Front Row Dress Circle

Not all fashionable trends come out of Paris and Milan – for many years in the early decades of the twentieth century Hollywood wielded the most influence over how people wore their hair, the way ladies dressed and even how they dressed their children. Ask your Gran about those poor kids she knew who had to go around with rag curls in their hair each night so that they would look like Shirley Temple…every mother in the 1930′s wanted their little girl to look like the famous ring-curled moppet but what they did not know was that Shirley’s famous curls were not all entirely hers…a good number were glued onto her hair after it was discovered that the curling wand was damaging her baby-fine locks. A bald Shirley Temple would have spelt disaster for the Fox studios of course. But how did Mrs Temple create those curls at all…? she was a fan of silent actress Mary Pickford and decided baby Shirley would have ring curls too – 56 in fact all over her head. The process involved – carried out every night – dampening the hair with a wave solution, wrapping a lock around her finger, securing it with a bobby pin and then combing it when dry.

The Pageboy: this style still enjoys popularity today and has taken varying forms. The Pageboy had it’s origin when Lauren Bacall hit the screens in 1944 as the 19 year old co-star of Humphrey Bogart with waves styled under and swept to the side smoothly with a parting. Actress June Allyson wore the pageboy style shorter and more combined with a bob and actually wore her hair in this style well into old age. The style has been mostly attributed though to the trends of the 1950′s when Marilyn Monroe styled her platinum blonde hair into a very short pageboy for the film The Seven Year Itch, and kinky glamour model Bettie Page became synonymous with the hairstyle.

The style was taken from the way boys wore their hair in the 19th century; when the ends of the hair is rolled upwards and outwards the style is known as the ‘pageboy flip’.

The Bob: This trendy hairstyle has never been out of fashion thanks to several actresses across the years. The Bob has been there right from the start, from the early talkies in the 1920′s through to the 1960′s and and 1970′s. In the early years it was enigmatic actress Louise Brooks who made this cut fashionable and was to inspire Liza Minnelli to copy the fashion in ‘Cabaret’ and also Glenda Jackson who wore a slightly longer style of bob cut in her 1973 Hollywood debut film ‘A Touch of Class’. The style was definitely suited to straight hair and any kinks would have been ironed out with ghd Hair​ Straigh​teners​ to achieve that sleek and glossy look. Elizabeth Taylor wore a longer bob cut famously in ‘Cleopatra’.

The Poodle Cut: Inspired by the Italian street girls of Rome, this cut was launched by the siren herself Gina Lollobrigida in the 1956 film ‘Trapeze’. The style was one of the first to feature a root perm and the edges, cut short and wispy, were styled around the face with styling spray.

It was very similar to the style worn by Elizabeth Taylor in ‘A Place in the Sun’, the difference being that Gina’s hair was curled and styled while Taylor’s hair was basically straight and shaped with curlers around the face.

The Wash ‘n Wear Perm (or…the Nellie Forbush cut): Ladies who love to perm had broadway star Mary Martin to thank for introducing this most popular style to the world back in the 1940′s. Back then the usual permanent wave to get was the Marcel Wave which required much pinning, setting and waiting to dry – but then along came the stage musical South Pacific. Star Mary Martin, as Nellie Forbush, had to wash her hair on a nightly basis for a scene (I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair…) and so legendary Hollywood hairdresser Helen Turpin devised a style for her which was both perky and ‘Nellie’ and also ‘drip dry’ so that her hair would be dry for the next scene – the wash ‘n wear perm was born. Mitzi Gaynor adopted the style for her role as Nellie in the film and the short, curly style is still popular today.

The Gamine Cut: This style, certainly not for everyone, was worn with great flair by actresses such as Leslie Caron, Jean Seberg and Mia Farrow. The style appeared in the 1950′s when Leslie Caron arrived from France and required a style to suit her elfin features. Twiggy made the style very famous in the 1960′s and the cut is still popular today.

Right, so Big Brother in series form has now ended after eleven series with hefty Bristolian Josie winning the big prize. Now we are being treated to two extra weeks of Ultimate Big Brother whereby former housemates from both BB and CBB spend 14 days back in The BB House to no doubt try and have a second shot at the fame and fortune that eluded them after their first respective appearances on the show. Josie will join them for the next two weeks – well, she has already won 100K so what has she got to lose?

We have transsexual winner Nadia from BB5 in 2004, the now-emaciated Ulrika Jonsson from CBB 2009, Makosi from BB6 in 2005, Rapper Coolio who rubbed everyone up the wrong way in CBB 2009, whining Nikki from BB7 (voted the best BB series ever), infamous Nasty Nick from BB1 in 2000, and the awful bum-scratching, nose-picking chauvinist John McCririck from CBB 2005 – which makes you think that this show could actually have it’s moments…but when I saw that the famously married and then divorced Chantelle Houghton and Preston from CBB 2006 enter the house I had the feeling that something predictable was in the making…get ready OK! magazine for the ‘reunion’ exclusive…?

But you have to feel a little sad that the most famous, successful, and entertaining BB house-mate of all time will not be there in the house tonight, and we know she would have if she could have…Jade.

Jade Goody – she enjoyed the best side of Big Brother…and also suffered from the worst side of it.

It goes without saying that a major aspect of the appeal of the early stages of tv show X Factor is the entertainment provided by the untalented contestants who make it through from the first audition rounds. Let’s face it, they are put through to boot camp stage simply to keep the tv viewing audience watching – one last laugh at how deluded many of these people are about their abilities before the more serious task of sorting out the good from the bad and creating the actual talent show it is meant to be.

In past years many of these hapless people have been used as the modern day version of ‘court jesters’ to bolster the ratings and most played along with it, just happy to be getting their fifteen minutes of fame. Some though – guided by their own delusions and misguided advice from family and friends – were serious enough about their non-existent chances that they took their inevitable rejections personally. As such people do…in earlier series there were even one or two rather nasty ‘evictees’ who took their news quite badly.

It has seemed as though there are now more jesters than serious contenders due to the judges habit of putting these people through for no reason other than entertainment value. This new series is no different and has taken quite a dive in the area of good taste with the judges placing ‘singer’ Shirlena Johnson through to the boot camp phase. Shirlena on first sight presented as someone with an odd character and proved even more so during her bizarre rendition of Duffy’s hit ‘Mercy’. She moaned, she whined, she squealed and squirmed on the floor – all to the amazement of the audience and the obvious amusement of the judges, particularly Simon Cowell. It was uncomfortable viewing. It has been revealed that this lady, a single mum of a little girl, has mental health issues and her continued participation in the show looks set to be stopped. Yes, she was unusual to say the very least but with this news coming to light is it right to offer her to the public as a laughing stock – and what does it say about the way this and other reality tv shows are heading nowadays.

Back in medieval times the mentally ill were presented at royal court to provide laughs for the courtiers, free entertainment at their own expense. Why has Simon Cowell, an astute businessman with an undisputed eye for real talent, allowed his star vehicle to become the modern day version of King Arthur’s court – and why do so many people enjoy it…?