January 17, 2004

The Roots of Kim Basinger

It is said, and not without a smudge of truth, that the history of soap is the history of advertising. For a quick tour of this concept, you might spend a bit of time scouring the new onlline exhibit, Soap In America , at the Smithsonian.

All sorts of small items of information have been pressed into this cake. Not the least of which is the item linked here, a 1972 ad featuring Ann & Kim Basinger. If you follow the link and supersize the graphic you'll find that Kim "was the winner of Breck's annual Hairstyling Contest which is a special feature of America's Junior Miss Pageant."

Sadly, she's let her hair care slip a bit in the intervening years.

kim8.jpg
"You're the first man in five years who didn't tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute. "

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UPDATE: In one of those common moments of synchronicity, within two hours of writing the above, I stumbled across the fact that "The Breck Girl," thought to be an emblem of a kinder and gentler time, is still with us on the campaign trail:

Senator John Edwards has a somewhat different issue to combat -- that he is, for lack of a more appropriate phrase, too pretty. Teased early on in the campaign for his perfectly coiffed hair and dubbed the Breck Girl....
-- Dress for Hoped-For Success

Posted by Vanderleun at January 17, 2004 10:32 AM | TrackBack
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