Slow-Motion Memoir: An Illustrated History, installment #39
1972-73: Among my souvenirs of a past that I’ve been taking a closer look at recently as research for this piecemeal autobiography, are a small selection of tear-sheets printed on newsprint now yellowing, from a small tabloid whose masthead reads Voice of the Industry: MILLINERY & WIG RESEARCH, Head-to-Toe Fashion Accessories Coverage. The intact tear-sheets from the bi-weekly which came out every other Wednesday, cover a brief period from late ’72 to early ’73. Nearly a year before – February 2, 1972 to be exact – an illustration I had drawn for Alexis Kirk, jewelry designer, and originally reproduced as a Kirk company mailer, got double mileage by being reproduced in the tabloid — see the June 2 posting for a picture.
Eventually the publication’s art director, who had noticed the Kirk illustration in the spring, got around to calling me in mid-fall about doing free-lance work. I was more than happy to comply. The eleven surviving tear-sheets, dated November 22, 1972 through February 28, 1973, from seven different issues, feature numerous line drawings, similar to the two details shown here, of stylish hats, plus a few wigs, that were used as editorial illustrations. I even made the cover four times. Why the work came to an abrupt halt after such a brief period, is anyone’s guess. I was moving too fast to keep accurate track of all the ins and outs, ups and downs of my evolving career; not to mention the increasingly chaotic nature of my personal life as I sailed unknowingly into my first Saturn return.
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