Hippie shake-down in Hair

Sep 27 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT was a year when marijuana smoke floated in the air and kaftans swished along the pavement.

And it was when daring men and women took off their clothes on stage in the hippie musical, Hair.

The show hit the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End on September, 27, 1968, one day after the abolition of theatre censorship. And it shocked many.

They were angered by scenes containing nudity and drug-taking as well as a strong anti-war message at the height of the Vietnam conflict and the desecration of the American flag on stage.

Oliver Tobias took the lead role and the cast included Sonja Kristina, Elaine Paige, Marsha Hunt, Richard O’Brien, Floella Benjamin and Tim Curry.

This was Curry’s first full-time theatrical acting role, where he met future Rocky Horror Show collaborator O’Brien.

Marsha Hunt went on to have a daughter to Mick Jagger and became a successful novelist.

Paul Nicholas was to appear from 1969. But he kept his trousers on as the main singer in the middle, while others stripped around him.

And perhaps a good job too as it would not have been in keeping with his next role – in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Hair produced songs like Aquarius and Good Morning, Starshine – both reflecting the 60s cultural interest in astrological and cosmic concepts.

The Lord Chamberlain’s powers of censorship had existed since 1737 when Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole had wanted to silence anti-government criticism on stage.

But the 1960s brought a transformation in society and increased pressure for the laws to be relaxed.

Campaigners found a friend in Labour Cabinet minister Roy Jenkins.

At first Minister of Aviation in the Harold Wilson government elected in the 1964 general election, he later became Home Secretary, then Chancellor or the Exchequer.

As Home Secretary he is often seen as responsible for the most wide-ranging reforms that the 1960s Labour governments would enact.

Harold Wilson feared Jenkins was using aristocratic connections to oust him from office, an idea Jenkins laughed off.

Jenkins refused to authorise the birching of prisoners and presided over the suspension of capital punishment.

He was responsible for the relaxation of the laws relating to divorce and gave government support to David Steel’s Private Member’s Bill for the legalisation of abortion and Leo Abse’s bill for the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

And it was his backing which was crucial to the abolition of theatre censorship.

Jenkins replied to public criticism by asserting that the so-called permissive society was in reality the civilised society.

Hair had originated in America in 1967 and later ran on Broadway for 1,750 performances.

A successful movie adaptation was released in 1979.

Hair ran for 1,997 performances at the Shaftesbury Theatre until its closure was forced by the roof collapsing in July 1973.

By that time theatre had changed forever.

l SPRINTER Ben Johnson was sent home from the Seoul Olympic Games in disgrace on September 27, 1988 after testing positive for drugs.

The Canadian was stripped of the gold medal which he won in 100m final in a world record time of 9.79 seconds.

He was tested for drugs immediately after winning and Olympic officials confirmed last night that traces of the anabolic steroid, Stanozol, had been detected.

Johnson was banned from competing for two years and stripped of all the other world records and medals he held.

He began racing again in January 1991, but never regained the form that had made him the fastest man in the world.

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics he did not even make the final of the 100m.

In January 1993 he tested positive again for steroids at an indoor meeting in Montreal, Canada.

A unanimous decision by the International Association of Athletics Federations banned him from competition for life.