he was only a kid...

Farewell Vidal Sassoon crimper to the stars and antifascist urban guerilla.

"He was only a kid, but he was a tough little shtarka", says a former group commander and comrade, retired paratrooper Gerry Lambert, using a Yiddish word that corresponds, more or less, to hard man. Many former 43ers remember Vidal well and his solid reputation of standing firm when the fists started flying. "To think what a big deal hairdresser he would become," said one of the veterans. "You would never have guessed to see him there, deep in the fray. At that time he was just the sort of guy you wanted standing right by your side when the fighting started. And back then, of course, we often had to break the law. It was out of necessity. We had to use the same weapons as the fascists did: knuckle-dusters, coshes, and cut throat razors". 

Inevitably the police arrested hundreds of people during the five years of organised violence and on at least one occasion the young Sassoon found himself in jail. "I've lost count of the number of actions I was involved in," he smiles, "but I do remember the night we were told to go up to Kilburn [in north-west London], to break up a fascist meeting. There was a real punch-up. We chased the blackshirts into a pub, but we were ourselves being chased by the police. They arrested us on the spot, threw us in the back of the van and started calling us filthy foreign Jew bastards. They beat the hell out of my old friend Big Mo Levy and threw us in a cell for the night". 

Sassoon pauses to reflect on his days of valour in a different world, before he succeeded Teasy Weasy Raymond as crimper to the stars...

Comments

[hellblazer]

Seems to be a problem with the first link.

(amended now, thanks for the tip - JK)

[ajay]

Coco Chanel, L'Oréal and Hugo Boss, meanwhile, were on the other side.

[Barry Freed]

Wow, well I'll never wear Chanel again.

[ajay]

You're switching to Balenciaga?

[dsquared]

I know you mean "the other side" in general terms, but I have decided instead to believe that all three of them were regularly having punchups in Bethnal Green.

[ajay]

With Nina Ricci on the sidelines screeching "Deck 'im, Hugo! Put the boot in, my son!"

[Richard J]

And not one of them could get into Ralph Lauren's country club.

[bert]

Ralph Lauren was a jewish tie salesman, old sport, rather like Jay Gatz.

Here's a story about L'Oreal's man in the US hunting down and eliminating Helena Rubinstein.

[SF Reader]

House of Guerlain still pitching it in from the other side, broadly speaking:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/29/jean-paul-guerlain-racist-insults

Sad thing is this dude is younger than Sassoon, and yet oh soooooo old. World is a strange, odd place.

[ajay]

Good link, bert.

Someone needs to suggest this to Adam Tooze, if he's looking for another book subject. It'd be the perfect demographic crossover topic.

[Richard J]

Ralph Lauren was a jewish tie salesman, old sport, rather like Jay Gatz.

You know, I rather thought this was the case. Bah. That'll teach me not to do my research.

[Barry Freed]

If you had to grow up in the Bronx with the surname of Lifshitz you'd probably change it too.

[Alex]

John Galliano, of course, joined Team Drunken Anti-Semitic Rant.

I think Alexander McQueen would have picked better.

[ajay]

So the entire fashion industry is made up of people who are either Jewish, anti-semitic, or crazed by malnutrition? It must be quite a place to work.

[sf reader]

I don't think Galliano was crazed by malnutrition, I think he is just fou tout court. Although alcohol does only contribute empty calories . . .

[ajay]

No, Galliano would be category 2.

[sf reader]

Agreed, with an extraordinarily unhealthy dose of the third, each potentiating each other - how lovely!

[ejh]

So the entire fashion industry is made up of people who are either Jewish, anti-semitic, or crazed by malnutrition?

Something similar could be said of high-level chess for much of the last century.