Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-14

III tulS 6IUC VI tAC "A$S
simply a method of curling the hair. In
Paris. Marcel is also a personality, 9
famous hairdresser who retired "a
years age with a comfortable income.
Monsieur Marcel measures up to
most of the fixed standards OF great
ness as set forth in magazine articles
on successful men. He was poor and
started at the bottom of the ladder.
Some day an American financial wiz
ard is going to achieve super fame by
managing to start out in life some
where below the bottom of the ladder.
Marcel ran true to tradition. however.
He started out as a poor apprentice IN
a barber shop.
He further compiled with American
traditions by mysteriously sensing the
line where success awaited him. he
reasoned that there should be better
prospects in the business OF making
women beautiful than in the prosaic
trade of making men appear civilized.
! This was really q remarkable con-
~clusion for Marcel to reach because the
women's hairdressing business was
slumping. There was nothing startling.
nothing very monumental about Golf
fure styles and women stayed at home
and arranged their W flowing locks.
Yet the young French apprentice
who was to rescue the trade from its
precarious situation gazed into the fu-
ture and had visions of success as a
ladies' coiffeur. as he dreamiiy ran the
razor over a customers chin. Eventu-
ally fate and his iron-jawed determine
ton led the young apprentice into a
Partisan hairdressing establishment.
Here, again. he followed out the
r,.lno En- -,o,<~>r1 rofthfn1v He first
attempt at arranging a woman's hair.
when he was 10 years old. was a total
failure. The effect was so crude that
the customer angrily took down her
hair and rearranged it herself. Marcel
was dismissed from the shop forthwith.
Yet. from this inauspicious debut. or
rather because of it, the young appren-
tice rose to the heights of his art.
1t would take too long to point out
how Marcel developed almost all the
points of the greet American business
hero. 1t is sufficient to say that he is
a noble example of the power of obser-
%vatiOn. perseverance. patience, inltla-
tive, diplomacy. and modesty.
His Mother His Inspiration
He was 20 years old. and engaged in
hairdressing in Paris. when he noticed
Tx "aNC vi hiS l ~ 1890
He studied il admiringly and thought
with a sigh of the straight haired wom-
en- who came into the shop TO be
made beautiful. The methods OF curl
ing hair then were tiresome and result
ed often in frizZ'ed looking mOps.
Strands of hair were braided or rolled
in apers and then squeezed into kinks
between the prongs of a curling iron.
Or else strands of hair were wrapped
around and around a hot iron.
Marcel tried to copy the rolling
curves of his mothers hair with an
iron. He had little success at first.
but as he pract'ced he worked out a
method. and dizziness and precision IN
using the irons came to him.
He had the idea that the waves
could be placed successfully only in soft
fluffy hair. He tried waving such hair
occasionally when he was asked to ar
range a coiffure. Then a straight haired
woman who had seen one of his
curly coiffures came into his shop and
demanded waves. Marcel demurred.
The lady's hair was stiff: it was not
the suitable type. But the customer
had come determined to have waves.
Finally Marcel shifted all responsible
" and TOOL up his irons. Later the
customer sailed out triumphant in
achieving her ambition for curls. and
Marcel decided that he had made an
important discovery. After that he
curled all corners. and the straighter
the heir the more startling the trans
formation.
When his wave began 70 be fashion
able in Paris, about 35 years ago. Mar
cells shop was so packed with custom
ers that special prices were offered for
immediate service. Then anxious WON
en-. panic-stricken at the thought of
facing a straight-haired evening. began
to bid for the next turn at the waving
Irons. When important social func-
tons were pending. bids for a real Mar
eel wave, quick. rose to 500.
Marcel taught his method to assist
ants, wore his own beard and hair au
naturel. and finally retired. Now. he
is 20 years old and Paris is going to
celebrate in his honor. He gave the
hairdressing business a boost when it
was in a slump and the business has
never fallen back into that depression.
No woman. we understand. can wave
her own hair to look like a professional
job. Yet waves are admired. So the
hairdressers smile and thank heaven
for Monsieur Marcel and his epoch
making invention.
A Nine Day Fete
Plans to make Marcel's fete Il not
able event are already well under way.
celebration is 10 last nine days in
October. There are to be exhibitions
of all the implements. styles and meth
DDS known to modern hairdressers.
An elaborate collection of wax figures
will show the history of c0iffures. The
Partisan pubic will be shown the lat
est methods for achieving a permanent
wave and changing the color of ones
hair. Experts in turning out comp!i-
Gated coiffures will engage in exciting
contests.
Marcel will be dined and his work
described and lauded. The climax in
the orgy of waves will he a ball with
m%annequins on display and the women
present waved according TO the method
by the guest of honor.
The invention Of Marcel ia a simple
affair. When skillfully done
his wave is supposed to resemble the
ripple in curly hair. 1t might
seem odd that with curling irons of
various sorts in use no one had imita-
ted waves before Marcel's time.
In reality the wave is more subtle
than it appears. Marcel spent several
years experimenting before he was able
to produce a wave that was satisfac-
tory to him. A less determined or de-
bo;r dreocar would prnhab1y have