West Coast cast of HAIR - "Smothers Brothers" show, 1968, high quality version

[@EagleRockers]

I was an usher at the Aquarius Theatre during the "Hair" run. I lied about my age to get the job (I was 17) and got to watch this show night after night. I never got tired of it and it was a blast to work with these people during my senior year in high school. Peace & Love!

[@jefferywestbrook]

It's hard for us to understand, nearly 50 years past the recording of this video, how radical its vision is -- a unity of races celebrating our common bonds in individual freedom and respect. We are all deserving of love and respect. If we cleave true to that vision, a better world awaits.

[@kevinr.m.richardson812]

+jefferywestbrook While watching this, I was thinking of how astutely the spirit was captured, for being written in the midst of it without even having the benefit of any historical perspective. History has vindicated the idealistic but somewhat naïve portrayal of the characters, and for the most part the piece has aged well and avoided becoming particularly dated. I doubt anything currently being written about today's culture will be holding up this well in 2065!

[@tarastepenberg3232]

im 74 - we need the SUN to shine in NOW - those were really dark and tough times - but there was a container even while the country was split - now no container!! - way more scary - and the song resonates so loudly and L O V E ly

[@Zichronot]

Not hard at all, and we taught the next generations. The drugs? Not as good as we believed. Maybe we did it to break boxes, maybe to hide from the horror of a war coming to shorten our lives. We won. And yet I have seen people try to go back to segregation and , its ON. Not on my watch. I'll fight to preserve MLK words. I marched on Washington in 63 with Dr King, heard the Dream speech live. And If I have to get up and do this again... I will, just slower 😒 But No Less Effective.

[@hardcorehouse]

Smothers Brothers, Laugh In and a few others were great vehicles for those times, and priceless time capsules to enjoy, now.

[@baylinkdashyt]

Jesus... You're not kidding about high-quality. That is higher quality than I thought 1968 color cameras were capable of, and this looks to be a first-generation digital transfer from 2 inch quad. This is *spectacular* video for 50 years ago.

[@woohooboy]

Both Jennifer Warnes and Delores Hall have terrific voices and blend so beautifully together in "The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In"

[@thomasmitchell3414]

WOW! I was in HAIR in a European tour and Claude in this film actually auditioned me, I have never seen this before and am so pleased I have as it is how we were rehearsed. Totally right for today, 50 years almost after it was created, what an amazing musical and "piece of work"... Tom Mitchell

[@robertmahaney5692]

Thomas good 4u . I think hair n the 60's was the best . nothing like it .

[@fatovamingus]

I love that there is a fantastic copy of this. You can see Jobriath clearly.

[@josefmojito]

Gerome Ragni, Ben Vereen, Bert Sommers, Rhonda Ogelsby Coulet, Jennifer Warnes, Willie Weatherly, Teda Bracci, Jobriath, James Rado, Elaine Hill, Delores Hall, Denise Delapenna and Greg Arlin, LA production of Hair at the Aquarius Theatre...

[@7thWardCreole]

Gloria Jones can be spotted at 1:29 & 7:47

[@burtihal]

Light brown pants no shirt is Greg Arlen. Dark brown pants no shirt is Jobriath Salisbury

[@burtihal]

That is the great Delores Hall

[@sumorsdiva]

And Susan Morse

[@sumorsdiva]

Please add me, Susan Morse, to the names of the original Los Angeles cast of "HAIR"

[@michaelstone4763]

People haven't learned a damn thing since then.

[@kencoakley3959]

Gerome Ragni, the guy with the black hair died back in 1991 while he and James rado (the guy with the blonde hair) were working on a Hair sequel. Rado is still kickin' at 86 years old.

[@chiliray4515]

What good memories this brings back. And the Smothers Bros. always delivered the goods on Sunday nights then.

[@violetxoxox]

Wow. I grew up listening to this. We lived in L.A. and I vividly remember when my parents went to see this because they didn't go out a lot without taking me with them, especially to the theatre. So even though I was only five, I was extremely upset to be left behind that night. When they came home and I looked through the libretto and saw a photo of the nude scene, it was easy to figure out why I didn't get to go. It still crushes me that I never got to see it live, so it's amazing to see it here on KZbin. I didn't know any video of the cast from back then existed at all. I still have the libretto, too!

[@gabbyc3444]

Wow La in the 60s. That is my dream. Sad I made it close to 40 years too late :( same city but wrong decades. Hell I'd even kill to have had experienced the 70s in LA.

[@boogiedownbronx73]

its hard to believe that the best in jazz/soul music still had to come !!! 1969 was a turning point in music...some of the best recordings were made between 69 and 73

[@Anglynn74]

I'm sure my mother is in there somewhere....she's 68 yrs old and still living in the 60s

[@burtihal]

Who is your mother?

[@musicmusic65]

Love is around you and in you.............Let the sun shine in!!!................ A plea for PEACE 50 years ago by a young generation, so much needed today. We need another HAIR revival right now. I'm 52 and I say "Let the F*#@%ING sun shine in!"

[@Pat4HUMANITY]

I am struck by the awesome audiovisual quality of this really very old piece. That was a special generation, but this is literally (chronologically anyway) The Age of Aquarius and this generation can at least begin to truly deliver that vision. This seems like a very dark time, but maybe it's the darkness before the dawn.

[@LACraig621]

Jennifer Warnes looking hot as the blonde lead with glasses. Hard to believe that's even her.

[@TheInnerParty]

This is just an awesome treat!!! 💯

[@johnwebster4649]

Pigtails is the amazing Gloria Jones. She was the first person to record "Tainted Love".

[@7thWardCreole]

John Webster Pigtails is definitely not Gloria, Google some images. Gloria can be spotted at 7:47

[@burtihal]

The woman in pigtails is Delores Hall!

[@metsiemetsie6262]

This is just an amazing performance.

[@wynstansmom829]

Fantastic footage, Horrowitz. Thanks for the memories. I was ten and watched this episode. We were shocked and titillated by this new strange music.

[@jameswillett7186]

Hair paved the way for Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell.

[@unclemike1695]

I think that's MeatLoaf in the green shirt. He was in the west coast cast.

[@coquiisland]

unclemike Hi unclemike!! Yes the young man at .16 with a black hat is Meat Loaf, the Big Boy, he was 21 years old in that time, you can see him at 5:34 with a long sleveless green shirt and clapping his hand at 8:38. In his biography he said I love that show!!! Meat God Bless wherever you are!!! :)

[@burtihal]

+unclemike Not Meat Loaf. It was Joey Richards.

[@burtihal]

The guy in light brown pants, no shirt and blond hair is Greg Arlen. That's not Meat Loaf. That is Joey Richards.

[@nowvoyagerNE]

< had the original album ... got it when it was newly released. old chick ;-)

[@wag0nette]

I think this includes Gloria Jones who recorded the original "Tainted Love" in 1964 and later was married to T Rex's Marc Bolan, is in this cast. At 7:48. wikipedia: "During the summer of 1968, she performed in a play called Revolution, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. That winter, she joined the Los Angeles cast of Hair, the musical. "

[@Phase42]

Does anybody know the name of the black girl with pigtails who sings "Aquarius"? I realize she's close to my mom's age (my mom was 24 in 1968, and I was 2), but that lady is simply lovely.

[@trashpalace]

I believe that is Delores Hall. She was in a number of stage productions (see link). www.ovrtur.com/biography/10115461

[@hhvictor2462]

Incredible to believe the remaining cast members are now collecting Social Security checks. We all believed we'd live forever fit and young.

[@MrClearlight]

Thanx ,this is much clearer.

[@OtherTwin]

BEAUTIFUL LOVE AND PEACE j vincent edwards

[@AndrewStormStorywizard1948]

Yeah Jim and Gerry were in their 30s...but they wrote it and were there at the start of the Hippie movement..I think Gerry (Gerome ragni) was about 33 and Jim (James Rado) was about 36...but they were the REAL thing....

[@josefmojito]

nádherný ... *1* thank you for this video

[@navymiguelito]

The "Lawrence Welk" audience were really diggin' the music.

[@Theorema2001]

THAT IS ME!!!!!

[@kevinr.m.richardson812]

Give me whatever Gerome Ragni is flying on in this video!

[@violetxoxox]

andrewshue Flying = high.

[@VOTEBLUEFORYOU2024]

LOL! I thought the same thing!

[@edwardbrashear3575]

that is indeed Delores Hall

[@michaelterry6143]

They should do a revival of Hair with the original broadway cast. I think it would be great to see these 65 year old people dressed as hippies or naked and singing on stage. I would pay to see that.

[@edbrown4218]

Yeah, but half would be dead and the other half would be 70 to 80 years old. Instead of tunes about innocense and long hair, their songs would be about impotence and loss of hair.

[@craigsmith157]

65? Try 75-80.

[@genx7417]

I love Hair very poignant!

[@coilmanjoe]

Maybe right now we need Hair again, since our governments trying to do the exact opposite of what the show stood for.

[@Starsk25]

Joseph Melcher Are you talking about Obama? Look what we have now, Donald Trump, who's about to be impeached.

[@robertblack2752]

Trump will never be impeached you have to first commit a crime and then the Senate has to try you and you are only impeached if convicted. Since no crime has been committed there is no reason to Impeach

[@alexandrazweig2870]

i;m do-directing it this spring for one of high schools.

[@456swagger]

Yeah Baby! We need "Hair" again just like we need rampant Syphilis and Gonorrhea. Yeah, That's what the Hippy, free luv philosophy gave us along with the Charles Manson family. Yeah Baby! Peace, Love Dope!

[@matthatter2849]

Starsk25, I believe there's a much bigger picture. One that you can't see. Trump's not going to be impeached and if he does...he's only going to be replaced with "something" far worse. Israel is the ticking time bomb of the entire world right now (I know you don't understand what I mean by that). It looks like Trump is going to be used to usher in some "prophecy." And if that's the case, no man is going to stop what is foretold. Can you dig it?

[@jdham137]

Why did Delores slap Ragni at 5:39? He seemed to not expect it based on his grin at about 5:42.

[@goteamdefense]

So the line is about his mother not loving him, so he gets slapped. He does look (acts) like it was harder than expected.

[@jdham137]

First, thanks for the response. Yeah, I understood the part about his mother not loving him but why Delores? Why didn't the person playing, I assume, his mom slap him? I haven't seen the play and kinda don't want to unless I can find a version of it from this period, (the new stuff I've seen is just unwatchable), so I might have missed something from the original context.

[@jdham137]

I think I do. I tried to watch some of the newer versions and they're just nowhere near as good, to the point that I couldn't enjoy it at all.

[@jimromenesko5623]

The "lady" who looks like his mother is not. It's a tourist (played by a guy) who think the hippies are "adorable" but asks "why?" indicating the long hair. That's why the first lyric of the song is: "She asks me why...why I'm a hairy guy."

[@patryka11]

What is the name of the blond woman singing "we starve look, at one another....." She sing really beautiful

[@7thWardCreole]

patryka11 Jennifer Warnes

[@patryka11]

Thanks very much :)

[@ricardoantoniovillavargas2534]

She sang many songs years later an example of them is I've had the time of my life and up where we belong with others singers and she has many songs singing alone

[@sandracfitzge]

She sang and worked extensively with Leonard Cohen relatively late in his career and he saw her as a very important part of his work. She did an album of his songs...

[@nkwari]

7:07 - 7:30 WOW !!!! Powerful !!!

[@boogiedownbronx73]

Galt MacDermot !!! legend

[@sarahohmeier7876]

Love this!!!!!

[@witchyflowerchild7201]

I’m pretty sure the entire cast was stoned during this 😂😍

[@awayteamonearth4322]

I don't know the name of the blond hair man in Age Of Aquarius standing in middle stage but does he ever resemble Robert Plant at that age! Therefore, I bet he's a Leo also and likes the limelight. Just an observation.

[@floraline7153]

If you are speaking of the first fringe-jacketed and then shirtless fellow, he was Jobriath nee' Bruce Wayne Campbell. He was an immense talent who cut three albums and who tragically died alone aged 36 in 1983 of AIDS. He was a Sagittarius but he did adore the limelight. If that's not who you were referring to, please Google Jobriath anyway. It's worth it.

[@annabanana5186]

Bert Sommer!

[@boblarson7694]

I was born in the wrong generation!

[@Nosferatu981]

Boblarson oh god are you saying that unironically? How embarrassing.

[@dinobird64]

No you weren't (you're here now for a reason). If this inspires you, make this YOUR generation. Peace knows no specific one!

[@veroharnan6907]

The bests.

[@LACraig621]

All this peace and love during one of the worst decade in America's history.

[@79dharv]

Interesting that they show the audience reaction between the 1st and 2nd song, but never again--no doubt because a lot of that audience looked like they were somewhere between bewildered and appalled. Most of them probably thought Joey Heatherton was cutting-edge, whereas this was right over the cliff-edge.

[@tvmonte]

The face most of them were wearing ties and proper dress tells me all I need to know about how clueless many of them were about what "Hair" stood for!

[@greg7656]

Jennifer Warnes sings Flesh Failures better than any actress in the role before or since. And poor Jobriath (shirtless, dark brown pants), so young and not a clue what's coming his way in a few years. I want to jump through the screen and say, If anyone suggests that you imitate a guy named Bowie, don't do it. Your life will be ruined... And I guess while I was at it I'd tell Gloria Jones never, ever drive a car in the U.K.

[@LACraig621]

When America had talent.

[@billsmith5985]

"so be leery dearie" . A warning of the soon to be famous Manson Family

[@samijohnson9375]

You mean at 7:41? The lyric is "answer for Timothy Leary, dearie."

[@MrLee204]

Kinda certain they couldn't predict the future back then Bill Smith.

[@jhukov]

Precisely. "Find the others" (T. Leary). RIP.

[@chiliray4515]

I think he sings "Answer my weary query, Timothy Leary, dearie"

[@richardbullis6263]

Where's Keith Carradine I thought he was in hair.

[@trashpalace]

I believe he was in the Broadway cast, this is the LA cast.

[@andycobb6062]

The slow part is weird

[@josefmojito]

7thWardCreole : yes i think its ,Gloria Jones

[@4x4x41000]

does this video contain abigale haness?

[@stephenstrange529]

Berger looks about 40.

[@kevinr.m.richardson812]

+Ross Gowland Gerome Ragni and James Rado were both in their late thirties during the original production. The staging here, combined with their movements and Gerome Ragni's bizarre behavior really don't do them any favors as far as helping them not look like a couple of decrepit old dudes playing teenagers among more appropriately-aged cast members.

[@riccardobruero]

Ross, Ragni (who played Berger) was 33 years old in 1968. Rado (who played Claude) was 36. They both wrote and composed HAIR.

[@JWarren6532]

They didn't compose it. Galt Macdermot did. He also composed the musical TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

[@burtihal]

They wrote the lyrics and the story. Galt composed the music.

[@leveecunningham5812]

the mp3 don't work

[@OhTerrful1]

Yet Joan Baez was who got censored on the show!

[@samarakelly3397]

not a fan of the direction.

[@Filmdude0]

just a little bit too old.....why could they not find younger leads...

[@michaelrobertanderson]

They weren't too young. They were living this as it was happening around them. The were in their 20's, late teens. The age can't be questioned here because they were legitimately living through the war. Most of these folks weren't much of theater people but actual flower children and hippies. I personally love it!

[@Filmdude0]

Well it is a musical after all.....I assume they were mainly actors and singers and they were casted for this show.

[@michaelrobertanderson]

+Filmdude0 Yes, they were cast and yes they were actors/singers. But that doesn't deter that they were also real 'hippies'. When Rado was writing this, he was writing it with Ragni and their friends. All which happened to be against the war in some sense.

[@riccardobruero]

Filmdude, You mean Rado and Ragni on stage? They were the real thing, the hippies who wrote, composed and played in HAIR. This is their big work, their HIPPIE ROCK musical. The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius was for the young and the old.

[@michaelrobertanderson]

+riccardobruero I'm in 100% agreement with you! I'm currently playing Berger. And this show expresses itself to the entire world. Old and young!

[@456swagger]

After fifty years this act is just as shallow, silly, and stupid as it was back then. This is some of the crap that got the Smothers Brothers cancelled. Their show went from being funny and entertaining to boring and annoying. Their ratings nose dived and the sponsors took their money elsewhere.

[@robertmahaney5692]

I don't agree

[@helaine625]

I'm guessing that you never saw Hair live (assuming you were around at that time). I suppose it depends on your point of view, but Hair was one of those things that really makes an impression, especially seeing it in person. It was fabulous and freeing -- and I think it holds up today. Sorry you didn't enjoy it, @456swagger.