Leading Lady Hair: Mildred Pierce (1945)

Another film inspired do for you all, Joan Crawford's full waved bangs from Mildred Pierce.  Similar to the The Barbara Stanwyck do featured earlier but this time with full waved bangs and fuller curled ends to the hair.  This is my first attempt and it isn't perfect but I think it gives the right look.

For best results with this set I would advise having a fringe / bang area of 4-5 inches long in front and 7-8 inches in back (of the fringe).  You could try with a longer fringe, but you might need to backcomb the underside more for increased fullness so that your hair does not fall into your eyes.

So, I started by cutting my fringe, I used a rectangular part, brushed all the hair forward in front of my face and just chopped it straight across to 5 inches in length from the front hairline.  I often cut my own hair these days, it is so much cheaper and as it is always curled or in an updo I don't worry about little imperfections such as it being slightly uneven.

I then dry set the front section in two rows of pink perm rods.  The back row in two rods, hair curled toward the face and the front row in three rods curled away from the face.  The differing directions help build the shape of the wave and add fullness.

Behold the 7:30 AM make-up free face of someone who hates mornings!

Once these were set I put the sides up, each in two front facing upward directed pin curls.  Setting the hair like this really helps me with victory rolls as it sets the hair in the upward direction meaning I get much less annoying puffiness at either side of the head.  I really hate that.

The back I curled in a lot, probably about 12, pink perm rods, curled up and under to the nape of the neck and no farther.

I then gave it all a spritz with water from a spray bottle and went to bed.

In the morning I started by brushing the side pin curls out in and upward direction, I then backcombed the hair and smoothed out the top before forming a small victory roll on each side and pinning securely.

I then took out all the back rollers and brushed the curls out gently.

The final section to tackle was the front.  I removed the rollers and brushed all the hair together, I then held the fringe straight up and teased the hair at the front of the fringe with my rat tail comb to give it structure.  The key then is to get the right wave and curl to the fringe.  The best way to do this is to brush the hair over the hand to create the straighter section and then to use your fingers to press the wave into the hair and allow the ends to curl over.  It does take a few tries to get it right, I was starting to get frustrated buy got there on attempt 7.  Good old lucky 7, eh!

Being late for work I decided to ignore the flyaways and just hairspray and go.  Shame on me, I know.

So there you go - victory rolls with full wave bangs.

Have a go and let me know what you think.

Old Movie Madness: Mildred Pierce (1945)

Now this is a film that I would describe as posh-noir, sharing many film noir characteristics but being altogether more slick and well put together than a lot of noirs I've seen and with a proper storyline too, plus it stars Joan Crawford, what could be better? (Bette Davis in my opinion, though she wouldn't have suited this role  ;-)  )

The film opens with a man being shot and falling to the ground, before he dies he utters one word "Mildred".  when the murder is discovered the police believe the killer to be Bert Pierce, Mildred's first husband.

Under interrogation by the police Mildred relates her life story, which we see in flashback.

As Mildred starts her tale we see her married to Bert Pierce, who leaves her for another woman.  Mildred and Bert have two daughters together - Veda and Kay.  Tragically Kay dies from pneumonia brought on, it is alleged, by their sudden fall into poverty and so Mildred clings to her elder daughter Veda for dear life.
Veda is a snob of a girl, constantly asking her mother for money and sneering at their reduced circumstances and so Mildred takes a waitressing job in secret.  After finding her food is a hit she strikes up a deal with an old admirer and a local playboy to rent a property at a huge discount and open her own restaurant.  the restaurant is a roaring success and Mildred opens a chain across the country.

Despite giving Veda all the money she needs a a better lifestyle than she has ever had before the girl is still unsatisfied and frequently clashes with her mother about her working class roots.  After Veda marries a young man only to divorce him for a large sum of money weeks later their relationship sours and Mildred kicks Veda out of their home. 

Mildred leaves town for a while and returns to find her daughter singing in a nightclub - Veda still refuses to come home and so Mildred resorts to marrying the high class but poverty stricken Monty Beragon to improve her social standing and finally Veda agrees to return to live with her mother.

Monty and Veda get together behind Mildred's back and con her out of her business.  Veda, who thinks Monty is going to divorce her mother and marry her, shoots Monty in a rage.  Her mother, ever protective, confesses to the murder.

The film ends with the police having worked out who committed the murder after all and Veda being sent to prison.

This film reminded me somewhat of Stella Dallas, a story of a working class mother's love for her child forcing her to take extreme measures to make the child happy.  However where the daughter in Stella Dallas was a loving and innocent thing, Veda is pure evil and so instead of finding Mildred's sacrifice noble I found I became increasingly irritated by her love for a child so ungrateful and downright spiteful.

I also have always had trouble with seeing Joan Crawford as a sex symbol.  Despite a great bikini figure, as displayed in the movie, I just find her features too heavy and hard for them.  Mannish in a way that glares with her character apparently being a beauty.  This is clearly just a matter of taste however.

It is a great film for suits and hats.  Both Mildred and the older Veda sport some amazingly big shoulder padded ensembles throughout the move, and I am dying to try the full wave bang with victory rolls style Mildred wears for much of the film.