# What's with all the raven-haired women in movies forty years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2013, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327 "2013-02-25T06:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/21 "2013-02-26T02:21:24Z")
Some of it was a carryover from the 50s and early 60s preoccupation with sexy Mediterranean types, male and female. Before that, Rita Hayworth had to, with the help of a little shave off the bridge of her nose and some hair dye, go from a [beautiful Spanish brunette](http://st.gdefon.ru/wallpapers_original/actors/55831_rita-xyejvort_or_rita-hayworth_1600x1200_%28www.GdeFon.ru%29.jpg) to a [smoking British-American ginger](http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/3-rita-hayworth-ca-1940s-everett.jpg), which got her out of Hollywood’s “exotic foreigner” ghetto. Then came the mid-60s, when every girl in my school, even the Italians, was suddenly blonde. Or, in the case of the Poles, blonder. By the late 60s and early 70s there was a hippy backlash that valued natural hair color, typified by Ali McGraw (half Jewish). Well, that and the cultural remembrance that Italian and Jewish (and Greek and Spanish…) girls are really hot, with their flowing raven tresses that become iridescent in the sun and whose looks keep a lot better than blondes. The Prophet, may a truly righteous piece be upon him, knew the power of Arabian women’s hair and thought it best if it stayed covered, lest men get distracted. And their eyes, because a guy could get lost in their inky depths; so mysterious; so enrapturing… What was I talking about? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/22 "2013-02-26T05:02:03Z")
LOL! ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/23 "2013-02-26T05:26:19Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > By the late 60s and early 70s there was a hippy backlash that valued natural hair color, typified by Ali McGraw (half Jewish). Well, that and the cultural remembrance that Italian and Jewish (and Greek and Spanish…) girls are really hot It is only within the past year that I discover 1967 Playmate Kim Farber, who I expect to have a lengthy reign as my Favorite Naked Woman On The Internet. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/24 "2013-02-26T06:06:58Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > It is only within the past year that I discover 1967 Playmate Kim Farber, who I expect to have a lengthy reign as my Favorite Naked Woman On The Internet. Huh, I didn’t think bikini waxing was typically done back then. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/25 "2013-02-26T17:44:47Z")
Ali McGraw has been mentioned a couple of times here, as the “it girl” of the early 70’s and as typifying a look. Ali Mcgraw made only 4 movies between 1970 and 1980 - 1 each in '70 and '72, then 1 each year in '78 and '79. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/26 "2013-02-27T15:38:07Z")
How about Goldie Hawn as the “It” girl of that era? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/27 "2013-02-27T16:28:48Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Huh, I didn’t think bikini waxing was typically done back then. They called it “airbrushing.” Playboy was famously bush-free for years. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327/28 "2013-02-27T16:31:51Z")
" Playboy was famously bush-free for years." Not my recollection [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-raven-haired-women-in-movies-forty-years-ago/651327.md?page=1)