Sly Bald Guys Forum
Discussions About Being Bald => General Discussion => Topic started by: crazy.irish.celt on February 21, 2010, 06:55:21 PM
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As some of you might already know, author J.D. Salinger passed away in late Jan. of this year at the age of 91. I'm sure a lot of you were forced to read his most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye, at some point during your academic careers.
When I heard about his death, nostalgia kicked in and so I decided to re-read Catcher. Early on in the story, I ran across this segment that I am sure I casually ignored the last time I read the book (7-years pre-hairless).
"The bellboy that showed me to the room was this very old guy around sixty-five. He was even more depressing than the room was. He was one of those bald guys that comb all their hair over from the side to cover up the baldness. I'd rather be bald than do that."
This knocked me for a loop. The author published this work in 1951 at the age of 32 (at which time he was sporting a thick head of hair). I realize I am probably inferring too much from that statement, but I couldn't help but wonder at the author's choice to include it. I'm sure that when he said 'bald' he wasn't thinking 'shaved head', but it was refreshing nonetheless. I guess I always just assumed that, in the 50s, the combover wasn't such a big deal, and that people weren't as vocal about their disapproval of it as they are now.
It makes me wonder if Salinger would have been a SBG, given the 'choice'. What do you guys think?
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I'll let you know, I too wanted to get our copy to reread, but wifey grabbed it first. Once she's finished and I've gone back into that world, I'll let you know. Except for Yul Brynner, I can't remember anyone sporting a sly head who was mainstream at that time.
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I missed that when I read it also. Though, it has been several years.