered all her friends a chance to get "reborn" under her brother's hair grooming style.

I went to her house and spent 2 hours there. The first hour he just measured my head, crown to chin, crown to ears, etc. and wrote it all down. Then he shampooed and conditioned my hair until it was sooo silky.

Then he started cutting my hair, always measuring it, every strand. The result was the BEST hair cut I ever got. It was simply amazing.

Jay Sebring was amazing. That I know for sure!!!

13 comments:

katie8753 said...

August 9th. Wow that's creepy.

Anyway, I don't know if I've shared this or not, but back in the late 80's I met a girl whose brother was living in LA and studying at the Sebring International Salon. She offered all her friends a chance to get "reborn" under her brother's hair grooming style.

I went to her house and spent 2 hours there. The first hour he just measured my head, crown to chin, crown to ears, etc. and wrote it all down. Then he shampooed and conditioned my hair until it was sooo silky.

Then he started cutting my hair, always measuring it, every strand. The result was the BEST hair cut I ever got. It was simply amazing.

Jay Sebring was amazing. That I know for sure!!!

Thanks Venus!!

CarolMR said...

Thanks so much, Venus! Where do you find these things? You're amazing. Katie, I noticed the date, too. Chilling coincidence.

beauders said...

That's a cool story Katie. Do you know Timothy Stoen just released a book on his life in Peoples Temple? And his battle with Jim Jones?

katie8753 said...

Thanks Carol!

Thanks Beauders! I didn't know that. I'll have to check into that. Tragic story. I can't imagine how people get duped by cults like that.

maudes harold said...

This is a cool post Venus! Thanks. I can't get the paper to get bigger but is that an ad for Child Brides at the bottom????


Katie, the Sebring method seems to beat the bejeesus out of the old bowl method...


Beauders, thanks for the heads up. I have been waiting forever to see what Tim has to say about his participation in that fiasco!!


Lynyrd, how you holding up in all that snow??

louis365 said...

Kinda off topic....but then again. Did Jay ever cross paths with Richard Barile? He operated a men's hair salon in Manhattan Beach. He delt alot of grass and coke, being involved with guys like Boston George and Carlos Lehder.

katie8753 said...

Maude said: Katie, the Sebring method seems to beat the bejeesus out of the old bowl method.

LMAO!!! Maude you crack me up!!! :)

katie8753 said...

Hi Louis! I don't know I never heard of that guy...

Venus said...

You need to find that stylist again, Katie!

Many years ago, a lady cut my hair for about a year. She didn't measure my head but cut it in ways that looked uneven, but it looked great when she was done. I've often wondered if she used the Sebring method because while she was cutting my hair, I was letting it grow which usually annoys me but I was able to grow it out while she did it. Of course, I ended up going shorter again eventually because that's "my" look.

katie8753 said...

Hey Venus! I wish I could find him again, but it's been so many years ago, who knows where he is now. He could could be fixing Meryl Streep's hair by now.

I also went to a lady years later that was "recommended by a friend" in a salon in a ritzy part of town, and was so disappointed. I waited 2 hours for my hairdresser to show up, only with a flimsy excuse about a flat tire. Sigh!!! Then she proceeded to work on me, but in the middle of it, a client came in that was more important, and she put me aside to work on her. I got mad and left, with half cut wet hair.

Needless to say, I never went back.

maudes harold said...

Louis,

I don't know whether Jay knew those guys or not. If Jay was a casual 'candyman' to his clients, I guess anything is possible.



Katie & Venus,

I've had a few salon stories too, but my fav was when I went to Supercuts to simply get a few inches cut straight off the bottom. No more, no less, no bangs, no wash, just a trim straight across the bottom. I sat in the chair and the young gal with very thick glqasses approached me. I immediately noticed she had band-aids on the tips of about 7 of her 10 fingers. (I checked-she did still have all 10 fingers). My immediate thought was--Am I on Candid Camera??

katie8753 said...

Maude, LOLOL! I remember Supercuts. Sometimes you lucked out and got someone good...

grimtraveller said...

On a few occasions in my life, I've had a good head of dreadlocks. Thing is, it takes so long to get to shoulder length that by the time it gets there, I've had enough and decide it's time for them to go.
So once, I walked into this Greek barbers with my long hair and I said "can you take off the lot ?" and they were so upset. In fact, all the people {none of them Black !} in the barbers when I went in that day were upset. They tried to talk me out of it, the barber kept asking me if I was sure and I kept saying "just take it all off." When it was all gone, they asked me if I'd like all the locks as a memento and I said politely, "no thanks !"
People get so emotional about my hair, either getting fraught because it's long and they don't want me have it or getting stressed because I cut it. It feels like I've spent much of my life saying to people "it's only hair !"