Finally!  A hard Mystery Celebrity!  It's been so long, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to send out responses saying that the entrant guessed wrong.  In fact, I've had folks begging me for the answer, since they couldn't wait until this month to find out (yes, Jessica, I'm talking about you). 

Anyway, without further delay, the correct answer was country singer...

Apparently my hint saying that guessing Madonna wouldn't be in the ballpark, but that you wouldn't have to change sports was meant to convey that she was also a singer, but of a different type.  Guess that was too cryptic.  Oh, well. 

In case you care, the most popular wrong answers were Meryl Streep and Melanie Griffith. Interestingly, many entries guessed both, indicating Meryl for the first picture (circa "Silkwood", I guess) and Melanie for the second, missing the whole concept of "two pictures, one person".  Go figure.  Anyway, the first person to guess them correctly was...

Way to go Stephanie.  The next 9 in order were Kelly Kirby (who lost to Stephanie by a mere 21 minutes), Lynne, Jennifer Alexander, Christina Land, Kathy Lanier, Jimmie Flood, Lib Aubuchon, Elizabeth Neal , and Jason Davis.  Hey, check it out.  Two guys in the top 10 for the first time. J

On to this month's contest.  As usual, I give you either a picture of a celebrity from early in their life or career with some completely different look or I disguise a current picture.  You then have to tell me who the celebrity in question is.  Simple enough?  Of course. 

Ok, I've decided to go back to a couple of high school pictures again.  The first one isn't bad, but the second is a killer. 

Who are the celebrities pictured in the two photos below?

Your only hint is that they have been somewhere in one or both of the last couple of columns.  And the only reason I'm giving a hint at all is that, if you're like me, otherwise you'd have no friggin' clue on #2.

Email your guess to JerkyFlea@HairBoutique.com with the subject "JerkyFlea Contest". (NOTE: PLEASE BE SURE TO USE THAT SUBJECT LINE SO THAT IT DOESN'T GET LOST IN MY EMAIL!  THANKS!)

As usual, THE FIRST PERSON to send me the correct answer for BOTH gets a hearty virtual handshake and pat on the back...and their name featured in the next column.  The next nine just get their name in the column.  Sure, it's a subtle difference, but those yellow letters don't come cheap.  Good Luck!

Since this is the last column of the year and of the media and pop culture defined millennium, let's get a bit historical and talk about that hairstyle icon of the early 1940s, VERONICA LAKE.  Veronica holds a rather unique honor in hair history that came about as a result of WWII, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Veronica was a starlet in the early 40s who's career was limping along.  That is, until she posed for some publicity photos and bit of her soon to be famous blonde hair fell across one eye.  The folks at Paramount suddenly saw her in a completely different light, put her under contract and in the movie "I Wanted Wings".  The film opened and she became a star.

Over the next couple of years, she made several very good films including "Sullivan's Travels", "This Gun for Hire", and "I Married a Witch".  Her popularity and that of her trademark "peek-a-boo" hairstyle skyrocketed.  Women everywhere were copying the sexy look of the long, eye covering bangs.  Ironically, that very popularity was the beginning of her career slide.

Remember, this was during WWII and the days of Rosie the Riveter.  You see, her hairstyle was SO popular and so many women were wearing it, that it was causing problems for the women in the plants since it would fall in their face or get tangled in the machinery.  So, believe it or not, the War Department formally requested that Paramount have her change her hairstyle.  Contrary to popular belief, she didn't cut it, but instead adopted a pulled back style.

Unfortunately, Veronica's new 'do came after a string of bad movies.  To make things worse, she followed the hairstyle change with the awful film, "Hour Before the Dawn".  The critics pounced on her, claiming that her popularity was just based on her hair.  Though she had shown she was actually a talented actress, and did make one more good movie, "The Blue Dahlia", her popularity never recovered and neither did her career.

She does, however, hold the distinction of being the only private citizen ever to be officially asked by the United States Government to change her hairstyle.

Can anybody come up with a good reason to get them to talk to Courtney Cox?

Veronica Late pictures courtesy Doug Stickney's Silver Screen Sirens and a special thanks to Tribute to Silver Screen Classic Actresses for additional information on Veronica.  Visit both of these sites.  I think you'll enjoy 'em.

If the use of any picture in this column violates the copyright of an individual or organization and needs to be removed, please let me know and it will be taken down.