Hats OffMost politicians never saw a cliche...

Hats Off

Most politicians never saw a cliche they didn’t like and some, in fact, have made up their own.

Benjamin Franklin said, among other things, “There never was a good war or a bad peace.”

And Kennedy told us: “Ask what you can do for your country.”

Of course, on the other hand, we had:

Nixon, who confided, “I am not a crook,” and Bush, who kept telling us to “read my lips.”

But putting their best foot forward, or in their mouths, is not the only trick politicians must master.

They should also know how to act out, as well as coin, a cliche.

Take Karyn Foley, who recently announced her candidacy for a second term on the Calabasas City Council.

She did it by throwing her actual, as well as proverbial, hat into a ring.

The occasion, in front of friends and/or voters, took place at the new Lost Hills sheriff’s station with a Hula-Hoop.

Finding a hat to throw was no big deal for the councilwoman since she started collecting them years ago.

“I got my first hat to hide a bad haircut,” she said. “Then it was a bad color job. I can’t remember what else.”

Over the years, her chapeaux began to pile up, which is fortunate, since Foley wears two of them every day.

She is a high-profile, full-time real estate practitioner in the west San Fernando Valley, as well as being involved in council activities on what she says is an almost full-time basis.

When asked why she was running for another term, she hauled out the old saw that “there is still so much to do.”

“It’s exciting to be on the first council of a newly incorporated city because you know that what you do will set the direction for years to come, and frightening to realize how much responsibility that is.”

Foley said the council has, during its first year, hired a city manager and other staff and, generally, she thinks, made a good beginning.

So, nobody said all old saws are untrue.

It’s a Curl!

The European Gods of Fashion have spoken.

The style publications have sent out The Word.

Everyone into the beauty parlor for the Little Shirley Temple look.

The sleek look and geek look are things of the past.

Curly heads, as well as waves that you could surf on, are what are being shown on models’ heads in Paris, London and Milan.

And now that Vogue says all the chic will be curling, how could those of us in the boonies think of doing anything less?

So, there you are, desperately seeking your hot rollers and hair spray, knowing full well that you will probably become a candidate for Rogaine.

Have faith, for there is a new home product called Zoto’s Bain de Terre Recovery Complex Wave.

It not only perms your hair, but reduces the shame and heartbreak of split ends.

So, as we obediently spend money to damage our hair and enslave ourselves to fashion, there is something else we can buy to mitigate the mess.

For those of you who have decided to let someone else style your crimp, you may have to do some explaining since this major trend has yet to hit all of our local salons.

Stylist Mary Merrill of the Allen Edwards Salon in Woodland Hills wears her own red hair in a crown of cascading curls, but she said mobs haven’t been storming her doors to get perm curlers on their heads.

That is not to say that a wave of support has failed to emerge.

Studio City stylist Silvio Pensanti, who wears his darkish hair in a shortish Cary Grant style, says some of his movie star clients are starting to curl up.

Smile, You’re On. . . .

They’re bringing an actor, a talent agent and a director to a Pierce College class to teach students how to relax in front of a camera. The class begins Feb. 18.

Paul Napier, program coordinator, said he thought that the class would be full of wanna-be actors and/or TV weathermen wanting to get tape time in front of the camera.

Instead, he said, it’s (almost) filled with people who want to see what they look like on job interviews.

Registration is $34 for people who want to use it for either purpose.

Mean Green Machine

Leary O’Sullivan figures that it’s his 15 minutes to be famous.

The 61-year-old biker is making it pretty big.

Last summer, when riding his Honda Goldwing from his Calabasas home to Alaska, he caught the attention of two entrepreneurial, wild and crazy journalistic guys.

“I was riding my bike up the highway in British Columbia, headed for the Alaskan border, when these two jump in a Land Rover and started chasing me,” O’Sullivan recalled.

What had caught the attention of the free-lance writer and photographer, who were taking pictures along the Alcan Highway, was O’Sullivan’s bright, customized kelly green bike and matching trailer.

“They were taking pictures along the highway because 1992 is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the thing, and wanted to take pictures of me in my green jacket and my customized bike and trailer against the background of the nature and scenery and all.”

After the shooting, O’Sullivan continued riding and camping throughout Alaska, not thinking too much about the writer-photographer pair.

He said he was pretty surprised when he heard from them and was told that his picture had been sold several places.

“I’ve been in, or am supposed to be in, Auto Week, Westways, Trailer Life, Four Wheeler and maybe the San Francisco Examiner travel section,” he told friends at Franklin’s Hardware store in Woodland Hills, where he works.

But when asked what the most memorable part of the 9,000-mile trip was, he laughed and said: “The fact that it rained 20 of the 24 days I was on the road.”

Overheard

“My depression stems from the fact that my cleaning woman makes more money than I do.”

--Woman to her friend over lunch in Sherman Oaks