17 thoughts on “How Contemporary Hairstyles Affect Historical Costume Movies: The 1930s – Part 1

  1. What about The Scarlet Pimpernel? Hav beaucoup fun at Versailles

  2. Can’t wait to see what you have to say about the 1960’s beehives in all the westerns especially shows like ‘The Big Valley’!

  3. “Cleopatra (1934): WHERE did this bangs/long straight hair look come from?”

    Those bangs were Claudette Colbert’s “signature look,” to which they just added a fall for length. Since this was an actress who allegedly vetoed any camera setups that showed what she deemed the “bad side” of her face, nobody was touching those bangs.

    1. That’s very typical of the ’30s & ’40s — many movie stars kept their signature styles regardless of the film. The studios promoted this bec. they thought it was better to have “recognizable” stars to promote films. Another obvious example is Bette Davis & her eyebrows in historical movies, lol!

      1. Actually, Bette Davis famously shaved her eyebrows and hairline twice to play Queen Elizabeth, in “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” (1939) and “The Virgin Queen” (1955).

        Other movies didn’t change her looks as much, but as you said, this was typical of the studio system.

        1. Yep, those were the rare exceptions, bec. she was specifically interested in the role. But Davis did a ton of historical films (see our WCW page on her), & the studio made her keep her contemporary look in as many of them as possible.

    2. That may be so for Colbert, but I also think that straight hair and bangs look is what many people think of as “ancient Egyptian.” But real ancient Egyptians wore a variety of hairstyles; and studies of human remains from Egypt show that there was quite of range of color and texture, even in agricultural communities in predynastic Upper Egypt. Ramesses II, from an eastern Delta family, had had auburn hair, as did the “Elder Lady” (probably Queen Tiye) from KV 35. The Elder Lady’s hair was rather long and wavy, but she did not have bangs. Also from the Valley of the Kings comes a middle-aged Ramesside lady with an upswept hairdo.

      That elegant gentleman whose statue you’ve shown for comparative purposes is wearing a wig. He was a member of Pharaoh’s tomb-building crew, so in day-to-day life his attire would be much simpler–he’s likely to have had his head shaven, and he certainly would have if he was also acting as a priest.

      It’s odd that in the movies, Cleopatra isn’t shown with the hairstyles that she wears in statuary and coin portraits. I have a suspicion that Hollywood types just can’t imagine the Queen wearing her hair in a bun! And she probably wore Egyptian diadems and gowns for ceremonial occasions (as the “new Isis”), not for visiting Rome or going about her everyday duties. The Ptolemaic diadem is a simple band of cloth as shown above.

  4. You say you make these posts too long, I say they’re not long enough! I always enjoy these posts.

  5. Will you be covering the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century?

    1. Claudette Colbert had the same hairstyle two years earlier as Poppea in “The Sign of the Cross” (also for director Cecil B. de Mille), and it was supposed to be “Roman” there:

      http://eastcoaststories.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/bath-6.jpg

      http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Colbert,%20Claudette/Colbert,%20Claudette%20(Sign%20of%20the%20Cross,%20The)_01.jpg

      She did get a different look in “SotC” that was a little closer to Roman hairstyles:

      https://i.pinimg.com/736x/27/1a/3c/271a3c4a6f8a53d2b28f564fee30107d–sign-of-the-cross-claudette-colbert.jpg

  6. Did you mean to put Clark Gable’s image with the ladies? I’m sure he’s happy there, though I’m curious if this was a test or an entertaining mistake!

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