Tuesday, December 1, 2009

"Diamonds and Dames" Visits Dixie Belle Lee



As most of you know, we are 'two-deep' into the series entitled "Diamonds and Dames", which provides me an opportunity, not only to share my limited knowledge of vintage hairstyle replications, but to spout off about another passion of mine-Classic Cinema. This series is, of course, based on YOUR requests. But I love the fact that I have a new excuse to watch my favorite movies again and discover new ones, this time looking closely at the hairstyles.

Today's style was a relatively easy one for my hair texture and length, but also can be quite easily achieved for most hair types. The style is very curly but also flat at the crown (which is indicative of the time period) and it is unusual in that is sports a girlish bang, well before the time of Bettie Page. I used sponge rollers to achieve the curls, after parting my damp hair in the middle, and I slept on them overnight. The result was not quite as volume-packed as Joyce Compton's, but still had a similar effect. I also used a favorite pair of floral hair combs to dress up the style.

Film Synopsis:
THe Awful Truth (1937)
Directed By: Leo McCarey
Starring: Cary Grant and Irene Dunn
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Lucy and Jerry Warriner (Dunn and Grant) are a high society couple with a troubled relationship. Both of them have a pension for 'stepping out' w/ the opposite sex and tend to lie their way out of many sticky situations. But when the evening approaches that both parties are 'caught'(the truth of their infidelity is kept purposely vague) red-handed, the marriage finally looks as if it has met its match. During the course of a drawn out and well-publicized divorce, Jerry and Lucy attempt to find new romance while at the same time gaining a little satisfaction in causing the other same pain. Jerry strikes out with simple-minded show-girl 'Dixie Belle Lee', before finally settling into an engagement with society snob, Barbara. Lucy, coming out of a failed relationship w/a likewise dull-witted fellow (Ralph Bellamy as a wealthy Texas rancher), realizes at last that Jerry is indeed the one for her. She therefore goes about using all of her feminine wiles to wreck his current relationship, before their divorce is declared final.