Jackie Kennedy's Hairstylist Tells All, Peter Lamas on JFK & Jackie O

[00:00:01] Hey Paul, why are you packing all your shit? You going somewhere? I'm doing a house call. Oh cool, what are you doing? I can't tell you, I signed a DNA. Really? I thought you spit those out.

[00:00:26] Real hairdressers telling real stories about their experiences from behind the salon chair. And we are now saying the quiet parts out loud. This is Sh!t I Told My Hairdresser.

[00:00:37] So, my hairdresser, we got one more episode again for you lovely people. Paula, how are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm in the market for a new hairdresser. Any suggestions? Well, I don't know if he's still doing hair, but let me tell you.

[00:01:07] Guys, I need to cut to the chase really fast here. I'm going to go through and say, hey guys, thank you so much. Hit the subscribe button wherever you go through and get this podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Hit us up on Instagram, on TikTok. Give us a follow. Also, we want to hurt some little ears, so give us your stories. This one, we're not going to be burning some ears, maybe not hurting any ears because let's get right down to it.

[00:01:32] We have Peter Lamas with us today and this man is an absolute legend. Legend. Legend. Absolute legend. He has wrote a book. And we need to go through and talk about the book. We need to talk about his life. We need to talk about the people he's met. We interviewed him before we did this podcast. We were on the phone for an hour and a half, and then Peter and I got back on the phone again.

[00:01:58] And let me tell you, it went, I mean, I just couldn't get enough. And I think you're really going to enjoy this person. So, Jackie's, Kennedy's hair stylist is the name of the book, right Peter? Yes, correct. Can I show it? All right. Can I show it all? Please, slash, show us the book, show us the cover. Absolutely. Um, guys, I want you guys to go through it. Peter, if you would go through and introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about like where you started.

[00:02:27] I was blown away just hearing about who you worked with. And then we'll get into the book and some of the stories inside there. Okay. I was going to title the book from Cuba to Camelot. And then they, Oh, yeah, I like that. That would have been good. I like that even better, but that's for another conversation. And the reason I mentioned that also is because I was born and raised in Cuba until the age of 17. I lived in that beautiful island.

[00:02:54] And then I was basically forced to leave for political reasons to come to the US. Spoke, didn't speak the language. I had no clue about how to talk in English and speak in English. And I had never been to this country. So it was all brand new to me. That experience, quite frightening and upsetting.

[00:03:18] And, but it was the best decision my mother and father ever made to leave that amazing island and come here because I wouldn't be here today talking to you if it wasn't because of their decision to do so. For more than just the political reasons. And, uh, arrived in this country, started immediately learning English. It's all in the book. It's a very interesting experience I had.

[00:03:44] And the people that I met living in Brooklyn Heights would go to a park with my English, Spanish dictionary and language. And yet these older people that were retired, they would sit there and they would look at me and were curious. And all of a sudden they realized, I mean, it's you didn't have to be a genius to figure out I'm trying to learn English. Right.

[00:04:06] And they helped me so much sitting on a park bench in the promenade of Brooklyn Heights, looking at Manhattan, which for me, that was like a wedding cake because that view is beyond believing. And at the time, the world trade center was just being, uh, uh, uh, constructed. And, uh, so cutting to the chase, I started working. I was a messenger first, and then I started waiting on tables and somebody I'm an artist.

[00:04:36] I always, I took up, uh, when I was in school, art was my love. And I took many courses in art, uh, sketching, painting, sculpting. So that allowed me to come into the profession that we're here talking about as a stylist. It just, it was part of who I am because of the gifts I was blessed with. And, uh, so I went to a beauty school.

[00:05:01] I was actually, I went to art school, the art students league of New York city on 57th street and 6th Avenue. I still remember going in there applying. And I couldn't afford it, but they had special, uh, programs for, uh, you know, people, uh, gifted talent that couldn't afford to go to that expensive. Uh, yeah. Wonderful school. And, uh, I went, I entered, I, I, uh, matriculated and I started studying and the girls would come. They couldn't afford sometimes haircuts.

[00:05:30] And they say, I kind of cut my hair, but I can't afford it. I don't know what to do. I said, look, my father was a barber. So to me, that was nothing, you know, out of the ordinary watching my father cut hair and do. And I, I stopped there. I think that. So I borrowed a sister for my father that he had an extra pair. And I would come to school and after class, I would trim their hair, not to go as short as you are Paula, but you know, basic trimming because they all basically had those.

[00:05:57] And that, in that particular time, long hair, straight long hair was in. So I would say, somebody said, instead of waiting on tables, why don't you take up hair styling? You, you will do better, great tips. And it's part of who you are. It's creative. So I said, why not? And I got it. I went to beauty school to get, uh, certified as the saying goes.

[00:06:18] And when I graduated, I was thinking now what, because you know, you're, you're so limited in what you learn in school, uh, to get your license and to get, um, certified. So, uh, in Cuba and Europe, you have apprenticeship programs. You don't go to a beauty school. You enter a salon. Right. Your apprenticeship. Exactly. Well, that's what I was looking for, but no one was doing that except for two places in New York City.

[00:06:47] Fidel Sassoon had just come into the scene and Kenneth Battelle, who was the Mecca of all hairstyling, uh, uh, ambience, uh, in New York, where all the socialites and the celebrities went in. But I went to be also soon because of this concept of what he introduced brand new to hairstyling. He was so innovative at the time. And I knocked at the door. I went to both places. I filled out applications.

[00:07:17] And they said, well, we'll call you. Let us, you know, like, well, a day later, after, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the experience and filling out the application. And he, they called me and said, can you come in tomorrow? And so I, I ran and didn't walk the following day. And they said, we're interested in hiring you, but you got to bring us two models because we want to test you. We just don't hire somebody off the street with the, you know. So I, I said to him, Hey, I love this line.

[00:07:46] I said, do me what I mean this. I said, I'm not looking for a job. I'm looking for an opportunity to prove myself and learning your technique and demonstrating to you my commitment for this incredible gift and opportunity. Yeah. And the guy looked at me in my, I didn't understand English that well, but I could, I could speak as a pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty well. And he said to me, I've never had anyone tell me this.

[00:08:15] So now I'm curious to see, I hope bring the two, the model for two haircuts. That's what he had to do. Not two people, but one person go from long to medium to short. At that time, that's what they were doing as an entrance exam. Yeah. And I passed it to make a long story short. I started working, uh, uh, Pearson, uh, Robert Pearson, Paul Mitchell were the style directors at the time. I believe I was. Oh my God. Oh yes. It's such a history lesson.

[00:08:43] If you guys are listening, listen to this. This is, this is where these guys, did you know that you were walking into history at this point? No, no, no. You don't know until, until later. It's crazy. I just heard rumors and I had this incredible imagination to say, Hey, this is somehow I knew this was something. Yeah. And that's where I went to the source. Yeah.

[00:09:04] And that place really, uh, gave me the opportunity to learn to, I was mentored by Paul Mitchell, uh, uh, Pearson, Robert Pearson. Wow. By then he, he's the, the icing of the cake. Uh, not everybody got to assist Vidal. Right. But I claimed myself, I would show there, show up early, leave late, no complaints. I was always there to help everybody.

[00:09:29] They realized, and they may pay attention that this guy that is not wasting our talent. Mm-hmm . And they, then they went in the training. They saw my gifted talent. And if I may say it that way, because I, you know, art has been always something in me. It's not sure. I went chasing it. It was part of who I am. And they saw that talent and they said, you know what? We got something different here. So they asked me to, at Jeff Vidal Sassoon's domain.

[00:09:59] Mm-hmm . He was on the third floor, second, third floor. And, uh, not every assistant had that privilege or opportunity. I was one of those blessed with that opportunity, went up there. Nice. And he immediately and I kind of connected while they are, the first, second week there, he says to me, we're traveling to California to Los Angeles next week. I'm going to get the tickets.

[00:10:27] It's an, and it wasn't a, I believe it was in a West in midweek. He says, just be prepared. And that's such a day, bring the luggage because we're going to leave from the salon, go to this airport, fly to LA. Didn't tell me why, for what reason, nothing. Right. And, um, as that, when that moment happened and I showed up with my luggage, small luggage, we only could be here two days. And, uh, we got on a plane and when we got there, he went first class. I went, like, coach.

[00:10:58] Yeah. That's how it always is. Everybody knows that. Yeah. So we landed, we were picked up by some limo from Paramount and taken to the Beverly Hilton. And then from there, the following morning, we went, uh, late morning, we went to, uh, the Paramount studios. I remember watching in the fifties, Gloria Swanson's sunset Boulevard movie. Yeah. As she entered the Paramount gates.

[00:11:23] And here again, a kid from Cuba who barely spoke English with Vidal Sassoon entry, the Paramount gates and said, somebody pinch me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you've never, if you've never been through the Paramount gates or have actually sat on the lot, it's a magical place. I have pictures of the water tower. I mean, like sitting there because you're sitting there, you're sitting there forever. You know what I mean? But just like getting through the gates and everything that it is surreal.

[00:11:53] So that feeling you never, or that moment you learn. You don't, you don't, you don't. I had the feeling because I watched the movie. So I kind of had a, an image of what it was. Yes. And there I am and living color, as I say, you know, going through. They, we went to one, I forgot the studio. I think whatever the number was at the time. And he, as we drove a little bit into the studio, we couldn't go all the way. We got out of the car and she says, take the, I was carrying the, a small briefcase

[00:12:20] with all his scissors and combs and blowers and whatever it is that I needed to have. He needed to have. And we went on a small stage, nothing, nothing, nothing tall. And there was a table and he said, set up everything there. The chair was there. He says, just wait for me there because it'll soon begin. Well, I waited there almost an hour. I figured, should I still stay here? I'm going to go have water, go to the bathroom, all of these things. And I'm so nervous. He finally shows, comes on stage with the presenter.

[00:12:50] And there was so many reporters and cameras. And I was just wondering where am I? Because he still hasn't told me anything. Just said, stay there and you'll assist me. Period. Yeah. And that the announcement says to the press, good morning. Good morning. Hello. And ladies and gentlemen, we're here to be announcing the Joss of Sue. What are we here for? And he says, he is giving the most expensive haircut ever given. And we have the privilege of watching it today happen.

[00:13:17] And the lucky recipient of the $5,000 haircut. Please come up and Mia Farrow and Mia Farrow shows up with Frank Sinatra. Whoa. They had just been married. And I'm saying, oh, I can't curse. You can do whatever the fuck you want. Oh, you can do whatever. Yeah. And my head was saying, oh. Was this the haircut in the boxing ring? It was like a boxing ring. Yeah. Yeah. That's. You got better memory than I do.

[00:13:48] And anyway, so he, she comes up and I set her up and prepared her and then he starts cutting the hair. And that was my, one of my major experience, first major experience working with Vidal Sassoon. Was she lovely? Wow. She was great. Oh, good. In fact, years later, here's a quick story. I met her in Columbus Circle on Columbus Avenue in New York City. I was coming out of a luncheon, whatever at the time. And she was coming with her kids walking in Columbus Avenue with shopping bags.

[00:14:16] And so I said, Miss Farrow, you remember me, but you know my wife, because my wife was her children's teacher. And she lived at the time with Andrew Previn in Westchester County, in Bedford Hills and Westchester County. So I said, I'm Peter Lamas, my daughter, Victoria Lamas. She's here, Victoria. Oh, I love your wife. She's such a good teacher to my kids, blah, blah, blah. She didn't care who I was. She was impressed by my wife. So I said, but yes, I have the opportunity. And I told her the story. And she says, oh, here's an interesting.

[00:14:46] She pulls out a book. She says, this is where you and your wife took side of pen and dedicates the book. And she says, read the chapter of whatever it was at the time. My wife still has a book. She says, that day when you finished, he was so angry. I said, I know. I saw him turning big red and walked out. He says, yes, he walked out. And afterwards met me at the hotel. He was furious and said to me, because I had to leave the following day to New York

[00:15:15] to film and start filming Rosemary's Baby. Right. And we didn't leave in the best terms. While I was filming Rosemary's Baby. Towards the end, not even towards the end. Towards the end. He said to me, when are you finishing? Because I'm ready to start some movie. Robin Hood and whatever with his bunch of people that surrounded him. You know, Dean Martin and all these people that they get something. I forget the name of their. It was called the Rat Pack.

[00:15:44] Thank you. Yeah. And so she says, I told him, I said, I can't just walk out of this movie. We're almost done. But it's taking longer. He says, well, either you come or we're done. Oh, and she didn't. I listened to her bio. She's. Yeah. And she said, all right, then we're done. Well, she. I did. When you first said that on the phone, she didn't take him too seriously. So she hung up the phone. She knew was upset. She was upset. She gets about a week later, not even.

[00:16:13] Well, on the set, a delivery board comes and says, are you Miss Farrow? She says, yes. He says this. They have to hand it personally to her. Yeah. It's like when you're sending a subpoena, whatever. Yeah. It has to be delivered in person to the person by a, uh, uh, uh, an official messenger to bring it over. And so he gave her the envelope. She opens it up and it was the divorce papers. Wow. And she said, that wrecked me. She says, I finished that movie.

[00:16:40] So I, I, I'm what you see at the end of the movie and some, usually movies, they have, they sometimes killed me in at the beginning and the, you know, and this, they followed through. Is it that ending? I was so distraught and this upset and sad by the whole experience that you could see it in my performance. Wow. Yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to look at the movie differently now. Hey, Peter, let me, let me just go through and center you a little bit with your computer.

[00:17:08] So that way it, you move your computer over a little bit. That way. Yeah. Am I offset you? Yeah. You were a little bit up. That's a little bit more. Go the other way, Peter. Oh, maybe the other way. No, the other way. No, no. That's it. Oh, no. Back, back. Let me see if I can do this. That's better. That's perfect. That's good. Okay. Okay. I'll edit that out. All right. So is this story in the book or is this something kind of.

[00:17:37] A little bit of it is in the book. Not all. Perfect. End of what I just shared with you guys. Ah, okay. So get a little extra there for you. All right. So let's get into the book a little bit more because the, what that caught me of course was Jackie. Oh, you mean you got to go through. And I mean, it is just like, you got to work with history. You had to do someone's hair. People saw your work without even knowing they saw your work. And that to me is amazing.

[00:18:07] Because I've been there where I've told people like, oh yeah, I did this, did that. They're like, that was you. I go, yeah. Our names aren't plastered right underneath. You know what I mean? So not everyone knows. Like they don't do that because it's about the person. So here's the irony. I arrived in this country in 1960. Okay. Fleeing Cuba, not knowing where I was going. Frightened. Yeah. We had no money. I mean, penniless. It was my Godfather, God bless him to this day that took us in and helped us get on our feet.

[00:18:37] Okay. My father eventually found a job. My mother found a job and I was, you heard by the beginning of my life here. But, um, my first experience in America, we arrived in Thanksgiving, November, cold, cold. I mean, I'm coming from the Caribbean and I've never experienced winter. So now it's Thanksgiving in New York City. And I'm watching the TV because John Kennedy just won the election.

[00:19:03] And he was going to be inaugurated in 1961, January of 61 in two months. When I watched the inauguration of him and the first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, I was so impressed by this couple, the sophistication, the elegance, the charisma, the, uh, the ambiance compared to Eisenhower and Minnie Eisenhower who left. And I'm not here to put them down, but there was a difference in the image. Let's put it that way. Huge.

[00:19:31] And I looked up to them and I saw her and I said, what an elegant, beautiful woman this is. And this was my impression of America. All of a sudden I see this handsome couple representing president of the United States with this gorgeous woman who I also borrowed when she decorated the White House and did a special state CBS presentation. And I was in awe by him. Who wants to know that this guy who arrived in this country, not knowing the language, had no money in 1960 and 68.

[00:20:00] He was going to meet her and work on her for many years after. Only in America can that happen, guys. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, something, yeah, we have to go through and pinch yourself. Yes. To where you're at. I've, yeah, I've done that to where you're kind of like, I can't believe I'm sitting in this, you know, or private, you know, home or in a studio. And then the next, you know, someone walks through the door and you're kind of like, oh, my God, this is just so surreal. But I couldn't imagine.

[00:20:28] I've never done anybody to the caliber of like Jackie Kennedy or Onassis. You know what I mean? That has got to be crazy. So I know, I mean, I've signed NDAs and things like that. What can you tell us about Jackie O that would kind of like, you know, that not a lot of people that maybe it's in your book, but maybe like a little bit more juicier at all. Can you tell us anything? That one chapter chapter with Jackie, we had it edited down.

[00:20:58] It went on forever. And the editor and the publisher said, no, your book is becoming not your journey. It's all about certain important celebrities that you've worked on and got to know, but it's now their lives, not yours. So we had to do this, shrink it. And it killed me. Yeah. There's so many details that were removed from this book. And hopefully one day I keep getting reviews.

[00:21:24] Now, it's only been for sale for one week, but we're getting, we have over 35 star reviews on Amazon already. Wow. And most of the thing, this is cinematic. So, oh, people are picking up, maybe I get it on Netflix or Hulu or something. Because these chapters are quite interesting and informative. Yeah. With Jackie, there's two chapters in Vulgo, Jackie. You asked me the question. I'll try to answer it without taking too long. All right. Yeah. First, I got to know the woman.

[00:21:53] That's important because she, I was, you know, very nervous when I first got the opportunity to meet her and work on her. And it goes, and it's on the book. Kenneth got to go on a trip. He said, I was just started working at Kenneth. I left right now so soon to go to Kenneth. And so he liked my work. I was working on the third floor with him, right next to him. I wanted to be on the second floor with all the stylists. No. They put me up with, again, with that, be down.

[00:22:21] So soon kind of, somehow the universe is saying, yeah, shut up. Let me handle it. And you keep out of the way. Exactly. So he put me next to him to watch me and to see, because he heard good things about me. I enjoyed it. I mean, he just wanted to see how, what, what my goods were. And he liked it. And he, one day said to Lily, I still remember her, the receptionist on the third floor. Lily, give Peter, Mrs. Kennedy tomorrow because I won't be in town. I've gone for two days, blah, blah, blah. Wow.

[00:22:51] And Lily comes over to me and tells me the story. And I said, uh, I can't do her. Yeah. I was wondering how you met her. This is great. I don't know who she is. She doesn't know me. I just started here. And you start sweating immediately. The sweat comes. I know. Could you even hold your shears straight? Oh my gosh. I really mean it. You're putting me in a spot. She says, that's what Kenneth wants and that's what you're going to do, Peter. So don't disappoint us. Ooh.

[00:23:20] And that's another story that we can go into about getting to what you asked me. I learned in working with her so many. I remember being in a room with at her home, uh, in this, uh, styling room that she has small styling room that she kept. But there's a reason why, boy, I'm jumping all over the place. Let me see if I can get my story in line. So I'm working with her and her son walks in.

[00:23:50] This is one of the experiences I had. He had just started Brown College. He is excited. And I used to, I cut his hair. Caroline was at very low maintenance. I don't want to get my hair cut. I don't want to get my, but John was the, uh, her son, John, John was the opposite. Oh, Peter's it. If he's coming, can he shake this? Can, you know, he was very, and you can see it in his appearance in life. You know, he was a absolutely outgoing, charismatic. I'd love that boy. I call him boy.

[00:24:20] I, yeah, no, no, since he was a teenager. So, uh, he comes in and says, mom, I'm, I'm taking flying lessons. Just like that. And she turned around to him. He says, while I am alive, you will never take flying lessons. End it. And you could see it in his face. He was obviously I'm there. He's not going to become a confrontational with his mother. While I'm doing his hair and all that. So he walked away. He a classy guy walked away.

[00:24:48] I don't know what happened afterwards, but she wouldn't let him take. And she said to me, he's too reckless. I can't let him take flying lessons. She died. He took flying lessons. And you know what happened? Whoa. A mother's intuition. So that's one of those moments. Wow. I was there, you know, and you recall how, how live. Life becomes what it is, you know, and the segments that it takes to create our lives.

[00:25:19] She smoked a lot. What a great little glimpse. You know what I mean? Yes. Yes. She smoked a lot. Really? And when I first approached her at Akina, the very first day, I could tell she was a smoker. If you're a chain smoker, it's on your clothing. It's in your hair. It's on your pores. It just comes out of you. So that's one thing. She was very cautious. She wore a lot of cologne.

[00:25:41] And yes, she brushed her teeth constantly and dog rolled and did everything that smokers do to overcome that aroma. Yeah. Yeah. It's a camouflage for sure. Yes. So that's one thing. I would go to her apartment because later on, she asked, she was being followed by paparazzi. She snapped. I start today, but there were a few that I know. And she says, Peter. Yeah.

[00:26:09] And she asked Kenneth, can either you, Kenneth, and Kenneth doesn't make house calls. Oh, no, no. I said, if I do it for you, Mrs. Kennedy, I have to do it for all these other grand doms that I'm working on. But Peter, if he doesn't mind, I raised my hand. Of course I will. Yes, I was losing money because when I'm with her, I don't, I can't do clients. And one client versus, you know, five that I'm missing because I'm at her apartment doing it here. But it was, this to me was very important.

[00:26:38] And yeah, you can't buy that experience. You can't buy that. You can't. You can't. Or that type of like PR marketing. Oh, but when I started going to her apartment, I noticed she was a chain smoker. She would put out one and the other one was, before she put the other one down, the other one was lit already. Whoa. So I realized what I was experiencing at the beginning, I saw it with my own eyes. But you will never, ever see her with a cigarette in her hands. Ever. What? No photos.

[00:27:08] You had no idea? Nothing. I had no idea that she even smoked. But a great lady, there's a lot of stories that I can share. Now here's the thing though, we gotta get to the real one though. That's where I'm going with this. I gotta ask the question. Are you? Yes. The 25th anniversary of her husband's death. Yeah. Okay. There was a celebration at Lincoln Center in his honor. And I showed up at her apartment to do her hair and all that. And she was emotionally overwhelmed.

[00:27:38] And I understand why. And in the book I write, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. You can read it in the book, but she did say to me, did you watch the Zagruda tapes? Yes. Now, we never spoke about her personal life. You know, we had a professional relationship. Friendship relationship, but professional. Yes. For her to bring that up without me asking. And I said, yes, I did. Everybody did. I had to be honest. Yes.

[00:28:05] She says, you know, today is his anniversary and I'm reliving that whole experience today. And I am so upset and emotionally drained. And I keep thinking about watching that tape. I played it this morning. And you see me rushing out of the rear of the car, crawling in my hands and knees to get out for safety. Yeah.

[00:28:33] People say they always try to pick up pieces of his brain that was shattered in the back of the car, but that's not true. He says, I was thinking of my children because I knew they got him on next. And I said, I didn't want to see my children's orphaned. And my son, John, John had a birthday two days from now, from the event when it happened. Oh, whoa. It set his birthday. And so now as a mother, that's I knew my husband was gone.

[00:29:01] I held him as long as I could. And then I realized the next shot is going to be me. And so I tried to escape. And then this secret service man came and pushed me back in the scene. And I grabbed out to my husband again for dear life, hoping, hoping for the best. Yeah. And it didn't turn out that way. But she says, and then she shared with me, I had to call, excuse my person. I had to go on this. I don't know where it came from. I was stupid. I was ignorant.

[00:29:30] I asked Jackie, I said, well, Oswald shot him from the rear. And as I started, I was asking the questions. This is none of them. Oswald was a stooge set up. The grassy knoll, the shooting came from the grassy knoll to my right in front of me. Oh. And there were three shots. So there were three different individuals that took aim. Because one was from the rear, but it wasn't Oswald.

[00:29:59] She, here's what she says. She says, I found out through Robert's information. Robert Kennedy told me. Oh. What? He learned and his suspicions. Whoa. She didn't go into detail. So I can't, you know, say more than that. But she says there were three shots. And the main shot that hit him was, that killed him was the shot from the grassy knoll. Wow. Wow. I've actually sat on the grassy knoll and I've seen it. I remember.

[00:30:29] I don't know if I could do that. It's surreal. It's surreal. You watch the movie JFK because they go over it so many times. And then you go to the, the drainage area and you can actually see it's huge. I mean, it is huge. Someone can stand up inside there and then be yards away in seconds. So, yeah. She told me she had a suspicion because she says all along the route of the parade, we had

[00:30:55] secret servicemen at the beginning kind of running next to the cars. Yeah. You know, two on left, two on the right, and then the guy in the back, and then the cars behind them and, and the police motorcycles in front of them. And, and then as we went into the, what do you call that? Dealey Plaza. Where the, thank you. Yeah. They disappeared. They vanished. Whoa. They went back and they were told not to follow the car. Oh.

[00:31:25] And don't take it from me. I, I, somebody told me they read some book regarding this and they, I, what I shared with you. Yeah. It's in that book too. They read it in the book also, but that's what she said. And she said that brought, I questioned that to Jack. I said, what's going on? We don't have protection here. He says, oh, it's better that people can see me. And then they continued on their merry way until boom, it all came to an end.

[00:31:52] And it's quite shocking to, you know, she, she shared with me a little bit more that I'd rather not go into, but I don't want to exaggerate that either. Sure. It was just something so personal to me that I didn't question, ask nothing. She volunteered. It was very short, but it left a lasting, lasting impression in my mind and spirit. Oh my God. It's such an honor to have someone like that confide in you. Yeah.

[00:32:22] I mean, she probably just needed to get that out and you. It was the day. It was the day. It wasn't me. It was the day. And I was the only one there that, yes, you know, let me say something to all status. I learned early on your client has tremendous confidence in you. Yes. And I've been told by other clients, Jesus, the two, I don't, and I mean this in a, in a, in a correct way. The two people are more important in my life. Women have told my gynecologist and you. Yep. I trust you guys. Yep.

[00:32:52] I've had four. I've had more female. I've had more female clients. Tell me that I have been the most consistent man in their life that they've ever had. Yes. Even on top of their fathers. You know what I mean? So yeah. Sometimes you are that. You know what I'm trying to get. Yes. Yeah. I have clients that tell me stuff and they say, please don't tell anyone. I'm all no, this is our bubble. This is it. It is. It is. End of the day. That chair is more than a styling chair. It's a therapy chair. Yeah.

[00:33:19] If they feel like opening and talking to you, they're paying for it. Yeah. And I'm a good listener. The one major client compliment my wife has told me, Jesus. I like most men that I've known and created my dad and my brother and everybody. You were a good listener. Mm hmm. And I think I learned that by our profession. Yeah. To be a good listener. So true. I'm not here to share with you my vacation and this and that.

[00:33:45] I'm here to listen to you, do my work, make you happy and set you on in a very confident, positive way. And, but then you also have, they have that confidence. Not only that, they also can go through and they feel free to go through and talk and say things that it's, you know, cause I used to do, you know, uh, Patty or Ronald Reagan's daughter's hair. You know what I mean? And I've heard some stories in my chair, you know what I mean? And we haven't gotten to those yet.

[00:34:13] I can share those in a little bit, but, uh, it is, it is crazy what you do. Cause some of the things, some of the things that you hear cause probably started a small war somewhere, you know what I mean? Without you knowing it. So, you know, so it's very important that we kind of go through and keep those honor. Some of those, uh, confident information that has been given to us. That's why you can't share with me here, but it wasn't just, I don't want to be, I don't

[00:34:41] want this book to be a sensationalism. Right. To my experience with these people. Yeah. That wasn't my purpose. It was my journey with them. Right. And that's exactly kind of how this whole podcast started was to kind of like, hopefully my son can hear what his dad did and his friends and your journey and my journeys. Well, the two, so that's a cool part of it. And then with your book though, we have to move on to some of the most other things as

[00:35:07] well, though, too, cause you know, we, you know, you've met, you know, um, some of the most iconic people out there. And the next person I'd like to talk about is Whitney Houston. Oh, wow. Yes. That was a story you told us where, I mean, I think you had to pick our jaws up off the ground. I mean, I looked at Paula's face and you're talking about it and we're like, no way. Yeah. Cause she was such an icon.

[00:35:33] She, to me, I still recall when she sang the natural anthem at the football game, the, uh, Superbowl. And it was a week after Rose Ampari did her thing. Yes. Whitney was just like, yeah. Yeah. She, but the story behind that, the orchestras before the game, they prepare the show. You know, in the middle of the game, they have a break and they have the show and blah, blah, blah.

[00:36:01] But her, she's at the beginning. So the orchestra was ready to rehearse with her. Her brother comes to her trailer says, they're waiting for you. She says, they're waiting for me for what? She says, rehearse the national anthem. She said, I don't need rehearsing. Let them rehearse it. I know what I'm doing. Just tell them to get there, you know, do that thing. And then I'll show up and do it. But, and he, I forget his name now. Uh, he was telling him her, uh, no, no, no. They want you there for their own confidence and blah, blah, blah.

[00:36:31] And the director and the producers of the show and blah, blah. She says, no, I'm not showing up. I'm not going to say, I just want to rest. Let them do. So he went back. They did their, uh, you know, uh, rehearsal without her. She shows up. And from the second that the music begins, she just went like a rocket. Perfection. Perfection. I've heard it with Pavarati.

[00:36:56] I've heard it with many singers, the national anthem at these, uh, Superbowl events, nothing compares to her delivery and her power. Yeah. Especially when she holds that last node. I, I was like, I'm, I'm breathless, you know? And then I got to meet her. I, uh, one night in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lived, we went out. I don't want to make this. I, as I was very chummy with her, but I did get to know her late in life after her, uh,

[00:37:26] or I went to 2006, 2007. I started getting to know her just before her death. Really. If you think about it, 2006. Anyway, I went, she was my, I have a body lotion that she used. She used to buy three and four at a time because she had very dry skin and everybody low a body lotion. She used that her skin, very chalky looking. Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:37:52] And so this yours, not only does it absorb, it doesn't leave this chalky effect on my skin, but I have hydration until I, I shower myself and bake myself. This is crazy. I want to sell it. Can we, I private label it because I'm studying my own candle line and I want to create a personal, small personal care line also with it. Mm-hmm . And yours going to be, I want to carry your body lotion. If you allow me to private label. I said, by all means I'm honored.

[00:38:19] We were in Atlanta talking about this that evening. Raffles, uh, Ben Exel, her, uh, business associate, who's a dear friend of mine. And that's how I got to know her and meet her. And, uh, that, uh, that, uh, Warwick and some other, I don't know who that other person was. All of us, we went out to have a bite to eat. Oh, God. And then we went to, I don't drink. I'm not a liquor person, but we went to this club. Ah. And in the club, they had a karaoke night. Yeah.

[00:38:49] Of all nights, we showed up and we're drinking and having fun. Did you dare get on stage and do karaoke in front of the two icons? This barrel showed up singing the bodyguard song. Yeah. Destroyed it. And she was, I think she had a little too much. Maybe. She says, I can't stand it. I got to go up there and show her how it's done. And Dean Ward and my friend Raffles, he held her down. He said, you go up there. We won't be able to leave. Exactly.

[00:39:19] No, you'll be mobbed. He's not crazy. Yeah. That's an issue. She's wearing a wig and glass in disguise. She says, no, no, no, no, no, I have to. I said, no, you don't have to. If not for your sake, for hours. I don't want to go through this. Dean Ward was on the same thing. We, we're walking. I'm pretty nice here. Totally. We kept it up. But she wanted to show her, meaning that young lady, how it's sung. I'll never forget that. You know, I said, I was hoping she would.

[00:39:45] I wanted to see the reaction to this enormous, uh, ambience that we're in filled with people. Oh, that would have been something to behold, but no, it didn't happen. But you, you would have been mobbed and you wouldn't have gotten out and you know, it, no, that's what they said. Yeah. They were very confident about that.

[00:40:01] Let's go right to the, uh, pinnacle moment when I arrived to film a video about her new enterprise with candles and body care that she wanted to promote. And it's, it was happening the day of the Grammy awards presentation that Clive Davis usually on a Saturday prior to the awards on a Monday would go a party at the Beverly Hilton.

[00:40:31] And he did this year after year. And this year was in her honor. This is was her comeback. She had just finished a film. I don't recall the title right now. And, uh, it was her comeback that she's been through so much. She lost weight. She lost her voice. She, uh, everything was falling apart in her life at this moment. And so she did the film. It turned out pretty good. And he threw a party in her. It was for the Grammys that he was in, but it was in her honor. Exactly.

[00:41:01] Nevertheless, she said to me, can you show up a little bit earlier? The party begins. He was made here about 637. I would like to around four o'clock shoot this video between four and five, 530. And she's a professional. She can, you know, do it with no effort. So, uh, I said, yes, I'll be happy to. And, uh, she already had her hair done. I didn't do her hair or her makeup because she had her own stylist, her friend, uh, who did the makeup and everything with her.

[00:41:30] But she wanted me there because of the, uh, the approval of the video and what we were, if I liked it, any ideas regarding her selling the body lotion concept. Uh-huh. And I didn't watch her film it. I arrived at three, at 340, 342, something like that.

[00:41:57] I'm really being specific because around 345, I get a phone call and my, I I'm waiting in the lobby. But now the lobby is filled with cameras and police and, and, uh, every, because every, anybody who's famous in this world was going to be at that, uh, event. Exactly. Yeah. And it's now almost four o'clock. So they're getting ready and the preparation, the hoopla and everything. And I get a phone call from my business partner, Daniel Sanders. And he says to me, where are you?

[00:42:25] I said, I just valeted my car and I'm at the lobby of the building. I'm going to pull rifles upstairs to let me in because she had taken up almost the entire fourth floor with her entourage. And, uh, so he says, you haven't heard. I said, heard what? I said, no, I mean, I am driving here. She says, they just found her body. I said, well, what are you talking about?

[00:42:46] And then he explained it to me without going into a lot of detail here that, you know, the, the news was broadcast that he had died in her room and they found her at the top drowned and blah, blah. So, uh, I said, this can't be right. I'm there's no way. I mean, I was, I had no words to explain how I felt. So I said, let me call rifles upstairs. And I hung up and called it rifles. He says, you're here. Stay by the lobby where the elevators are.

[00:43:16] I'll be right down. Do not move in this, like three elevators to the left or to the right. Oh yeah. And I didn't know which side he was going to be on, but I stood in the middle waiting for him. And I see one of the elevators eventually opened up. It says, Peter. And I ran and I jumped in and he shut the doors before anybody else could go into the elevator. And he's weeping and crying. He had a hood on with sunglasses. And I said, what, what the heck happened? He says, I just heard from Daniel. He told me, I just, but he told you is correct. Oh.

[00:43:45] The elevators open up and there's a police yellow, you know, tape that they put all over the place so people had to go by and all that. It was all hot. Yeah. But we got under and we went in and because they knew he was part of the, uh, altourage. And so he takes me into the room. He had her, the room next to her because they were going to tape and he wanted to be able to go from his room to her room without having to go out the hallway and all that. Now it's start filming.

[00:44:12] And I can see the door is open to from his room to her place. He says, I just took her out of the bathroom tub. Uh, I found her with her, uh, bodyguard and her assistant of Mary, her assistant. I said, what do you, what do you mean? You pulled it out of the tub. You can't move a body when they, you know, I knew that much. I mean, I'm not a policeman. Right. Yeah. But I said, you have no business talking to her.

[00:44:35] This is accurate and see her, uh, having the, uh, police and the report in case of a reporter or the ambulance people see her body nude. The police had just entered again. The management was there. And I said, I'm not sure. To our Davis and his son just arrived. I mean, everything was happening within minutes to minutes of this event that was, uh, becoming, uh, publicized all over the world now.

[00:45:01] And, uh, as I'm noticing this, uh, catastrophe, I call it, I mean, it was just so sad. So, uh, impressionable on me. Uh, it's hard to describe the scene. It really is. It's very, uh, emotional. I, uh, but I'm a good listener. As I mentioned early on in this interview, and I'm hearing the comments coming from her brother, Todd Davis. Todd Davis is getting phone calls in front of me.

[00:45:27] And he has this, uh, his cell phone with people like Oprah and Tom Hanks and everybody calling him. Is it on? Is it not on? I just heard what happened. What are you going to continue with the event? Is it going to be canceled? And so he gives, gives the phone to his son and says, deal with this. And he went back out of the hallway and he says to his family, her family, what should we do? I have to make a decision right away. Either the show goes on or we cancel right now.

[00:45:57] Her older brother said, no, you know what? Whitney would have liked to have seen this continue. What are we doing in her honor as you intended? And let's move forward. Decisions made. And, uh, the next thing I know is her brother comes into Raffles room. Now we're not going to do the taping. Obviously everything is postponed. And he says to Raffles, go downstairs and up there within a half hour, get dressed, get your talks on.

[00:46:26] Because after the filming, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Peter Lamas and Raffles Van Axel, my friend who's her business manager, were going to go to the event, sit at the table and witness this incredible, you know, uh, dedication to Whitney, her comeback. Uh huh. So I helped him get dressed. He's very emotional. He's crying. He's he's spoiling a paradigm.

[00:46:52] I'm as a friend, I try to be as consoling as I could be and helping him get dressed and getting his bow tie on because his old black attire bear. And, uh, he's ready. And I get a phone call. He gets a phone call. I'm sorry, from Chaka Khan. And I could see it in his phone showing up. So I said, pulling Raffles answer. He said, I can't talk to anybody. You deal with her. So I picked up the phone. I said, Chaka, this is Peter Lamas.

[00:47:21] She's right now has no, is unable to answer the phone. Uh, did you hear what happened? She says, I was on the plane. They announced it on the plane as I'm getting off. She says, I was, I'm heading to the hotel, but now I don't know what I'm going to go home. I'm so upset. She was, you know, very close. She's crying. I can hear she's crying on the ball. Very emotional. She says, of course, the show's not doing going on. I said, no, it is going on. She says, what? And then she became very, um, verbal.

[00:47:50] Yeah. Okay. I won't go into it more than that. And she says, club is going to let this continue. This is like a door to him. How can he have, is he out of his mind to do this event? Even if it's in her honor, as I explained to her, it doesn't make sense. She says, I'm not going and I'll take care of him. Well, on Monday, she appeared on the CNN show, basically belittling him for doing the event.

[00:48:18] And, uh, we got dressed after it all said and done. I hang up the phone. We got, I got him dressed. I got myself dressed. We go downstairs. The moment we get into the elevator and I'm really holding on to him because he, he is really shook up. Yeah. Yeah. Yael King is waiting by the elevators. I don't know how she knew we were coming down. I don't know what she was doing there, but there was so many reporters, including Yael and Gail knows raffles and she grabs raffles and says, tell me what's going on. You're mine.

[00:48:47] Now you're coming with me. We're going to go to the auditorium. There's nobody there yet. We're going to sit down. I have a tape recorder and you're going to tell me what went down. Yeah. Now I'm following. He didn't even introduce it. I'm just following them along as we go into the auditorium, which is empty at the moment with all the tables set up and everything. And there's so much police and commotion and press. And now the press is chasing. Yeah. And they're going to be with Gail because they figured out Gail's got somebody is interesting. Yeah, I guess they smell each other.

[00:49:17] I don't know how it happens, but I don't know. I know. It's a beacon. They're a beacon. They're all following us. And she's walking as fast as she can. And then we go into the room, sits her down and she tells everybody, stay away from me. And so she started sleeping while I was waiting on the side. What's his name? Who is doing now? Oh God, the singer. He's so famous. He won for the American Music Award. Not American Music Awards. Yeah. Best performance of the, I forget his name now.

[00:49:47] Dear God. He's, what's the group? The singer died and he took over as the lead singer. I forgot his name now. Adam Lambert? Please forgive me. Adam Lambert. Thank you. Give him a trophy here. I, he walks in by himself and I'm sitting there. He says, I think I'm one of the first to arrive. I said, no, we're, we're one of the first to arrive. And he says, did you hear what happened? And obviously, you know, I said, yes, I've heard what's happened. I was there with that. I shouldn't have said that.

[00:50:16] He grabs me. He says, please share with me what's going on. How did it happen? This is awful. And now a little bit of what's going on. I'm sharing with them. And then I'm seeing the celebrities walk in. And at the table where we're sitting now, the taping is over because it became obvious people are walking in and Gail cut it off. She got enough from him. So Raffles comes back to me as I'm still with, with this young man here.

[00:50:44] And he says, let's sit down and let's not try to make too much of what's going on. What just happened. Good luck with that one. We sat back. And the first thing I do sit down and I feel a tapping on my right shoulder. I never forget. And this Tom Hanks in this fight, he's sitting right behind us. What happened? I just heard what's going on. And I understand you knew you were there. And I said, no, he was there. And, and, but you know, it's kind of leave him alone.

[00:51:14] He's pretty shook up. And his wife said, Tom, this is not the time to be inquisitive. Leave everybody alone. And that table filled with Jamie Foxx, Alisa Keish, Tony Bennett, Penny Marshall. Uh, Williams, the tennis player was a Vanessa. Is it Vanessa? Yeah. Vanessa Williams. Vanessa Williams. I mean, they're all sitting around us wanting to know what's going on. It was very uncomfortable. Very, uh, not like you want to read stuff.

[00:51:42] It's a software, but everybody's curious because it's a shock. It was a shock. It wasn't a matter of gossiping. They just couldn't believe it. And so, uh, and then I see Diana Ross walking in with her family and she knows me and she says, Peter, what are you doing here? And I said, well, I'm here because I explained to her briefly and she says, come with me. Come. And she grabbed me out of my chair and makes me go with her where she's sitting down because she wants to hear what's going on.

[00:52:07] And we're intimate enough that she could, you know, be comfortable doing what she just, I just experienced with her. And that's the evening. I saw her at blend and all these people stood up to give homage and saying a movie with her song. Alicia Kish did a melody of, uh, her Whitney songs. And, but at the end I, uh, I, I couldn't, he at rifles left to go back upstairs after an hour and a half of sitting there. I left right after he left to get my car.

[00:52:37] And then I realized there were a lot of people at the ballet trudge. And so I said, no, I'm going to walk to Wilshire Boulevard. I don't know if you know the Beverly Hilton, but you have to go to Santa Monica and then go down to Wilshire because there's no main entrance. Yeah. It's like a couple of blocks here. And as I'm walking all these trucks from the press, from BBC, from France and Europe and America, everybody is lined up waiting for the body to come out, out of the service entrance, which is a set. Yeah.

[00:53:05] And I felt kind of an upset. You don't take Whitney where they deliver gross, uh, you know, groceries and, and, and throw away garbage and all that out of that service center. And on the side of Santa Monica, she deserves better than that. You know, that's my thinking. And so as I'm passing in, there's so many reporters immediately. I came, it came into my mind. I said, if I, if they were to know I was there, I would have been mobbed by so many

[00:53:33] reporters wanting to know as everybody wanted to know in the event. Yeah. And that's a, that's a day, uh, an evening. I will never forget. Yeah. That is. Oh my God. That's the thing about LA. You wake up in the morning and you never know where the day is going to take you. No. One thing about living in LA, you know, you go in, you do a client, they invite you somewhere. And then the next thing, you know, it's like you're sitting in this auditorium or, I mean,

[00:54:02] I've been in that, I've been in that situation so many times. It is insane. Or you know, I'm a house and I'm a middie. Some of what, which I rather not talk about what I heard. Well, yeah. With the family, even Brandy, the singer, the accusations and the emotions and the, uh, Oh, I, that alone, I could write a whole chapter in a very, uh, revealing way.

[00:54:28] That was quite interesting, but I felt whether it's this interview or any interview I do, I think that's quite personal and private for the family. So I'd rather not, uh, I, yes, don't worry. We're, we're not going to definitely. Yeah. Yeah. It's something I'll never forget of life at the end of your day or her. Yes. Still showed up, still performed, still honored her. Oh, I, I found her to be the most amazing. I really need it.

[00:54:56] She and, uh, what, uh, got her lady. I need coffee to remember. I'm forgetting any Lennox. She and any likes to me of my two favorite. Favorite female. Are you serious? And he Lennox and Whitney Houston. Yeah. Those two. Talented ladies are amazing. All right. So Peter, so my mother's a Honduran hereditary. So we've had her on the show before doing it. She retired after 47 years, but one of her experience that we talked about, which I have

[00:55:24] never, ever, ever have done is where she's actually gone through and her families have contacted her to go through and do their loved ones for their funerals. Have you ever experienced anything like that at all? No, that was my first and only experience in approaching a cadaver. Uh-huh. You've done it. Worked. Now remember in those days we had no dry shampoo. Uh-huh.

[00:55:50] As I describe it in the book, I said she was lifted from the scene where she died in London, put into a so-called transportation coffin, whatever you call it, that they... This is Judy Garland. Judy Garland. Yes, Judy Garland that we're talking about. Wow. And brought her to New York to late funeral power. And Eliza called Kenneth and said, can Peter do me the favor and honor of working on my mom and making her beautiful one last time?

[00:56:20] That's why I wrote... So were you Eliza's hairdresser or was Kenneth? Yeah, I was working for Kenneth. Oh. I was working for Kenneth. Okay. And I started working with Eliza in the odd pleadowns assume before Eliza was even known. Right. You know, she was just starting her career. She appeared on her mother's CBS special show that she had once a week on CBS on Sunday evenings. And she was on Broadway and building her career little by little, but she wasn't an enormous name.

[00:56:48] She started around the same time that Barbra Streisand started on Broadway. And they both became who they are today, obviously. And so she was my client. I happened to be lucky enough to work on... I didn't even know who she was when I was working with the Adley Jossesun until somebody told me she's Judy Garland's daughter. And I went, oh, I was impressed. Yeah. And later on, I moved to Kenneth and she followed me. And then I walked into... I'll never forget. It was on a Monday. I believe a Monday.

[00:57:15] And Kenneth told the reception this one, you see Peter walk in, have him come to my office. It was early in the morning. And I figured, oh, I must be... I'm probably getting fired. I wonder what I did. And he stepped up to the sofa. Yeah. Come see me. And I showed up and he says... He throws the New York Post and the Daily News in front of me. He says, you read the headlines. I said, no, I didn't buy the paper coming in, but oh my God, this is so tragic. How fortunate. What happened?

[00:57:42] And he explained briefly to me, he says, but Liza wants you to go now to the funeral parlor to do her mom's hair because they're going to exhibit her body for one day. And they have thousands of fans from all over the world flying in for this 10 to 2 exhibit for the general public. And they have it in the news. You can look it up in the news and Google it. I mean, it was just thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people.

[00:58:12] I can't exaggerate enough how many showed up to view her one last time. And that's when Liza said, I want you to make her look beautiful because this is her last appearance in front of a public. Wow. They flew in her makeup artist from MGM who worked on her all those years and Peter Lamas to do her hair. And the story in the book is he and I, he doesn't do dead people. Neither did I, as I put it in the book.

[00:58:38] And so we had to figure out because we both look at his, we should have a mortician specialist, you know, a beauty expert doing. We, I mean, we, this is not our. Yeah, exactly. We do for a living every day. So he had challenges with the makeup. I had challenges with the hair, especially washing the hair. So I had to figure, no, I did wash the hair because they put your, I hate describing this, but they put you on an aluminum mass flat dust table. Yeah.

[00:59:08] It has water at the end so that you can wash the hair and get rid of the, whatever she had as a styling product in her hair and cleanse it and all that after they, she went through what she went through. And so I was able to do that and then set the, blow it out a little bit, set it, create the look because Liza gave me photos to follow. She brought in photos to show what her normal hair do. I mean, I was at that time. Yeah.

[00:59:35] I knew who Judy Garland was, but I didn't have in my mind that image of her wearing her hair a certain way. She had a certain look about her with her hair short and not different than a little different than yours, more full and fluffy because she had way the hair. So she took advantage of that for fullness and body. And, uh, I created the look for her and the makeup art. I helped the makeup artist a little bit because as he applied makeup, it wasn't setting correctly on the skin.

[01:00:03] The skin was stiff as can be. So I said, stipple it. I said, just, just do this with it. Don't try to blend it in because you'll lose it. Just stipple it and try to blend it in by using the stippling effect. And it worked for her. And then he put, you know, blush and all of the stuff that went. And he made it as clean and simple as possible. And I did do to some degree without overdoing it. And she looked great. Tiny little woman. Oh my God. I, that wasn't what I was impressed by. She was tiny, petite, small.

[01:00:33] Her feet was, I mean, I still remember. It reminded me of my children's feet and the size, very delicate feet. Yeah. But the voice is just like, yeah, I'm curious. My bad sense of humor. Did you get any referrals from that? Yeah. I had thousands of referrals. I mean, you know how many people went to see her? Yes. Right. Yeah. No, I didn't get credit noted. I want credit for that. Yeah. Something like that. You just kind of do.

[01:01:02] And then you're like, you know, you did it and you're good. Exactly. Yeah. It was a, it was a favor to the family. Yes. You're happy to be that person. So that's amazing to me. Yeah. Oh, wow. I tell you, we could just go on and on and on. It is incredible. I mean, it's not just Jackie O, Whitney Houston, Judy Garland, Lines of Nelly. You've met Che Guevara. You've met Ernest Hemingway. You've met.

[01:01:29] The beginning of my career when you, at that time you didn't have supermodels, but you had Twiggy, you had Dean Shrimpton. Yes. You had Angelica Houston, who was a big model at the time before she became an actress. Angelica. She was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. In fact, I did a cover for Vogue because, what's her name? Help me, the editor, be the editor of Diana Rieland. Yes. So, Angelica Houston's Bob. Oh, this is a quick story.

[01:01:59] Allow me. Yeah. I did a Bob out on her. That's my favorite look. I love to cut bobs, you know? And so I did it on Angelica Houston and Avedon took pictures of it. It looked great. And she, the editor, Diana, saw the final shoot and loved and says, Peter, I'm doing a cover for September. I wanted to do this look. And I have a way bendy at the time was a makeup artist that was doing the makeup.

[01:02:28] I was doing the hair came out wonderful. But it was due to the cut and look that I created for Angelica Houston for a photo shoot for the interior magazine work. And so, I think that's the word. But here's where I want to go with all this. Years later, in the late 70s through the 80s, almost 10 years, not quite, until 84, from 74 to 84, more or less. I was working on a woman who lived in Syracuse, New York.

[01:02:57] She was recommended by a client of mine who lived in the city and they were very good friends. So when this lady from Syracuse would come in to get her hair done at least three, four times a year, when she visited her friend, she would come to the salon and get her hair done with her friend and then go back and whatever. But all those years, and she loved the bob and I would cut the bob. And I had a reputation at that time in New York for the most awesome bob possible. I just loved it.

[01:03:25] And I learned it from Vidal and I won't go into the technical aspect of it for time's sake, but it always turned out beautifully. And her hair at the time, now that she's older, was thin. And so I gave it a lot of volume and I built a lot of support underneath to give it that body that she was looking for. One of the last times I worked on her, her first came in and she says, give me a second, again, my memory.

[01:03:53] I've done so many people in my life, I keep forgetting. It's crazy, isn't it? These are the names of my clients that I'm showing you in this photo. I don't think you see it, but she's in here. And in fact, I'll show you the photo. Louise Brooks, the famous actress from the Balanced Louise. I have a question of the documentary about. The Burns Fox. Yeah. Wow. For 10 years and I didn't know who I was working with. No way. So it's the end, her friend who came to pick her up. She says, Peter, is Louise ready?

[01:04:23] We're having lunch. I said, no, I just finished. She's changing in the dressing room. And she said, oh, great. I said, you know, I liked her so much. Thank you for recommending her. I've been doing her all as she and she appreciates my boss. She says, you don't know who she really is, do you? And she was right. I said, is she someone special? I didn't know. And she says, you know what you've been doing? She created the style of the Bob back in 1928 for her. Yeah. Screaming debut of Pandora's box.

[01:04:54] Yep. Yep. And so in honor of Louise Brooks, I cut this version, the modern by my Louise Brooks look. Very cool. But I had the right to do so because I've been working on it for 10 years, which I didn't know I was. And I put it on Instagram to show you the before and after of my interpretation of the Bob. Modern day versus Louise Brooks time. Wow. So these are the stories that people that I've ran into that I'm so impressed by.

[01:05:19] But the 60s to me was that decade for stylists, makeup artists, fashion designers was the revolution of a whole new concept in beauty and fashion. Yes. We went from this old 1950s and 40s version of conservatism into this wild, the mini skirt and the makeup and the outrageous colors.

[01:05:44] And then the Broadway show here came out and it was the British revolution that came into America with music and fashion. And I was in the most incredible decade ever that I feel so honored to be part of working with Twiggy, working with Dean Shrimpton, working with Barushka and so many other models that were at that time enormously famous. And they were the beginning of the so-called supermodels.

[01:06:10] So I've had a history in this beauty industry then. Even Diana Ross, she walked in in 1972 after doing Lady Seams the Blues and tells me, Peter, I've been, I was cutting her already. I started with her. Not at Kenneth, I knew her from Kenneth, but she used to go to do weights because in those days the Supremes wore weights, not so much. Yes. But now I'm doing her here and she walked in one day and she says, I just bought the rights

[01:06:35] for Josephine Baker's, one picture's worth a thousand words, here it is, Josephine Baker's life story. Right. And so I just finished Lady Seams the Blues and my next project will be Josephine Baker's life story. It didn't turn out that way. She did buy the rights, but it didn't happen. And so she says, and I'm going to be photographed in Vogue magazine. Diana Breland wants you to give me a look of a Josephine Baker look.

[01:07:03] And I did for this photo that you're going to see here, that, that I created. You can see the fear too much, but the second version, you can see it here. Yeah. With Josephine Baker's image and type of, you know, hairdo and costume and all that. And these were pictures taken for Vogue magazine. It was Richard Avedon again.

[01:07:28] And I was so happy to have the opportunity to create because in, in the 70s, it was all Afro. The bigger, the more Afro, the better it was. And here I'm eating this look from the twenties that is so sculpted onto your scalp with Marcel Waves and old Gildane and shiny. And, you know, once I did the look and then her husband came in to pick her up and wanted a haircut. So he says, well, you're going to say I'm going to Bloomingdale's with this.

[01:07:56] My salon was on 64 between Lexington and Theret. And Bloomingdale's was just a few blocks down. I'm going to buy loopy earrings. I said, Diana, if you, you're going with your car. He says, well, I'll take my car and I'll drive. I said, you're going to stop traffic at Bloomingdale's. You be prepared because you look awesome. You know? And so she went in and brought these, bought these loopy earrings, which she uses in one of the photos. And, uh, she came back and says, you're right. I did stop traffic. I said, oh, it wasn't you.

[01:08:26] It was my hair. Yeah. I took credit for that. So these are the stories that I wanted to share with you. You want to what you guys pick up the book. There is way more inside this book that you possibly think of. I mean, like I was saying before, you know, Fidel Castro, Hemingway. I mean, you've met so many people in your career. I've been blessed. One of the takeaways is go and apply for that job. Don't say no to anything.

[01:08:56] You never know where the day will take you or where your career will take you. You don't. I didn't plan this at all. Yeah. But I aim high. Always aim high. You don't know. I didn't know how it was going to happen. That was out of my hands. Yeah. And I'm somewhat spiritual. So I always say it's, I leave it in the, you know, let go, let God, as the saying goes. Correct. It's just, you know, but in my mind, when I was a child in school, I would get nicked in the head and kicked a slap in the head. Wake up. You're dating me. You're not, you're going to amount to nothing.

[01:09:25] I heard that so many times. Yeah. Because I'm looking at the window. No, my mind was like a film creating this life that I wanted to create. And I said to myself at the age of 14, 13, 14, I don't want an ordinary life. I want an extraordinary life. Didn't know how it was going to happen, but I stuck with that in my mind. And all until today, be careful what you pray for. Yes. And you want to what? Keep praying. I do.

[01:09:53] Thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you. We enjoyed it so much. You guys have been amazing. Thank you so much for inviting me. It's a pleasure. You're such a gentleman. Likewise. Thank you. All right, guys, let's get into some shit-ology. Paula, I don't have any shit to say for shit-ology.

[01:10:20] This was such a great interview with Peter Lamas and it was so positive. I mean, the takeaways that I got from this was more about like, say yes to everything because you never know where the day will take you. What'd you get? Exactly. The fact that he came from Cuba at a young age and he made a life of it and he didn't know where he was going with it. You say yes to everything. That's what I got out of it. Exactly.

[01:10:50] So for you guys, everybody else, stop complaining and just do. And with that, stay shitty. And see you next time. Hey, listener persons. If you're enjoying this podcast, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio or Amazon Prime Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite shit. It definitely helps out our algorithm.

[01:11:15] Also, check out our shitty posts on Instagram at Shit I Told My Hairdresser where you can give us a follow and like some of our content. If you'd like to get your story on our podcast, go to our website at ShitIToldMyHairDresser.com. You can leave us a voicemail using the green mic icon or send us an email. And if you like us, tell 10 of your friends. And if you hate us, tell 20. And remember, stay shitty, listener persons.