From Beatnik to Beauty (film #8 in the Makeovers, Diets & Fitness section of WPA Film Library). [Category: Hollywood]

In this clip from a British newsreel featurette, a swinging beatnik chick goes into a beauty shop full of staid, girdle-wearing middle-aged suburban women and, through the miracle of “the deception that is a part of a modern women’s lifestyle,” gets transformed into a staid, girdle-wearing, middle-aged (her “beauty treatment” ages her at least 20 years) woman who is all ready to find a nice husband and move into the suburbs. More horrorific than The Stepford Wives, because such places actually exist! One of the campiest films from the WPA Film Library, which is usually pretty staid itself.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.