The Smiley Smile Message Board

In a bunch of footage and photos from a few different periods in the early 60's, Denny's hair looks dyed black. Anyone know anything about this? I mean, it's the exact opposite of what made him so California and I can't go for that emo look. Anyone?

It wasn't an emo look at the time, because emo didn't exist.

Please show me an example of Dennis with black hair in the early '60's, because I've never seen one. The closest I've seen is medium brown in mid to late '66, and that's when they were touring so much he never saw the light.

Natch,I was just saying... Still, Aegir, you must know the photos (films?) I'm talking about. I agree that Dennis had dark brown hair in '65-66, maybe from never getting the salt and sun in his hair, but I'm sure there are older photos of him (with Dave in the band?) where his hair looks jet black. Stebbins, I'll try to find one for you if no one else can. I think there's some footage in Endless Harmony with Denny, his shades, and his black hair.

Could it be from the lighting? If the footage is black and white, it wouldn't take much darkness to make even blonde hair look black. I don't think I've ever seen a pic of Dennis with hair so dark it looked black.

It could definitely be the lighting and photo contrast. I was very surprised when I met Carl Wilson to discover he had light brown hair, because his coloring looked darker from the stage and in photos. OTOH, Dennis was always blonde whenever I saw him onstage, and I've never seen him with black hair in any medium.

I think hair color can look very different, depending on the lighting. i remember seeing a photo of John Lennon where his hair looked red. A short time later, I read that his hair actually WAS reddish-- not red, but reddish. In all those B&W photos, it looks brown. In most later color photos, it also looks brown.

Dennis sometimes looked like he had brown hair, and sometimes looked blond. I never thought he dyed it or anything, but always assumed it was the sun.

Yeah the darkest I have ever seen Dennys hair was a med brown. Hair coloring in pix can be VERY deceptive, its truly amazing what lighting & a certain position you may be in can make your hair look different. 

If you happen to have the book The Beach Boys Pet Sounds by Kingsley Abbott, check out page 94. There is a photo of a British release cover of a 45 God Only Knows in which all 5 (except Brian) are on it. It shows Dennis' hair very dark, but I'm sure it's the lighting.

I tried to scan it and send it but the file was too large!!!

Dennis's hair is very dark in the Cottonfields film clip ... then again he and the rest of he band look like they haven't seen daylight for a year (FYI: it's the colour clip with Dennis wearing a leather jacket).

Donna, try uploading a picture on www.tinypic.com and copy-paste the url-code here. Works much better than attaching it.

(http://i25.tinypic.com/2hye58w.jpg)



Let's see if that worked. Of course it's going to be dark now, as it's a black and white photo!!! Well, I tried!!!!!

The scan looks great, and I agree that his hair looks darker than normal but not dyed. The footage I'm thinking of is included during the Dennis part of endless harmony. I think he's sitting in a lounge chair outside, bright sunlight in his face, wearing some wayfairers and sporting dyed black hair. To me the clip seems to be from around '62-'64. Check this link at the 6:35 mark and tell me what you think. 8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4MXR8BLTb0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4MXR8BLTb0)

Yeah, I see what you're talking about.....I have no clue what the deal is with his hair there, but from what I've seen and everyone says, he never dyed his hair. I'm going with them.

I'm familiar with this footage(I've seen it in unedited form), its soundless footage from mid to late 1965, the rest of the band(including Bruce and no Brian) is rehearsing unplugged on a hotel rooftop while Dennis sits in a lawn chair sunning himself.

Thanks Jon!, For some reason I thought that footage was a few years older. I guess you're right and Dennis' hair just never got sun-bleached that year. His hair appears much closer to the color of Brian's. Anyway...thanks again!

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing it that dark....very interesting!  :afro

Yeah...wow i've never seen it that dark either! Thanks for the insight Jon