September 2, 2025 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories Jay Sebring was Hollywood’s most sought-after men’s hairstylist. At his Fairfax Avenue salon, Frank Sinatra came for a trim, Jim Morrison’s iconic look was shaped, and Bruce Lee trusted his image to the man behind the chair. Sebring turned men’s hair into fashion, helping launch a global industry. He was on the brink of an even bigger future when the Manson Family murders ended his life in the summer of 1969. His nephew, Anthony DiMaria, has spent years bringing Sebring’s story back into focus. He co-authored Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth with Marshall Terrill, and today, shares how Sebring rose to the top of Los Angeles style — and why his legacy is more than the crime that ended it.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lehabib and this is our American stories. In
the glitchen glamour of nineteen sixties Hollywood, Jay Seabring began
what is now a hundred billion dollar a year industry,
the men's hair care industry. Most people think of haircare
as something just for women. Sea brings revolutionary techniques and
(00:32):
signature charm to male legends like Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen,
and Paul Newman to his chair the glamorous of the glamorous.
Yet his extraordinary legacy was overshadowed by the horrifying Manson
family murders. Here to tell the story is J. SE
brings nephew, Anthony DeMaria. He, along with Marshall Terrell, co
(00:56):
author J sebring cutting to the truth. The producer of
the documentary by the same name. Jay's an actor who's
appeared on shows like Deadwood, The Sopranos, and CSI.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Let's take a listen. Well, first, Greg, thanks for having me.
You do a great job. I'm a big fan of
your podcast, and so my name is Anthony de Maria.
I'm J. C. Brings nephew. I was very young when
Jay was killed in my parents we lived in Las Vegas, Nevada,
and Jay would visit us from time to time because
(01:28):
he actually did Jack and Trotter's hair at the head
of entertainment at the Sans Hotel and also did the
entire rat Packs hair with the exception of Dean Martin.
So Jay when he would visit us, he had an
indelible impression on me because anyone who does know Jay
or did not Jay, will regard the dynamic, charisma and
(01:51):
persona that he exuded. He was truly a one of
a kind. My mom said, whenever he would walk into
a room, people would look around, go who is that?
That's That's the kind of presence that he commanded. One afternoon,
it was on the weekend, and I was looking at
a family photo album and I was looking at a
black and white picture of japy Ten and he's staring
(02:11):
right into the camera. He's looking at me, and I
was so excited. I said, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, when
can I see him again? And she said, well, honey,
you can't see him. He's in heaven. And she walked
down the hall and I was left staring at that picture,
and it made it even more indelible because I'm looking
at him going Why can't I see you here? What
(02:32):
do you mean here? You're in He's in heaven? Why
is he in heaven? We have a weird homicide.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
The case has since become a bizarre national and international sensation.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Why is this CA's more complicated than other cases? What's
the difference?
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Well, how many cases and how many times do you have?
Five previous persons that are found murdered at the same time.
Speaker 6 (02:55):
A wandering band of members of a so called religious cult,
whether leader they call jess has had three of its
followers arrested in the investigation.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Of the murder of Sharon Tate and six others.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
The family's leader, Charles Manson, is jaiel On Gail.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It is expected that he will be charged in the
take murders.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was astonished at the people who were inspirations for
me creatively growing up and currently with Guarantino.
Speaker 7 (03:24):
The massive murders for all intensive purposes ended the sixties.
How free and easy it was it changed overnight, especially
if you're an La native like I am.
Speaker 8 (03:38):
It is truly died in the wool as part of
California culture. And I was seven years old in nineteen
sixty nine.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I also had this sentiment of like, I want to
know everything about this guy. And so once I was
old enough to read, or you know, to do any
of these different things, I started reading things. And one
of the most seminal moments was when I read Vince
Buliosi's book Helter Skelter, and I was dumbfounded. And I'm
reading this almost like this psychiatric evaluation, a character study
(04:08):
of my uncle, who frankly wasn't apparently any of the
things that I thought he was. Evidently, according to the
author Buliosi, Jay was troubled, he was insecure, he had
dark issues, and he was almost like pretentious in a thop,
trying to keep up with the Hollywood Joneses. So I thought,
where did this come from? Maybe he's not the man
(04:30):
that I remember that I was so proud of. I mean,
why would he write this stuff if there wasn't some
semblance of truth in him. One night, I was with
my friends at a slumber party. You were watching Saturday
Night Lives. We're in Jay's salon. Jay watched to Succeed
in Hollywood, and I heard my uncle's name and I
(04:50):
looked at the screen was shocked. Flash. I want to
go out where all the Life's Upbride, I want to
go out, and they did a whole skit that really
wasn't very funny.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I need a party with people I did important people.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I gotta think big that I was embarrassed. Got to
go disco, Got to go disco. Bye bye. Jay's life
and death were a joke on my favorite TV show.
I had to know the truth, and so anytime a
book came out or whatever, news reports and I would
consume everything I could. And then there was a hard
(05:30):
copy of Time magazine and it came out less than
two weeks after the murders, and the article was titled
A Night of Horror, and in it they described Jay
as being a health nut with violent convictions. Okay, he's
a health nut with violent convictions, and apparently in parentheses,
(05:52):
especially anti Negro. And I thought to myself, now, my
uncle is a racist. Where are they getting this from?
And then I started doing more research, and I'm thinking,
wait a minute, Jay's shop is completely integrated with Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Italians,
(06:12):
African Americans, homosexuals, women, and his friends Quincy Jones.
Speaker 9 (06:18):
I didn't even let's see a sniff of that bron
milk boy, I'm not even close.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Sam Cook, Calvin Lockhart, Sammy Davis were dear friends. Bill
Cosby got his haircut there. Well. I reached out to
Time magazine years later, and lo and behold, there's no byline,
there's no credited author. The victims.
Speaker 8 (06:40):
They were put on the stand, they were tried in
the court of public opinion, and probably Jay more than
any of them, actually through sallacious magazine articles and newspapers,
and by the way, the most reptable magazines and the
most reptable newspapers. Then when the Manson family are discovered,
all the magazines and all the journalists who had practically
(07:02):
vilified the victims for a whole year just turned around,
never apologize for anything they did, never said they were wrong,
never went out of their way to return the victims
to their proper place and their proper status, and just
enjoyed the monkey show.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
When we come back, more of the story of Jay
Sebring as told by his nephew Anthony Damaria here and
our American stories.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Plea habibe here.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Again, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to
our podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app over wherever
you get your podcasts. Every story we are here is
uploaded their daily and your support goes a long way
to keeping the great stories you love from this show
coming again. Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast
(08:08):
and we continue with our American Stories and the story
of Jay Sebring as told by his nephew Anthony DeMaria.
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Our family has been involved in parole hearings since two
thousand and four to keep the Manson killers behind bars,
and we have developed a good rapport with former ladas
Donald Biebowitz, Patrick Sekira and Stephen Kay and I asked
them in my research for Jay's story, I need to
know what Jay did in the last moments of his life,
because there's no mention of it. And I was fortunate
(08:45):
to go to the DA's office and go through the
testimonies of the only three people on the planet who
actually know what happened in that living room on that
night on Cielo Drive, Charles as they refer to him,
Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Cremlakele and they corroborated
each other. They revealed that Jay definitively aggressively attacked and
(09:09):
charged Charles Watson at a momentary lapse when Watson had
his back turned to Jay. But it was Atkins who
yelled out watch out and alerted Watson, and he turned
and as he said, I emptied the gun on that
man coming after me. And what I learned was, not
only did Jay attempt to fight back or stop these murders,
(09:30):
not once, but twice. I would hand friends of Jay
the autopsy reports and the forensic findings.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I'm going to read from the Reporter's daily transcript regarding
the trial of Charles Watson. Question what happened when the
group was in the room? Answer? A guy started toward me?
And question was this the man that had been on
the couch? Answer? No, it was another person. Question what
(10:04):
happened then? Answer? I remember I was kind of running
or jumping back and forth behind the couch and making
funny noises, and Sadie said watch out or something like that,
and I turned around and I emptied the gun on
this man. Oh my gosh, sock, whe my gosh, what's
(10:26):
your thoughts on unbelievable? It's just what you said, It's
just when you boas said, Shae went after.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And then I was asking why in the hell didn't
Buliosi put that in his book. If you're going to
do the so called what's considered the bible of these events,
you're going to omit that from a book. And as
far as the book goes, it kind of like he
just says, can't you see she's pregnant and they all
get killed? Can't you see she's pregnant.
Speaker 10 (10:55):
She's pregnant?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Now, why did you not put that in your book?
Because Jay's the hero? But in Vincent Vuliosi's true crime novel,
as it's described on the cover, the world's best selling
true crime novel, Vince is the hero of his own novel.
Speaker 11 (11:21):
Twenty five Here in La I got your hero, your
message about a J. Breen documentary. There's nothing I know
about him that is not in the book. But I
wish you the best of whatever project you're here on.
Take care sure, thank you buying.
Speaker 12 (11:39):
End this message, mister Demi Maria. My name is Scobleliosi
and Vince's wife, and he asked me to call you.
I guess you're doing a documentary on Jay Spring. He
never really met j Spring and really doesn't know anything
about him, so it wouldn't be a good idea to
(12:00):
interview him on day, Favre, but thank you for thinking
of him time.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
So then I knew, I said, I, this is a
story much larger than my quest to know the truth.
This is a story that people need to know to learn.
No one was doing what he ultimately cultivated and introduced
to the world that today is one hundred billion dollar
industry globally annually.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I dream that someday any man will be able to
go anywhere in the world and get the right kind
of a haircut.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Even as a child growing up in Michigan, his father
was a disciplinarian, you know, he was very rigid after
the Depression and such. But Jay was a dreamer and
he kind of did whatever he wanted to do, and
they clashed quite a bit. But as a child he
was very creative. He was a very gifted artist. He
would draw pictures of pin up girls and ships like
he had a fascination with the Mayflower and things like that,
(12:53):
and also Hollywood actors, you know, W. C. Fields and
Western sets and cars. He loved cars, and he just
he would not apply himself into school, and this really
became kind of a heated issue with he and his father,
who was you know, academic and everything. So on Jay's
seventeenth birthday, it was during the Korean War, he forged
(13:15):
his father's name to enlist into the Navy. Jay was thinking, Man,
I'm getting out of the house. I'm gonna go see
the world. I'm gonna be my own adult. And man,
he had a whole nother thing in store for him
because he thought his father was tough. So Jay, once,
you know, he went through the horrors of a navy aircut,
a military aircut. Jay started cutting his own hair. But
(13:36):
within the regiment of military you can't just do whatever
the hell you want. It's got a big So he
was able to start cutting his own hair within the
regiment and looking the best he could look in a
military situation. And then Larry Longlot and one of his
dearest friends, said, he cut my hair. And so what
he would do is he would charge his guy's cigarettes
(13:58):
or whatever he would and he started hutting the other
guy's his navy mates. So this way Jay could express
himself but also bring out the most attractive features of
his face in boone structure, but also diminished the more
distracting or unattractive features of a man's face. So if
you had a huge nose from the profile, you want
(14:18):
to keep it a little fuller in the back because now,
as Jay said, the man's not all up front.
Speaker 10 (14:25):
Everyone is basically looking for the same shape, even though
they're not aware of it. Now, the most important thing
is the outline. We're not so much concerned with detail
because it doesn't matter that much. The hair is the
framed for the face.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And later this would prove to be very important in
film and TV because from profile, if it clipped it
way too tight in the back, that nose is going
to look like a huge beat.
Speaker 10 (14:47):
The first time you see your customer, it's good if
he's sitting in the chair with his head wet after
the shampoo. That way you won't be influenced by the
way his hair was styled before. It is very important
that he has a copit that you know what you're doing.
In other words, you want to be able to dive
right in there and start working on him. Now, there
are three things that you watch for. Number one, the
(15:08):
shape of his face, Number two the structure of his hair,
and number three is position in life, which means that
there's a few questions Jill have to ask him. And
as you get friendly with the man, you're looking at
his hair. So you're right in there and you're starting
to make some moves and you know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
So this is where Jay he actually said that. You know,
he commented that he was smoking a cigarette on the deck,
a destroyer deck, thinking about what can I contribute? It
doesn't exist. And that's when he started thinking about cultivating
a style and men's hair care and design to men's haircutting.
So at that time, when Jay was considering all these things,
(15:46):
men went to barbers There was no such thing as
men getting their haircut by a beautician or a cosmetologist.
God forbid. Men went to barbershops, women went to beauty salons,
and nowhere in the two did they mix. Now you
have unisex salons all throughout the country. Jay made that happen.
So when he moved to la and became a cosmatologist
(16:07):
and started applying that to men's haircutting. And he always
was kind of firm to say men's hair designing because
at that time, a man getting his haircut by a
cosmetologist or getting hairstyled, that would be considered exclusively feminine.
So Jay was really articulate and how he what he
(16:28):
wanted to do, and he knew how difficult it would
be for him to educate the masses with men getting
their hair shampooed and condition men never had their hair shampoo.
But what he would do is go, hey, how you doing.
Nice to meet you, and he would fill the skull
and you know, run his hands through their hair. I'm
sure the guy's thinking, what the hell is this guy doing? Okay,
let's go to the shampoo. I'm I'm gonna shampoo and
massage your scout. Uh No, that's okay. Why don't you
(16:51):
just put the clippers on there? That That's what I'm
used to, That's what I'm comfortable with. You know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And you've been listening to Anthony Damaria tell one heck
of a story, not just about his uncle and my goodness,
what a pioneer, but about Vincent Biliosi and about writers
in general. The real hero of the story, we learn
very clearly, is his uncle, and that's Jay Jay Sebring.
(17:15):
He makes the charge after the actual murderers. Vincent Biliosi
wants himself to be the real hero of what is
hands down still to this day, the biggest selling crime
book of all time, Helter Skelter. Heck, the Beatles recorded
a song based on that title. But we also learned
(17:35):
that Jay was a pioneer. But in the end, j
turned men from going to barber's and getting their hair
cut to getting their hair designed and going to salon's,
a major cultural shift for men in this country and
started a hundred billion dollar a year industry. When we
come back more of the story of Jay sebring here
(17:55):
on our American story and we continue with our American
stories and Anthony de Maria Jay c brings nephew, telling
the story of not just the Manson murders, and not
(18:18):
just the nature of writers. Some writers to distort truths
to make themselves look better.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
But this is a.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Story about the uncle that no one knew but for
Vincent Buliosi's caricature of the man in his hit book
Helter Skelter. And now we returned to the story and
Anthony de Maia.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
He struggled quite a bit. His parents, they helped him financially,
but finally he was able to open his own shop.
And then he got his big break from Barbara Luna,
who was a stunning actress and they were dating. But
she brought Victimone in. Victamone was a crooner and he
was a great singer and he would perform at the
Sands Hotel in Las Vegas along with you know, the
(19:00):
rat pack is really the top notch entertainment. And as
she said, Jay was on his last dime, so Victim mohone.
He said, well, he gave me a haircut.
Speaker 13 (19:09):
It was like I've never had a haircut before, never
took a chunk out, you know, it was always a
just carved. It was like work of art. Someone had
to open the door for him, someone had to introduce him,
and that was me. I brought him to Jack Jacket
Trotter had of entertainment. He was one of the owners
(19:30):
of the Sans Hotel in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And as Barbara Luta said, vic gave Jay one hundred
dollars bill now one hundred dollars in nineteen fifty nine,
I think is the equivalent of like twelve hundred dollars now.
And she says that was the beginning of the monster
because Jay. Another thing that he did that people don't
realize is he exploded the payperadigm for barbers. Barbers were
getting seventy five cents to a dollar fifty. Jay said, no,
(19:55):
I'm gonna charge ten dollars, I'm gonna charge twenty dollars,
I'm gonna charge fifty dollars. I'll charge one hundred dollars.
And then I'm gonna church thousands of dollars, you know,
when he was flown on set and on site. And
so when Vick went to the Sands, Jack and Trotter,
the head of entertainment at the Sands, he saw Vic
and he said, what did you do? And he said,
this guy in West Hollywood just cut my hair. And
it was that transformative that Jack and Trotter said, I
(20:17):
want this guy to cut my hair. So he flew
j to cut his hair and it was a similar
transformative result. So then the entire rat Pack, with the
exception of Dean Martin, and I don't know why, but
from that moment on, Jade became the personal stylist of
the entire rat pack. Jay it was different.
Speaker 8 (20:34):
He created a market where there really wasn't one, not
just a haircut, but men's hair fashion.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Armors did that visions like that. So that was the
beginning of a big break. And then also Kirk Douglas
had hired Jay to do the Spartacus cut. So now
Jay had taken off, and at this point everyone in
Hollywood wanted their haircut by Jay, and everyone.
Speaker 14 (20:59):
He would have a client waiting, like Henry Fonda. Now
Jay started at three. I would hear his car drive
up and the building would shape. I would look at
my watch and it's three fifteen. I hear him slam
the door and go upstairs. I'd look at mister Fonda
(21:22):
and I would say, Jake'll be right here with you.
You know, he's probably stuck at the studio, but he
knows he has to three o'clock, and he says okay.
So all of a sudden, around three twenty, like a
world when Jay would come down, open door, where's my list?
Can you give me some coffee? And I'd look at
mister Fonda and he smiled. Everything was okay. Now Jay
(21:45):
was there.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But with that success came a lot of adversity, and
particularly from the field itself, the barbers and the barber's unit.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
When I first art of the hair designing business a
few years back, I was considered to be bizarre, some
kind of free. But as time went on, I made
up my mind that I was going to do all
that I could to elevate the profession. Strangely enough, my
biggest stumbling blocks have come from the profession itself.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
At first, they tried to shut him down by saying
it wasn't his right to cut men's hair because he's
a cosmetologist. And then they try to shake him down
with restrictions and rules. So they would have Board of
Barbering come into the shop and see your sink is
not the same proximity, and Jason, I'm not a barber.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
You are a designer of hair styles for men, right, yes,
right now, this is not to say a barber.
Speaker 15 (22:43):
No.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
As a matter of fact, I don't have a barber
license at all.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Shaving you don't do any of that.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 10 (22:51):
Allowed to buy law and if I was, I wouldn't
care to anyway.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And then ultimately the Barber's Union, which was there was
a lot of mobbing fluence, they tried to shake him
down through physical threats and Jay of course, Jack and
Trotter and some of the guys in Vegas they had
some friends too. So what they did is they tried
to figure out a way to work with Jay. So
he says, Okay, we'll have barbers on one half, but
(23:17):
you all have to know my technique. You have to
learn the seabring method and technique. So it was a
win win for Jay. So he's cutting Brando and Robert
Wagner and Sinatra and Steve McQueen and Paul Newman on
movie sets. But he's not a member of the Hair
(23:39):
and Makeup Union of the Guild, so they had him
kicked off the film lots and they literally had them banned. Well,
you're not going to tell Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Steve
McQueen who's going to cut their hair. And so they
started pulling their own weight and they would go to
Jay's or Jay would do it at their house or
what have you, and then they would show up when
they showed up.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Since I had had my hair designing center here in Hollywood,
I've cut almost every major television and motion picture star.
Yet I have only received one film credit. I'm a
member of the International Hair Designers Guild that's been set
up to protect the new breed of hair designers for
men and make sure that credit is given where credit
(24:18):
is due. If any of you are interested in finding
out more about this Gill, Please don't hesitate to contact
my representative or write me personally.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
One of the greatest examples, certainly Steve McQueen and Bullet
and Thomas Crown Affair, but Elektra Records in nineteen sixty
seven hired Jay to cut and style Jim Morrison's haircut
from The Doors, the lead singer of The Doors, So
he literally single handedly transformed Jim Morrison of the Doors
(24:49):
from a roadhouse rocker into a rock and roll sex symbol.
That look is just as pervasive and iconic today as
it was then. You'll see people wearing that shirt, a
shirt with that picture of Jim Moore. There's murals painted
on Laurel Canyon, There's a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in
which it has the picture. Because it's a rock and
roll type place, it's ubiquitous. It's in graffiti what his
(25:12):
work has been, and and no one pre sebringer since,
not just because he broke the mold and created the
industry in which afforded this type of expression. But you know,
I don't know of any male hair designer that has
a cut that is as definitive as Steve McQueen and Bullet,
or Thomas Grant or Jim Morrison or the rat Pack
(25:35):
or Spartacus. I mean, these are very definitive, timeless examples
of the ultimate male Hollywood cool. And some people refer
to Steve McQueen as the King of cool. And if
that be the case, then Jay Sebring is the architect
of cool. Quentin Tarantino very astutely acknowledged that these were
people who gravitated towards j Sebring.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
The man Day's story has never been called. And I
was always curious what made Jay so different? Why was
Jay the man who would be king?
Speaker 2 (26:09):
What was it made in them?
Speaker 4 (26:11):
People liked him?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
It was that something.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
Yes he gave a great haircut, and yes he did
a good job. But part of the reason Steve McQueen
and Paul Newmandle is they dug him.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
They just done Jack.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And you've been listening to Anthony Damaria tell the story
of Jay Sebring and what a story it is, And
that moment Victimone came in and Victimhone was the singer
of singers, the singers singer along with Sinatra and Tony
Bennett in his day, and when Damone said, when he
gave me a haircut. It was like I never had
a haircut before. Damon would then refer Jay to countless
(26:51):
famous clients, and the next thing you know, he's working
on the air of Brando Newman, McQueen and Wagner, the
biggest stars in Hollywood. And he wasn't trying to compete
with the barbers. But the barbers didn't like what he
was up to. They used rules, regulations, came after him
in every way, but an industry was being created, and
(27:12):
in the end, men too wanted their hair.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
To look good.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
It wasn't just a woman thing. When we come back
more of the story of Jay Sebring here on our
American story and we continue with our American stories and
(27:39):
the story of j Sebring. Let's pick up where we
last left off with Anthony DeMaria Jay Sebrings nephew.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
What I really appreciate what Quentin learned, because he did
extensive research for his film Once upon a Time in Hollywood.
He learned, and I certainly observe with Dennis Hopper and
Quincy Jones and beat all Sas and Nancy Sinatra firsthand
that Jay was the star among the stars. He literally
yielded power and influence with that. Again, very few people notice,
(28:13):
but Jay single handedly launched Bruce Lee's entire film career
when he was cutting. Now see, he used to train
with Ed Parker, who was a great martial artist who
later became Elvis Presley's personal bodyguard and his martial arts mentor.
So Jay and Ed trained extensively, and Ed Parker had
(28:33):
said to Jay, you got to see this guy at
the Ed Parker International Invitational in nineteen sixty four. So
Jay saw a young man from Oakland named Bruce Lee,
and in that they became friends. Linda Lee describes this
awesome moment.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
William Dosher was looking for an actor who was preferably agent,
who could fight, and was fit and good looking and
could speak English.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Well.
Speaker 15 (29:00):
Jay got the footage of the demonstration to William Doser,
and so you know, Bruce went down to Hollywood and
did a screen task.
Speaker 11 (29:12):
Past next two, Take one's Lee.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Now, Bruce just looked right into the camera.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Lend right here and tell us your name, your agent,
where you were born.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
My last name is Lee, Bruce Lee.
Speaker 11 (29:23):
I was born in San Francisco, nineteen forty.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I'm twenty four right now.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
You know, the rest is history. But getting the part
as Cato in The Green Hornet led to Bruce's entire career.
After that, Jay and Bruce had a relationship then that
went on for years, and they would trade professions. So
Jay would cut Bruce's hair and Bruce would teach Ja
(29:51):
Gong Fu lessons.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
What happened was Jay was cutting a producer named William Doser,
who was the producer of Batman and ultimately The Green Hornet,
and he had shared with Jay that you know, I
got to hire an Asian guy who actually can act
and actually knows how to fight. Now, it's important to
note that this was a time when many Hollywood executives
(30:14):
didn't think that Asian actors could play Asian characters. I mean,
it's laughable now, but you know, you had John Wayne
playing Genghis Khan. You had Mickey Rooney playing that horrible,
you know, cartoonish character in Breakfast at Tiffany's. But Jay
exploded that myth. And so when he said I know
your guy, and he said what's his name? He said,
(30:34):
Bruce Lee says, what's he done? Nothing?
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Go down? Okay, thank you, emma.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Then he did his screen test, and of course the
rest is history. So if you look at Bruce Lee
before Sebring, he kind of looks like a doe college kid,
but his hair is real short. So what Jay did
is he made it toward Bruce's hair was shaggier and
extended sideburns, because what that would do is slim his
face down a little bit and also bring your attention
(31:02):
to Bruce's eyes. And that was really enhancing the attractive
features to Bruce's film presence. And Linda said, not only
was that haircut for Bruce definitive, she says that I
credit Jay with being Bruce's Hollywood style mentor. So if
you look at Bruce Lee pre Sebring, and then you
juxtapose it with Enter the Dragon and that very famous
(31:24):
clip where Bruce is wearing the leather, he's got the sunglasses,
his hair is longer, shaggy, and he says, be like
water a water, my friend, that's the Sebring imprint. If
you look at Steve McQueen, who was often referred to
as I just said, the King of Cool, they're not
talking about his early Western TV show and the blob. Okay,
(31:46):
that haircut was not it. They're talking about Bullet. They're
talking about the Thomas Crown Affair The Great Escape. By
the way the Great Escape, Jay pretty much cut the
entire lead cast of The Great Escape all the way
from Attenborough to James Gardner, Jimmy Coburn, all of them.
And Jay would introduce Bruce to all his personal friends
(32:07):
like James Coburn, Steve McQueen, and Jay was facilitating Bruce
Lee's entire a list private lesson clients. You know. Just
another definitive documentation is that on Steve's deathbed he said
Jay Sebring was my best friend. And when I heard
the tape.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Jay Sebringer was my best friend.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
At that time in the sixties, it didn't get any
bigger than Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. Everyone wanted a
piece of them, or to be a part of them.
They wanted to be their best friends. But Steve wanted
to be Jay Sebring's best friend. At the time when
Jay Sebring was murdered, he hadn't even reached the pinnacle
of his success yet. In sixty six, he launched the
(32:51):
first pH balanced organic shampoo, conditioner hairspray product line in
his own name, eight years before Vilsa soon did, no
one talked about organic In nineteen sixty six, he was
passing legislation it would allow cosmetologists to cut men's hair
in barbers to cut women's hair. He just opened his
(33:12):
shop in San Francisco. He was going to expand to
New York City with plans to go to Paris, France,
and London, England. And when he was murdered, so was
his reputation and his legacy. So news coverage gave way
to speculation. Speculation gave away to titillation and what is
now the industrial complex of the Manson murders.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Now part of the interests in the public in this
horrible crime was the overstating of the nature of the injuries.
Saying that Sharon Tate was nude and j se Bring
had only torn box of shorts on just not true.
It was fully clothed, she wasn't nude, That Seabring had
(33:56):
been drinking, no evidence for that at all. Theology was
completely negative for alcohol, handle all drugs that were sexually mutilated.
Her left breast being cut off, no, absolutely not no
evidence of sexual mutilation on anybody.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
You know. It was really astounding the discovery the reveals.
First to see how much Quincy Jones loved Jay, but
then for him to read and be godsmacked that he's
reading the autopsy reports and the forensic findings in real time.
He says, wait, wait, wait, but they didn't take out
(34:36):
the baby, well, they.
Speaker 9 (34:37):
Didn't take the baby album. Really, these are Wow, you
have done your homework now, this is all those Wow,
this is incredible. This is a public record level.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It really shows that even it's so extensive the distortion,
the dramatic narratives and the sensational narratives, that even people
that are very in the know and very intelligent, they
still believe some of these these things. And it's not
a comment on them, it's just how extensive the distortion
(35:13):
really is and how entrenched these narratives are. And when
Quincy had that revelation, he had it as a friend.
He had it as the relief that Jay wasn't sexually mutilated.
You know, Dennis Hopper to see first of all, how
he revered and respected Jay. I just felt great love
(35:33):
from him, and I felt the same for him.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I do remember him taking me to the house often
telling you keep the faith.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
It was really important to that tell him use they
didn't really have anybody like that in my life, and
I know he helped a lot of people are quiet
too give in.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
London, getting when they're having a hard time, are not
charging her to hear cruit And I asked Dennis, what
is your last memory of Jay?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I could say this would be easier, it seems so impossible.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I don't think I ever let him go. He loved Jay.
His life is actually a very inspiring, positive, glorious life.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Hi, my name is Jay Sebring and I'm thirty five
years old. Now we have basically covered everything possible, and
I would like to leave you with this closing thought.
Sometimes when I feel guam and things look pretty dim,
I remember it myself.
Speaker 10 (36:35):
And that is for every positive action, there's an equal
and positive reaction, and doing everything your best and then
to God leave the rest.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
j Sebring's nephew, Anthony DeMaria. He, along with Marshall Terrell,
co author J Sebring Cutting to the Truth. He is
also the producer of the documentary by the same name,
and Anthony is an actor who's appeared on shows like Deadwood,
(37:07):
The Sopranos, and CSI, but this by far, and I
know I'm speaking for you, Anthony, but I think I'm right. No,
I know I'm right. This is the most important thing
you've done in film, by far, and thank you for
sharing it with us. It's a story about so many things,
about a pioneer, an innovator, a man who challenged the
(37:27):
status quo and took his lumps for it, and also
a guy who well he had other people love him
because he loved them, and he was an artist and
took men's hair care to another level.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
He gave men permission.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
To care about how they looked, and boy do we
ever And again the stars. He helped Bruce Lee, I mean,
he made his career for all intents and purposes, and
then the style of my goodness Steve McQueen and of
course Jim Morrison. And most importantly, he restored the legacy
and reputation of his uncle smeared by Vincent Buliossi, the
(38:06):
author of Helter Skelter The Story of J. C. Bring
here on our American stories
This is Lehabib and this is our American stories. In
the glitchen glamour of nineteen sixties Hollywood, Jay Seabring began
what is now a hundred billion dollar a year industry,
the men's hair care industry. Most people think of haircare
as something just for women. Sea brings revolutionary techniques and
(00:32):
signature charm to male legends like Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen,
and Paul Newman to his chair the glamorous of the glamorous.
Yet his extraordinary legacy was overshadowed by the horrifying Manson
family murders. Here to tell the story is J. SE
brings nephew, Anthony DeMaria. He, along with Marshall Terrell, co
(00:56):
author J sebring cutting to the truth. The producer of
the documentary by the same name. Jay's an actor who's
appeared on shows like Deadwood, The Sopranos, and CSI.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Let's take a listen. Well, first, Greg, thanks for having me.
You do a great job. I'm a big fan of
your podcast, and so my name is Anthony de Maria.
I'm J. C. Brings nephew. I was very young when
Jay was killed in my parents we lived in Las Vegas, Nevada,
and Jay would visit us from time to time because
(01:28):
he actually did Jack and Trotter's hair at the head
of entertainment at the Sans Hotel and also did the
entire rat Packs hair with the exception of Dean Martin.
So Jay when he would visit us, he had an
indelible impression on me because anyone who does know Jay
or did not Jay, will regard the dynamic, charisma and
(01:51):
persona that he exuded. He was truly a one of
a kind. My mom said, whenever he would walk into
a room, people would look around, go who is that?
That's That's the kind of presence that he commanded. One afternoon,
it was on the weekend, and I was looking at
a family photo album and I was looking at a
black and white picture of japy Ten and he's staring
(02:11):
right into the camera. He's looking at me, and I
was so excited. I said, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, when
can I see him again? And she said, well, honey,
you can't see him. He's in heaven. And she walked
down the hall and I was left staring at that picture,
and it made it even more indelible because I'm looking
at him going Why can't I see you here? What
(02:32):
do you mean here? You're in He's in heaven? Why
is he in heaven? We have a weird homicide.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
The case has since become a bizarre national and international sensation.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Why is this CA's more complicated than other cases? What's
the difference?
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Well, how many cases and how many times do you have?
Five previous persons that are found murdered at the same time.
Speaker 6 (02:55):
A wandering band of members of a so called religious cult,
whether leader they call jess has had three of its
followers arrested in the investigation.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Of the murder of Sharon Tate and six others.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
The family's leader, Charles Manson, is jaiel On Gail.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It is expected that he will be charged in the
take murders.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was astonished at the people who were inspirations for
me creatively growing up and currently with Guarantino.
Speaker 7 (03:24):
The massive murders for all intensive purposes ended the sixties.
How free and easy it was it changed overnight, especially
if you're an La native like I am.
Speaker 8 (03:38):
It is truly died in the wool as part of
California culture. And I was seven years old in nineteen
sixty nine.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I also had this sentiment of like, I want to
know everything about this guy. And so once I was
old enough to read, or you know, to do any
of these different things, I started reading things. And one
of the most seminal moments was when I read Vince
Buliosi's book Helter Skelter, and I was dumbfounded. And I'm
reading this almost like this psychiatric evaluation, a character study
(04:08):
of my uncle, who frankly wasn't apparently any of the
things that I thought he was. Evidently, according to the
author Buliosi, Jay was troubled, he was insecure, he had
dark issues, and he was almost like pretentious in a thop,
trying to keep up with the Hollywood Joneses. So I thought,
where did this come from? Maybe he's not the man
(04:30):
that I remember that I was so proud of. I mean,
why would he write this stuff if there wasn't some
semblance of truth in him. One night, I was with
my friends at a slumber party. You were watching Saturday
Night Lives. We're in Jay's salon. Jay watched to Succeed
in Hollywood, and I heard my uncle's name and I
(04:50):
looked at the screen was shocked. Flash. I want to
go out where all the Life's Upbride, I want to
go out, and they did a whole skit that really
wasn't very funny.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I need a party with people I did important people.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I gotta think big that I was embarrassed. Got to
go disco, Got to go disco. Bye bye. Jay's life
and death were a joke on my favorite TV show.
I had to know the truth, and so anytime a
book came out or whatever, news reports and I would
consume everything I could. And then there was a hard
(05:30):
copy of Time magazine and it came out less than
two weeks after the murders, and the article was titled
A Night of Horror, and in it they described Jay
as being a health nut with violent convictions. Okay, he's
a health nut with violent convictions, and apparently in parentheses,
(05:52):
especially anti Negro. And I thought to myself, now, my
uncle is a racist. Where are they getting this from?
And then I started doing more research, and I'm thinking,
wait a minute, Jay's shop is completely integrated with Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Italians,
(06:12):
African Americans, homosexuals, women, and his friends Quincy Jones.
Speaker 9 (06:18):
I didn't even let's see a sniff of that bron
milk boy, I'm not even close.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Sam Cook, Calvin Lockhart, Sammy Davis were dear friends. Bill
Cosby got his haircut there. Well. I reached out to
Time magazine years later, and lo and behold, there's no byline,
there's no credited author. The victims.
Speaker 8 (06:40):
They were put on the stand, they were tried in
the court of public opinion, and probably Jay more than
any of them, actually through sallacious magazine articles and newspapers,
and by the way, the most reptable magazines and the
most reptable newspapers. Then when the Manson family are discovered,
all the magazines and all the journalists who had practically
(07:02):
vilified the victims for a whole year just turned around,
never apologize for anything they did, never said they were wrong,
never went out of their way to return the victims
to their proper place and their proper status, and just
enjoyed the monkey show.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
When we come back, more of the story of Jay
Sebring as told by his nephew Anthony Damaria here and
our American stories.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Plea habibe here.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Again, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to
our podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app over wherever
you get your podcasts. Every story we are here is
uploaded their daily and your support goes a long way
to keeping the great stories you love from this show
coming again. Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast
(08:08):
and we continue with our American Stories and the story
of Jay Sebring as told by his nephew Anthony DeMaria.
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Our family has been involved in parole hearings since two
thousand and four to keep the Manson killers behind bars,
and we have developed a good rapport with former ladas
Donald Biebowitz, Patrick Sekira and Stephen Kay and I asked
them in my research for Jay's story, I need to
know what Jay did in the last moments of his life,
because there's no mention of it. And I was fortunate
(08:45):
to go to the DA's office and go through the
testimonies of the only three people on the planet who
actually know what happened in that living room on that
night on Cielo Drive, Charles as they refer to him,
Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Cremlakele and they corroborated
each other. They revealed that Jay definitively aggressively attacked and
(09:09):
charged Charles Watson at a momentary lapse when Watson had
his back turned to Jay. But it was Atkins who
yelled out watch out and alerted Watson, and he turned
and as he said, I emptied the gun on that
man coming after me. And what I learned was, not
only did Jay attempt to fight back or stop these murders,
(09:30):
not once, but twice. I would hand friends of Jay
the autopsy reports and the forensic findings.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I'm going to read from the Reporter's daily transcript regarding
the trial of Charles Watson. Question what happened when the
group was in the room? Answer? A guy started toward me?
And question was this the man that had been on
the couch? Answer? No, it was another person. Question what
(10:04):
happened then? Answer? I remember I was kind of running
or jumping back and forth behind the couch and making
funny noises, and Sadie said watch out or something like that,
and I turned around and I emptied the gun on
this man. Oh my gosh, sock, whe my gosh, what's
(10:26):
your thoughts on unbelievable? It's just what you said, It's
just when you boas said, Shae went after.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And then I was asking why in the hell didn't
Buliosi put that in his book. If you're going to
do the so called what's considered the bible of these events,
you're going to omit that from a book. And as
far as the book goes, it kind of like he
just says, can't you see she's pregnant and they all
get killed? Can't you see she's pregnant.
Speaker 10 (10:55):
She's pregnant?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Now, why did you not put that in your book?
Because Jay's the hero? But in Vincent Vuliosi's true crime novel,
as it's described on the cover, the world's best selling
true crime novel, Vince is the hero of his own novel.
Speaker 11 (11:21):
Twenty five Here in La I got your hero, your
message about a J. Breen documentary. There's nothing I know
about him that is not in the book. But I
wish you the best of whatever project you're here on.
Take care sure, thank you buying.
Speaker 12 (11:39):
End this message, mister Demi Maria. My name is Scobleliosi
and Vince's wife, and he asked me to call you.
I guess you're doing a documentary on Jay Spring. He
never really met j Spring and really doesn't know anything
about him, so it wouldn't be a good idea to
(12:00):
interview him on day, Favre, but thank you for thinking
of him time.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
So then I knew, I said, I, this is a
story much larger than my quest to know the truth.
This is a story that people need to know to learn.
No one was doing what he ultimately cultivated and introduced
to the world that today is one hundred billion dollar
industry globally annually.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I dream that someday any man will be able to
go anywhere in the world and get the right kind
of a haircut.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Even as a child growing up in Michigan, his father
was a disciplinarian, you know, he was very rigid after
the Depression and such. But Jay was a dreamer and
he kind of did whatever he wanted to do, and
they clashed quite a bit. But as a child he
was very creative. He was a very gifted artist. He
would draw pictures of pin up girls and ships like
he had a fascination with the Mayflower and things like that,
(12:53):
and also Hollywood actors, you know, W. C. Fields and
Western sets and cars. He loved cars, and he just
he would not apply himself into school, and this really
became kind of a heated issue with he and his father,
who was you know, academic and everything. So on Jay's
seventeenth birthday, it was during the Korean War, he forged
(13:15):
his father's name to enlist into the Navy. Jay was thinking, Man,
I'm getting out of the house. I'm gonna go see
the world. I'm gonna be my own adult. And man,
he had a whole nother thing in store for him
because he thought his father was tough. So Jay, once,
you know, he went through the horrors of a navy aircut,
a military aircut. Jay started cutting his own hair. But
(13:36):
within the regiment of military you can't just do whatever
the hell you want. It's got a big So he
was able to start cutting his own hair within the
regiment and looking the best he could look in a
military situation. And then Larry Longlot and one of his
dearest friends, said, he cut my hair. And so what
he would do is he would charge his guy's cigarettes
(13:58):
or whatever he would and he started hutting the other
guy's his navy mates. So this way Jay could express
himself but also bring out the most attractive features of
his face in boone structure, but also diminished the more
distracting or unattractive features of a man's face. So if
you had a huge nose from the profile, you want
(14:18):
to keep it a little fuller in the back because now,
as Jay said, the man's not all up front.
Speaker 10 (14:25):
Everyone is basically looking for the same shape, even though
they're not aware of it. Now, the most important thing
is the outline. We're not so much concerned with detail
because it doesn't matter that much. The hair is the
framed for the face.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And later this would prove to be very important in
film and TV because from profile, if it clipped it
way too tight in the back, that nose is going
to look like a huge beat.
Speaker 10 (14:47):
The first time you see your customer, it's good if
he's sitting in the chair with his head wet after
the shampoo. That way you won't be influenced by the
way his hair was styled before. It is very important
that he has a copit that you know what you're doing.
In other words, you want to be able to dive
right in there and start working on him. Now, there
are three things that you watch for. Number one, the
(15:08):
shape of his face, Number two the structure of his hair,
and number three is position in life, which means that
there's a few questions Jill have to ask him. And
as you get friendly with the man, you're looking at
his hair. So you're right in there and you're starting
to make some moves and you know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
So this is where Jay he actually said that. You know,
he commented that he was smoking a cigarette on the deck,
a destroyer deck, thinking about what can I contribute? It
doesn't exist. And that's when he started thinking about cultivating
a style and men's hair care and design to men's haircutting.
So at that time, when Jay was considering all these things,
(15:46):
men went to barbers There was no such thing as
men getting their haircut by a beautician or a cosmetologist.
God forbid. Men went to barbershops, women went to beauty salons,
and nowhere in the two did they mix. Now you
have unisex salons all throughout the country. Jay made that happen.
So when he moved to la and became a cosmatologist
(16:07):
and started applying that to men's haircutting. And he always
was kind of firm to say men's hair designing because
at that time, a man getting his haircut by a
cosmetologist or getting hairstyled, that would be considered exclusively feminine.
So Jay was really articulate and how he what he
(16:28):
wanted to do, and he knew how difficult it would
be for him to educate the masses with men getting
their hair shampooed and condition men never had their hair shampoo.
But what he would do is go, hey, how you doing.
Nice to meet you, and he would fill the skull
and you know, run his hands through their hair. I'm
sure the guy's thinking, what the hell is this guy doing? Okay,
let's go to the shampoo. I'm I'm gonna shampoo and
massage your scout. Uh No, that's okay. Why don't you
(16:51):
just put the clippers on there? That That's what I'm
used to, That's what I'm comfortable with. You know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And you've been listening to Anthony Damaria tell one heck
of a story, not just about his uncle and my goodness,
what a pioneer, but about Vincent Biliosi and about writers
in general. The real hero of the story, we learn
very clearly, is his uncle, and that's Jay Jay Sebring.
(17:15):
He makes the charge after the actual murderers. Vincent Biliosi
wants himself to be the real hero of what is
hands down still to this day, the biggest selling crime
book of all time, Helter Skelter. Heck, the Beatles recorded
a song based on that title. But we also learned
(17:35):
that Jay was a pioneer. But in the end, j
turned men from going to barber's and getting their hair
cut to getting their hair designed and going to salon's,
a major cultural shift for men in this country and
started a hundred billion dollar a year industry. When we
come back more of the story of Jay sebring here
(17:55):
on our American story and we continue with our American
stories and Anthony de Maria Jay c brings nephew, telling
the story of not just the Manson murders, and not
(18:18):
just the nature of writers. Some writers to distort truths
to make themselves look better.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
But this is a.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Story about the uncle that no one knew but for
Vincent Buliosi's caricature of the man in his hit book
Helter Skelter. And now we returned to the story and
Anthony de Maia.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
He struggled quite a bit. His parents, they helped him financially,
but finally he was able to open his own shop.
And then he got his big break from Barbara Luna,
who was a stunning actress and they were dating. But
she brought Victimone in. Victamone was a crooner and he
was a great singer and he would perform at the
Sands Hotel in Las Vegas along with you know, the
(19:00):
rat pack is really the top notch entertainment. And as
she said, Jay was on his last dime, so Victim mohone.
He said, well, he gave me a haircut.
Speaker 13 (19:09):
It was like I've never had a haircut before, never
took a chunk out, you know, it was always a
just carved. It was like work of art. Someone had
to open the door for him, someone had to introduce him,
and that was me. I brought him to Jack Jacket
Trotter had of entertainment. He was one of the owners
(19:30):
of the Sans Hotel in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And as Barbara Luta said, vic gave Jay one hundred
dollars bill now one hundred dollars in nineteen fifty nine,
I think is the equivalent of like twelve hundred dollars now.
And she says that was the beginning of the monster
because Jay. Another thing that he did that people don't
realize is he exploded the payperadigm for barbers. Barbers were
getting seventy five cents to a dollar fifty. Jay said, no,
(19:55):
I'm gonna charge ten dollars, I'm gonna charge twenty dollars,
I'm gonna charge fifty dollars. I'll charge one hundred dollars.
And then I'm gonna church thousands of dollars, you know,
when he was flown on set and on site. And
so when Vick went to the Sands, Jack and Trotter,
the head of entertainment at the Sands, he saw Vic
and he said, what did you do? And he said,
this guy in West Hollywood just cut my hair. And
it was that transformative that Jack and Trotter said, I
(20:17):
want this guy to cut my hair. So he flew
j to cut his hair and it was a similar
transformative result. So then the entire rat Pack, with the
exception of Dean Martin, and I don't know why, but
from that moment on, Jade became the personal stylist of
the entire rat pack. Jay it was different.
Speaker 8 (20:34):
He created a market where there really wasn't one, not
just a haircut, but men's hair fashion.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Armors did that visions like that. So that was the
beginning of a big break. And then also Kirk Douglas
had hired Jay to do the Spartacus cut. So now
Jay had taken off, and at this point everyone in
Hollywood wanted their haircut by Jay, and everyone.
Speaker 14 (20:59):
He would have a client waiting, like Henry Fonda. Now
Jay started at three. I would hear his car drive
up and the building would shape. I would look at
my watch and it's three fifteen. I hear him slam
the door and go upstairs. I'd look at mister Fonda
(21:22):
and I would say, Jake'll be right here with you.
You know, he's probably stuck at the studio, but he
knows he has to three o'clock, and he says okay.
So all of a sudden, around three twenty, like a
world when Jay would come down, open door, where's my list?
Can you give me some coffee? And I'd look at
mister Fonda and he smiled. Everything was okay. Now Jay
(21:45):
was there.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But with that success came a lot of adversity, and
particularly from the field itself, the barbers and the barber's unit.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
When I first art of the hair designing business a
few years back, I was considered to be bizarre, some
kind of free. But as time went on, I made
up my mind that I was going to do all
that I could to elevate the profession. Strangely enough, my
biggest stumbling blocks have come from the profession itself.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
At first, they tried to shut him down by saying
it wasn't his right to cut men's hair because he's
a cosmetologist. And then they try to shake him down
with restrictions and rules. So they would have Board of
Barbering come into the shop and see your sink is
not the same proximity, and Jason, I'm not a barber.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
You are a designer of hair styles for men, right, yes,
right now, this is not to say a barber.
Speaker 15 (22:43):
No.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
As a matter of fact, I don't have a barber
license at all.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Shaving you don't do any of that.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 10 (22:51):
Allowed to buy law and if I was, I wouldn't
care to anyway.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And then ultimately the Barber's Union, which was there was
a lot of mobbing fluence, they tried to shake him
down through physical threats and Jay of course, Jack and
Trotter and some of the guys in Vegas they had
some friends too. So what they did is they tried
to figure out a way to work with Jay. So
he says, Okay, we'll have barbers on one half, but
(23:17):
you all have to know my technique. You have to
learn the seabring method and technique. So it was a
win win for Jay. So he's cutting Brando and Robert
Wagner and Sinatra and Steve McQueen and Paul Newman on
movie sets. But he's not a member of the Hair
(23:39):
and Makeup Union of the Guild, so they had him
kicked off the film lots and they literally had them banned. Well,
you're not going to tell Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Steve
McQueen who's going to cut their hair. And so they
started pulling their own weight and they would go to
Jay's or Jay would do it at their house or
what have you, and then they would show up when
they showed up.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Since I had had my hair designing center here in Hollywood,
I've cut almost every major television and motion picture star.
Yet I have only received one film credit. I'm a
member of the International Hair Designers Guild that's been set
up to protect the new breed of hair designers for
men and make sure that credit is given where credit
(24:18):
is due. If any of you are interested in finding
out more about this Gill, Please don't hesitate to contact
my representative or write me personally.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
One of the greatest examples, certainly Steve McQueen and Bullet
and Thomas Crown Affair, but Elektra Records in nineteen sixty
seven hired Jay to cut and style Jim Morrison's haircut
from The Doors, the lead singer of The Doors, So
he literally single handedly transformed Jim Morrison of the Doors
(24:49):
from a roadhouse rocker into a rock and roll sex symbol.
That look is just as pervasive and iconic today as
it was then. You'll see people wearing that shirt, a
shirt with that picture of Jim Moore. There's murals painted
on Laurel Canyon, There's a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in
which it has the picture. Because it's a rock and
roll type place, it's ubiquitous. It's in graffiti what his
(25:12):
work has been, and and no one pre sebringer since,
not just because he broke the mold and created the
industry in which afforded this type of expression. But you know,
I don't know of any male hair designer that has
a cut that is as definitive as Steve McQueen and Bullet,
or Thomas Grant or Jim Morrison or the rat Pack
(25:35):
or Spartacus. I mean, these are very definitive, timeless examples
of the ultimate male Hollywood cool. And some people refer
to Steve McQueen as the King of cool. And if
that be the case, then Jay Sebring is the architect
of cool. Quentin Tarantino very astutely acknowledged that these were
people who gravitated towards j Sebring.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
The man Day's story has never been called. And I
was always curious what made Jay so different? Why was
Jay the man who would be king?
Speaker 2 (26:09):
What was it made in them?
Speaker 4 (26:11):
People liked him?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
It was that something.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
Yes he gave a great haircut, and yes he did
a good job. But part of the reason Steve McQueen
and Paul Newmandle is they dug him.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
They just done Jack.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And you've been listening to Anthony Damaria tell the story
of Jay Sebring and what a story it is, And
that moment Victimone came in and Victimhone was the singer
of singers, the singers singer along with Sinatra and Tony
Bennett in his day, and when Damone said, when he
gave me a haircut. It was like I never had
a haircut before. Damon would then refer Jay to countless
(26:51):
famous clients, and the next thing you know, he's working
on the air of Brando Newman, McQueen and Wagner, the
biggest stars in Hollywood. And he wasn't trying to compete
with the barbers. But the barbers didn't like what he
was up to. They used rules, regulations, came after him
in every way, but an industry was being created, and
(27:12):
in the end, men too wanted their hair.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
To look good.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
It wasn't just a woman thing. When we come back
more of the story of Jay Sebring here on our
American story and we continue with our American stories and
(27:39):
the story of j Sebring. Let's pick up where we
last left off with Anthony DeMaria Jay Sebrings nephew.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
What I really appreciate what Quentin learned, because he did
extensive research for his film Once upon a Time in Hollywood.
He learned, and I certainly observe with Dennis Hopper and
Quincy Jones and beat all Sas and Nancy Sinatra firsthand
that Jay was the star among the stars. He literally
yielded power and influence with that. Again, very few people notice,
(28:13):
but Jay single handedly launched Bruce Lee's entire film career
when he was cutting. Now see, he used to train
with Ed Parker, who was a great martial artist who
later became Elvis Presley's personal bodyguard and his martial arts mentor.
So Jay and Ed trained extensively, and Ed Parker had
(28:33):
said to Jay, you got to see this guy at
the Ed Parker International Invitational in nineteen sixty four. So
Jay saw a young man from Oakland named Bruce Lee,
and in that they became friends. Linda Lee describes this
awesome moment.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
William Dosher was looking for an actor who was preferably agent,
who could fight, and was fit and good looking and
could speak English.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Well.
Speaker 15 (29:00):
Jay got the footage of the demonstration to William Doser,
and so you know, Bruce went down to Hollywood and
did a screen task.
Speaker 11 (29:12):
Past next two, Take one's Lee.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Now, Bruce just looked right into the camera.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Lend right here and tell us your name, your agent,
where you were born.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
My last name is Lee, Bruce Lee.
Speaker 11 (29:23):
I was born in San Francisco, nineteen forty.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I'm twenty four right now.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
You know, the rest is history. But getting the part
as Cato in The Green Hornet led to Bruce's entire career.
After that, Jay and Bruce had a relationship then that
went on for years, and they would trade professions. So
Jay would cut Bruce's hair and Bruce would teach Ja
(29:51):
Gong Fu lessons.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
What happened was Jay was cutting a producer named William Doser,
who was the producer of Batman and ultimately The Green Hornet,
and he had shared with Jay that you know, I
got to hire an Asian guy who actually can act
and actually knows how to fight. Now, it's important to
note that this was a time when many Hollywood executives
(30:14):
didn't think that Asian actors could play Asian characters. I mean,
it's laughable now, but you know, you had John Wayne
playing Genghis Khan. You had Mickey Rooney playing that horrible,
you know, cartoonish character in Breakfast at Tiffany's. But Jay
exploded that myth. And so when he said I know
your guy, and he said what's his name? He said,
(30:34):
Bruce Lee says, what's he done? Nothing?
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Go down? Okay, thank you, emma.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Then he did his screen test, and of course the
rest is history. So if you look at Bruce Lee
before Sebring, he kind of looks like a doe college kid,
but his hair is real short. So what Jay did
is he made it toward Bruce's hair was shaggier and
extended sideburns, because what that would do is slim his
face down a little bit and also bring your attention
(31:02):
to Bruce's eyes. And that was really enhancing the attractive
features to Bruce's film presence. And Linda said, not only
was that haircut for Bruce definitive, she says that I
credit Jay with being Bruce's Hollywood style mentor. So if
you look at Bruce Lee pre Sebring, and then you
juxtapose it with Enter the Dragon and that very famous
(31:24):
clip where Bruce is wearing the leather, he's got the sunglasses,
his hair is longer, shaggy, and he says, be like
water a water, my friend, that's the Sebring imprint. If
you look at Steve McQueen, who was often referred to
as I just said, the King of Cool, they're not
talking about his early Western TV show and the blob. Okay,
(31:46):
that haircut was not it. They're talking about Bullet. They're
talking about the Thomas Crown Affair The Great Escape. By
the way the Great Escape, Jay pretty much cut the
entire lead cast of The Great Escape all the way
from Attenborough to James Gardner, Jimmy Coburn, all of them.
And Jay would introduce Bruce to all his personal friends
(32:07):
like James Coburn, Steve McQueen, and Jay was facilitating Bruce
Lee's entire a list private lesson clients. You know. Just
another definitive documentation is that on Steve's deathbed he said
Jay Sebring was my best friend. And when I heard
the tape.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Jay Sebringer was my best friend.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
At that time in the sixties, it didn't get any
bigger than Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. Everyone wanted a
piece of them, or to be a part of them.
They wanted to be their best friends. But Steve wanted
to be Jay Sebring's best friend. At the time when
Jay Sebring was murdered, he hadn't even reached the pinnacle
of his success yet. In sixty six, he launched the
(32:51):
first pH balanced organic shampoo, conditioner hairspray product line in
his own name, eight years before Vilsa soon did, no
one talked about organic In nineteen sixty six, he was
passing legislation it would allow cosmetologists to cut men's hair
in barbers to cut women's hair. He just opened his
(33:12):
shop in San Francisco. He was going to expand to
New York City with plans to go to Paris, France,
and London, England. And when he was murdered, so was
his reputation and his legacy. So news coverage gave way
to speculation. Speculation gave away to titillation and what is
now the industrial complex of the Manson murders.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Now part of the interests in the public in this
horrible crime was the overstating of the nature of the injuries.
Saying that Sharon Tate was nude and j se Bring
had only torn box of shorts on just not true.
It was fully clothed, she wasn't nude, That Seabring had
(33:56):
been drinking, no evidence for that at all. Theology was
completely negative for alcohol, handle all drugs that were sexually mutilated.
Her left breast being cut off, no, absolutely not no
evidence of sexual mutilation on anybody.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
You know. It was really astounding the discovery the reveals.
First to see how much Quincy Jones loved Jay, but
then for him to read and be godsmacked that he's
reading the autopsy reports and the forensic findings in real time.
He says, wait, wait, wait, but they didn't take out
(34:36):
the baby, well, they.
Speaker 9 (34:37):
Didn't take the baby album. Really, these are Wow, you
have done your homework now, this is all those Wow,
this is incredible. This is a public record level.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It really shows that even it's so extensive the distortion,
the dramatic narratives and the sensational narratives, that even people
that are very in the know and very intelligent, they
still believe some of these these things. And it's not
a comment on them, it's just how extensive the distortion
(35:13):
really is and how entrenched these narratives are. And when
Quincy had that revelation, he had it as a friend.
He had it as the relief that Jay wasn't sexually mutilated.
You know, Dennis Hopper to see first of all, how
he revered and respected Jay. I just felt great love
(35:33):
from him, and I felt the same for him.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I do remember him taking me to the house often
telling you keep the faith.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
It was really important to that tell him use they
didn't really have anybody like that in my life, and
I know he helped a lot of people are quiet
too give in.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
London, getting when they're having a hard time, are not
charging her to hear cruit And I asked Dennis, what
is your last memory of Jay?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I could say this would be easier, it seems so impossible.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I don't think I ever let him go. He loved Jay.
His life is actually a very inspiring, positive, glorious life.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Hi, my name is Jay Sebring and I'm thirty five
years old. Now we have basically covered everything possible, and
I would like to leave you with this closing thought.
Sometimes when I feel guam and things look pretty dim,
I remember it myself.
Speaker 10 (36:35):
And that is for every positive action, there's an equal
and positive reaction, and doing everything your best and then
to God leave the rest.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
j Sebring's nephew, Anthony DeMaria. He, along with Marshall Terrell,
co author J Sebring Cutting to the Truth. He is
also the producer of the documentary by the same name,
and Anthony is an actor who's appeared on shows like Deadwood,
(37:07):
The Sopranos, and CSI, but this by far, and I
know I'm speaking for you, Anthony, but I think I'm right. No,
I know I'm right. This is the most important thing
you've done in film, by far, and thank you for
sharing it with us. It's a story about so many things,
about a pioneer, an innovator, a man who challenged the
(37:27):
status quo and took his lumps for it, and also
a guy who well he had other people love him
because he loved them, and he was an artist and
took men's hair care to another level.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
He gave men permission.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
To care about how they looked, and boy do we
ever And again the stars. He helped Bruce Lee, I mean,
he made his career for all intents and purposes, and
then the style of my goodness Steve McQueen and of
course Jim Morrison. And most importantly, he restored the legacy
and reputation of his uncle smeared by Vincent Buliossi, the
(38:06):
author of Helter Skelter The Story of J. C. Bring
here on our American stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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