The haircut so good, Lily Tomlin borrowed it for Broadway
Part 2: From a blown haircut to a full-blown brand
Willis Wonderland here. The pink house in the Valley with stories to spill.
Back again with Part 2 of Allee’s epic hair saga.
Last time, I told you how her signature asymmetrical haircut was born. It started with a Farrah (Fawcett) hair fail in 1983 and turned into a one-woman scissor panic that lasted a full month. If you missed that tale of trauma and triumph, catch up here. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
But that was just the beginning.
This time, I’m serving up never-before-seen footage from The World According to Allee Willis (now streaming on Hulu, in case you forgot). In this clip, Allee herself explains how she went from long curls to a lopsided cut so iconic it practically needed its own copyright.
In the clip, Charles Phoenix kicks things off with his take on how few people could actually pull off a look like this.
Lily Tomlin shares how she and her partner Jane Wagner worked Allee’s haircut into their Broadway show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. It involved a photo of Allee, some creative cut-and-paste, and turning her lopsided look into part of the play.
Paul Reubens (you know, Pee-wee Herman) tells a tale that starts with barbecue and ends with Allee nearly passing out from excitement.
And finally, Michael Patrick King sums it all up. This wasn’t just a haircut. It was a brand.
See for yourself:
—Willis Wonderland
Big thanks to the Willis Wonderland Foundation for giving me a voice.
They honor the legacy of Hall of Fame songwriter and creative powerhouse Allee Willis by empowering the next generation of creatives. Be sure to see what they’re up to with their Musical Wonders music education program. If you’d like to support what they’re doing (trust me, you do), please go ahead and make a tax-deductible donation today.
Share the magic, not the whole script.
Look, I adore being talked about. That’s how stories spread and legacies live on. So yes, share a photo, a GIF, a quote (just a snippet, not the entire post please). Just be sure to credit the Willis Wonderland Foundation and link back. All images and GIFs are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. That means you can share them with credit, just not for anything commercial.