# Veronica Lake's peekaboo hair **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911 "2003-06-01T06:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/1 "2003-06-01T06:09:36Z")
In what film(s) did Veronica Lake wear her hair over one side of her face? That peekaboo look has become so synonymous with film-noir detective stories that genre parodies will usually throw in the femme fatale with the hair covering one side of her face. But I can’t seem to find pictures of Lake with her hair actually that way. Did she do that in only one film? ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/2 "2003-06-01T06:50:15Z")
This gun For Hire, w/ Alan Ladd. BTW,hair was bleached & VL was not her real name. ---
**Author:** ![TigoleBitties](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/3 "2003-06-01T08:00:17Z")
Yep. Real name…Fred Watchanoski Ok not really but it would give a good reason for the peekaboo hair Real name…Constance Frances Marie Ockleman Actually Fred does not sound too bad after that mouthful ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/4 "2003-06-01T11:54:01Z")
I thought she was like that in all of her films, at least more than one. She wore that style in Sullivan’s Travels, definitely. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/5 "2003-06-01T14:23:26Z")
If the Sullivan’s Travels DVD commentary is to be believed, she wore her hair that way until WW2 started, at which point she stopped to help the war effort. (The fear was that fannish female war plant workers would get their Lake-like tresses tangled in the machinery…) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/6 "2003-06-01T17:58:37Z")
According to “The Great Movie Stars,” Lake was officially asked by the US government to cut off her long hair because women on assembly lines were emulating her and getting caught in the machinery. She complied in 1943, just prior to shooting **So Proudly We Hail**. It was the beginning of the end of her career. She lost the mystery that made her a star and that, added to some bad choices, began a long sad decline into obscurity and alchoholism. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/7 "2003-06-01T18:00:38Z")
Are you saying [Flesh Feast](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0065727) wasn’t a classic!? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/8 "2003-06-01T18:24:38Z")
[Here](http://silverscreensirens.com/veronica.htm) are four pages of photos of the lovely Miss Lake, some with hair over one eye; some not. A friend of mine was researching her for a possible biography and feels the “US Goverment asked her to change her hairdo” story was actually a publicity scheme by her studio. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/9 "2003-06-01T20:05:54Z")
_The Glass Key_ (1942) was on TCM last week; Veronica Lake has her hair over one eye in some scenes, but wears it up, away from her face, in others. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/10 "2003-06-01T20:05:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*[Here](http://silverscreensirens.com/veronica.htm) are four pages of photos of the lovely Miss Lake, some with hair over one eye; some not. > > A friend of mine was researching her for a possible biography and feels the “US Goverment asked her to change her hairdo” story was actually a publicity scheme by her studio. \*\* Google is indeed my friend. In fact, we’re so close, Eve, that Google is thinking of naming its next child after me. But check out the pictures you linked – there is only one photo in the batch in which her hair really is covering the side of her face. In a few of the others, she has a wave that comes close to her right eye, but it’s nothing like covering her face. I googled a lot earlier, and I was surprised that so _few_ of the pictures of her had that peekaboo style she was famous for, which made me think she wore it that way perhaps in only one movie or two. Think of all the imitators and parodies – especially Jessica Rabbit – with the hair completely over one side of the face. But as near as I can tell, Lake rarely wore her hair like that. I’ve only seen a few of her movies, but she’s really fascinating. Too bad her life turned out so horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/11 "2003-06-01T20:14:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miss Mapp \* > \*\*_The Glass Key_ (1942) was on TCM last week; Veronica Lake has her hair over one eye in some scenes, but wears it up, away from her face, in others. \*\* Thanks, Miss Mapp. The [movie poster](http://tvguide.com/Movies/database/ShowMovie.asp?MI=28557) in fact shows her this way, but the image must be flipped because it’s on the left side. I’ll have to catch that movie again. I particularly remember William Bendix stealing the show – and to steal the show in a movie with Veronica Lake takes some doing. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/12 "2003-06-01T20:15:16Z")
Remember, too, that hairstyles in the early '40s were generally off-the-face; upsweeps and curls held back with combs. Even Rita Hayworth, with her glorious mane, wore it swept off her face. So Veronica’s ill-behaved hair, seemingly unstyled, was something enitirely new. Very “bedroom.” So even if it rarely covered one eye completely, it still had that effect compared to everyone else’s starched and pinned hair. Remember the song “A Sweater, a Sarong and a Peek-a-Boo Bang”–extra points for remembering who the sweater and the sarong were . . . ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/13 "2003-06-01T20:49:55Z")
Barbara Stanwyck and Hedy Lamarr. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/14 "2003-06-01T21:05:49Z")
I noticed from looking at those pictures that her face wasn’t symmetrical. It looks like she has her left eyebrow permanently arched. Maybe the lopsided hairdo was meant to camoflage that? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/15 "2003-06-01T21:06:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **Remember, too, that hairstyles in the early '40s were generally off-the-face; upsweeps and curls held back with combs. Even Rita Hayworth, with her glorious mane, wore it swept off her face. So Veronica’s ill-behaved hair, seemingly unstyled, was something enitirely new. Very “bedroom.” So even if it rarely covered one eye completely, it still had that effect compared to everyone else’s starched and pinned hair.** That’s a good point, Eve. Next time she’s on, I’ll watch for this. It’s interesting that all the parodies and “tributes” to her wear the hair straight down the middle of the face, cyclops fashion. I think maybe Lake herself had her hair like this only rarely. (Note to others: Eve Golden is the expert on this. Check out her books at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com).) And if Barbara Stanwyck is the sweater, I’d bet that’s from “Double Indemnity.” (Great movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/16 "2003-06-01T21:10:21Z")
The Sarong would be Dorothy Lamour. I think there was an actress who was known as the sweater girl - Lana Turner? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/17 "2003-06-01T21:21:23Z")
Damn, I think you’re right about the sarong, Manduck, and possibly the sweater, too. I’m never quite so hopeless as when I’m being clever. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/18 "2003-06-01T21:45:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Robot Arm \* > **Damn, I think you’re right about the sarong, Manduck, and possibly the sweater, too.** That’s the way I remember it: Lana Turner, Dorothy Lamour, and Veronica Lake. I don’t remember who “The Body” was, dammit. DD ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/19 "2003-06-01T22:06:01Z")
Jane Russell? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911/20 "2003-06-01T23:45:29Z")
You’d think “The Sweater” _would_ be Lana Turner . . . But in the film _Star Spangled Rhythm_ (1942), the song was sung by Paulette Goddard (“A Sweater”), Dorothy Lamour (“A Sarong”) and Veronica Lake (" . . . and A Peek-a-Boo Bang"). My guess is they couldn’t get Lana. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veronica-lakes-peekaboo-hair/178911.md?page=2)