Dawn’s Bad Haircut

 

Interviewer:  We are talking to the girls of the comic strip, Elizabeth Caine and Dawn Enjo and Sharon Taylor or as we know her from the reenactments, Miss Edwards.  Welcome to the podcast.  Today we are going to talk about the episode titled “Dawn’s Bad Haircut.”  One of the amazing things about For Better or For Worse was that you could discuss something like a haircut as not only being bad because it did not look bad, but also the moral implications of a bad haircut.  I think the comic strip was revolutionary in that respect.

Elizabeth:  You are so right.  The foundation for using appearance to show good or evil started with the teeth.  As you know, anyone with buck teeth was automatically suspected of being morally repugnant.  In this story with Dawn, we show how two perfectly innocent girls were corrupted.  Previous by smoking and then by a haircut.   Bad hair is a sign of a person’s internal morality. 

Dawn:  I hate to disagree with my good friend, Elizabeth, but the story is really about dealing with peer pressure.  Even when we doing the recreations of what happened, we had some problems with peer pressure.  My brother and my father both refused to appear because the director insisted they had to have slanty eyes.   They won out, but the director then refused to put them in.  Our victory was that I did not have to have slanty eyes for this recreation.

Elizabeth:  You look good with slanty eyes.

Dawn:  I do not. 

Sharon:  I take exception to the idea that having some kind of physical difference has a moral implication.  I am in a wheelchair and no one ever thought I was evil because of the wheelchair.

Interviewer:  How did they think about you?

Elizabeth:  You inspired me to become a teacher.  There is nothing bad about Miss Edwards, I mean, Mrs. Taylor.

Dawn:  If anything, being in a wheelchair automatically meant you were smarter and wiser than all the other teachers. 

Interviewer:  How were other teachers in your high school?

Dawn:  I can’t remember any of them.

Elizabeth:  It feels like the only class I was ever in was Miss Edwards’ class, but I know that can’t be right.

Interviewer:   Clearly Miss Edwards was your most memorable teacher. 

Dawn:  For sure. 

Interviewer:   Dawn, tell me about this story about your hair cut.  What do you remember about it?

Dawn:  In real life, I was tired of my whole look especially my same old Japanese schoolgirl haircut.  I wanted a radical change.  Candace Halloran, now Candace Halloran-Dodd, was the trendiest girl in high school.  She said my hair was “uncool” and she was right.  So we went shopping and I got a miniskirt to show off my legs, which Candace said was my biggest asset.  Then we went to the salon.  Candace suggested a few things and we picked the cut.  The salon did a great job.  I got a punk haircut.  They were very popular in the 1990s.  Today, it’s what they would call a pixie bowl cut with a disconnected undercut. 

Elizabeth:  I looked so terrible.  It was so funny.

Dawn:  I saw it and it was so different.  I thought it looked terrible.  Candace liked it.  The hairdresser liked it.  They said it was “cool”, but I thought my mother is going to kill me and all the kids are going to laugh at me.  The sides of my head were shaved with just a little stubble. 

Elizabeth:  With that haircut, I can believe it.  It was U-G-L-Y.  People stared at her in the school.

Sharon:  I thought the haircut looked great, but Dawn was really upset by it, which was unusual for Dawn.  Elizabeth was the one always flying off the handle, but Dawn was smoother and more measured. 

Dawn:  Whatever.  What we did in the reenactment is not real life.

Interviewer:  How does the story start in the reenactment?

Dawn:  I declare I am not going to school because of a haircut when Elizabeth comes and rings the bell and knocks on the door of my house talking about how I am going to miss the bus.   This is for dramatic effect.  Elizabeth never knocked on our door or rang the doorbell.  She would just open the door and go right inside.

Elizabeth:  Even though my last name is Caine, I was born a Patterson.  I wasn’t used to this knocking or doorbell ringing.   I didn’t know the doorbell was that button.  Why didn’t you tell me I was doing it wrong?

Dawn:  It was a lot funnier to watch you try every time the director told to “Don’t knock. Just ring the doorbell.”  That got a lot more laughs than my haircut did in the reenactment. 

Interviewer:  It does seem funny.  You were knocking and ringing the doorbell at the same time.  I am glad they kept that in. 

Elizabeth:  I am not taking this again.  I learned how to do that better.

Dawn:  She did honestly.  It has been years since the last time she did it.

Sharon:  Wait.  Did you just say that Elizabeth did not know how to knock or ring a doorbell?

Elizabeth:  I know how to do it now.  That’s what’s important.

Sharon:  I am not sure that is true. 

Elizabeth:  Can we get back to talking about Dawn’s haircut?!!

Interviewer:  Was there a good reaction when Elizabeth saw the haircut?

Dawn:  In real life we were at the bus stop and she ran away screaming.  In the reenactment, she did, I am not kidding, a triple take. 

Elizabeth:  The reenactment audience really loves my triple takes.  My mom always said, “When the punchline isn’t funny, you can make it funny with a triple take.”

Dawn:  That’s not true.

Sharon:  If it’s not funny, a triple take is not going to fix it.

Elizabeth:  Talk to me when you make people laugh the way my mother does.

Interviewer:  In this next scene of the reenactment, you are standing by the bus stop.

Elizabeth:  They couldn’t get an actual bus stop for the reenactment, so instead they had a couple of guys stand in the background around a pole and pretend it was a bus stop sign.  You can tell from looking at it that the pole is way too tall and wide to be a bus stop sign. 

Dawn:  I did have to some symbolic shame posing for this one in the reenactment.  Notice how I am carrying my backpack like it’s my baby.  The director wanted me bent over, looking down, and bowed out of shame; so he had me hug my backpack instead of wearing it on my back.  I actually had to put the backpack on my back, just so I could do the joke about my ears freezing.  I don’t think anyone got that symbolism but the director.

Elizabeth:  That’s for sure.  I hated it when they made me stand like I was pregnant to show shame.  There is no shame in being pregnant.  I loved it.

Sharon:  I loved it too.  My son, James Ethan is almost 14 years old.

Elizabeth:  Your son is named James?  Mine is too.  Did you name him after my grandfather?

Sharon:  No. 

Interviewer:  In this next scene of the reenactment, you are in the bus.

Elizabeth:  They couldn’t get an actual bus for the reenactment.  Notice how the seats in front are lower than the seats in the back and they look like benches.  They did that so you could get the angle to view us while just seeing the heads of the guys in front of us.

Dawn:  The shot was really bad. I am talking about everyone looking at me and all you get is the one extra sitting in front of us looking back and the girl behind us with her pupils pointed at me.  What was funny was after we did the reenactment, that extra started hitting on me and telling me I had great legs.  Boys!  You know.  They don’t care how your hair looks as long as you are showing a lot of skin.  I had to remind him that I was not a teenager and I was married.

Elizabeth:  We did not get the real Candace to come back for the reenactment, so we had to hire this young Candace look-alike.  If I don’t wear makeup and wear frumpy clothes, I look a lot like I did when I was 12.  Dawn is petite, she looks like she is a teenager.  But Candace looked nothing like herself at 12. 

Dawn:  That’s true.  They talked to Candace and she said her face doesn’t look like that anymore, and even with a permed hair wig, she was not going to look like her old self.  When Candace got older, her nose got longer, her lips got bigger, the whole shape of her jaw changed.  I know when I saw Candace for the first time after she graduated from high school, I did not recognize her at all.  When I see pictures of her from high school, I have a hard time believing it was the same girl. 

Elizabeth:  This actress we hired to play Candace looked more like Candace than Candace did.  She was amazing, by the way, and she was willing to play Candace for all the rest of the reenactments we did with her.  I guess actresses will do anything to get a job.  Did she sleep with the director?

Dawn:  No.

Sharon:  Did you sleep with the director?

Elizabeth:  I only sleep with boys who are going to cheat on me.

Interviewer:  The next scene shows you fighting with your locker.

Elizabeth:  This happened all the time.  Those lockers locks were tough to open. 

Dawn:  Even though I had gotten nothing but compliments on my hair and a lot of guys stared at my legs in that miniskirt, I was still mad at Candace.  You know how it is when you get mad at someone and you just can’t let it go?

Elizabeth:  I know exactly what you mean.  When you started being friends with Candace I was so jealous, I could not wait for you to get into a fight with her.  Your terrible haircut was the best thing that happened to us. 

Dawn:  Until I became friends with Shawna-Marie. 

Elizabeth:  Stop!  I eventually got over being mad about you and Shawna-Marie. 

Dawn:  Anyways, they had this locker set and they told me to pound the crap out of it.

Interviewer:  Wouldn’t you normally just trying spinning the dial on the lock again?

Dawn:  Yes, in real life, but they wanted to set up this idea that I was hitting the lockers like I would hit a person.  I told them I was a pacifist and I did hit people, but it didn’t matter. 

Elizabeth:  I have seen you hit people before. 

Dawn:  Shut up!

Sharon:  Dawn does have a temper.  In real life, her family had to pay to replace the locker she kicked. 

Dawn:  They did not.

Sharon:  They did. 

Dawn:  Well, damn.  I never knew they had to do that. 

Interviewer:  Was there anything interesting about this next scene in the staff room?

Sharon:  First I would like you to notice that this wheelchair is the very first one they gave to use for the reenactments that actually has the wheels in the front they use to balance the wheelchair.  The armrest still does not attach to the front frame of the seat like a real wheelchair does, but this was a huge improvement.  In the reenactments before, they had to tie a counterweight to keep the wheelchair from falling over. 

Interviewer:  Why wouldn’t they just get a real wheelchair?

Sharon:  That’s the question I was always asking.  All they would tell me was the person doing the research was really lazy. 

Interviewer:  Was there anything else interesting about the scene in the staff room?

Sharon:  No staff in the staff room for one thing and no students.  That place was so busy, we would never have a private conversation in there. 

Dawn:  The reenactment did not have the budget for extras.

Sharon:  And not a budget to recreate my office, which is where the real conversation took place. 

Dawn:  I used to like looking at your racing marathon trophies. 

Sharon:  I did put a few of them up so the students could see that my wheelchair, my real one that worked, did not limit me.  

Elizabeth:  Did you talk about how evil Candace was for making Dawn get that terrible haircut?

Sharon:  Like we did in the reenactment, Dawn looked in a mirror and realized her haircut did not look that bad.  It was pretty fashionable for the time. 

Dawn:  Once I realized that I actually looked good, it was a lot easier to face other students. 

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Sharon:  But we could not use that in the reenactment.  My message was rewritten to be the same as Elly Patterson’s with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth:  I hated that conversation.  I wanted to tell mom about Candace making Dawn get a haircut and then it was cigarettes, cigarettes, cigarettes.  Mom got to pretend she had known about the smoking all along, when everyone knew Michael squealed on me after he caught us smoking. 

Dawn:  Plus my mom smelled cigarette on me the moment I came home and I had confessed to her months before.  She called Mrs. Patterson and told her we had been smoking.

Elizabeth:  Typical mom.  She likes to save everything up and then blow up at you all at once.  I got the “Candace has power over you” lecture.  I learned to really hate that lecture.  Reenacting it was not much fun for me, but mom loved it.

Dawn:  Then the next day, Candace came up to you and said your sweater made you look chunky.  The sad part was that it was true, but Candace could not have picked a worse time to say it.

Elizabeth:  Right.  I was getting over wearing my mother’s oversized sweaters to school and she kept on saying, “I have a really nice sweater here.  Don’t you want to wear it?”  So, I have would have to wear it.

Dawn:  That’s the real power. 

Interviewer:  I think the story ended nicely with you both learning a valuable lesson.

Dawn:  Candace has pretty good fashion sense.

Elizabeth:  That’s right.  Even today, I will consult with Candace about what the latest trends are. 

Interviewer:  No, I mean that people only have power over you if you listen to what they say.

Elizabeth:  That’s what mom had wrong.  Not only is not listening to someone rude, but it’s not how society works.  As a school teacher, I have to listen to the students.

Dawn:  It’s what makes humanity tick. 

Interviewer:  So you disagree with the lesson in the reenactment?

Dawn:  Absolutely.  It’s terrible advice.

Elizabeth:  The worst.

Interviewer:  And what do you say about this, Mrs. Taylor.

Sharon:  I am so glad to see that these fine young women have learned what I tried to teach them and ignore the people who tried to have power over them.

Interviewer:  And that’s the end of the podcast on “Dawn Gets a Bad Haircut”  I would like to thank Elizabeth Caine, Dawn Enjo and Sharon Taylor for participating with us.

John Hurts His Back

Interviewer:  We are talking to the main man in the Patterson clan, Dr. John Patterson.  Welcome to the podcast, John.  Today we are going to talk about the episode titled “John Hurts His Back.”  The title pretty much tells us the story.  What insights can you give us about the reenactment?  

John:  In real life, this was not one of my favourites, as you can probably guess.  Back pain is no fun and honestly, there are not a lot of laughs there.  The reenactment was a lot more fun.  Instead of April, we got twin girls to play the part of April.  The rules for reenactment limit the number of hours girls that age can work.  With twins we get the same number of hours as one actor for the part.  These girls were as sweet as can be and their mother watched them like a hawk.  I hadn’t been around someone who watched their child so carefully, so that was a new experience for me.

Interviewer:  Tell us about this first scene.  April bites you to get your attention.

 

John:  In real life, April went right through my pants and drew blood.  I think I still have the scar.  After that, I started to wear thick jeans whenever I was around her.  We had let her run around without paying attention to her for so long, her psychiatrist said she was acting like a feral animal. 

Interviewer:  Amazing.  How did you deal with the problem?

John:  April?  Oh, we put her in vet school. 

Interviewer:  Okay.  How about the twins?

John:  No vet school for them.  They were pros, but even the twins had a really tough time with it because they had been taught biting was bad.  Imagine that!  They had to try both girls and neither one of them wanted to bite me on the leg.  Finally, they agreed to slobber on my leg and I had to pretend to react.   It was a pretty pleasant experience compared to the original.

Interviewer:  Here’s the scene with the actual back injury.  

 

John:  The reenactment was pretty fun.  They switched out the twins from panel to panel, which is why they look a little in each panel.  The “CRAK” was added with sound effects, since backs don’t really make that sound.  Then for the final bit, they had to put these massive comedy teeth in my mouth to achieve the visual. 

Interviewer:  They look painful.

John:  They were.  The hardest part about pretending to pull my back was the teeth.   The problem after that was I fell on my front and I was supposed to fall on my back to set up the joke with Farley slobbering on me and April putting her stuffed bear on me.  I told the director, I could do it again and land on the other side, but she insisted I could roll over and get to that spot.  Of course, we got comments from back injury experts that I should have stayed where I was.   See in the first panel, you can tell we are on a set and not actually at our house.  Elly steps up onto the set.  See her feet are below the floor.  Farley comes in like he was hiding behind a wall.  You can’t do that in a house, but you can on a set.

 

Interviewer:  Funny.  Where did you shoot this?

John:  It was at a little studio near Toronto.  They did Rocket Robin Hood animation there and they had the space.  The dog trainer for our Farley put a little treat beside my head and the dog had no trouble slobbering on it.  The got it in one take.  Very efficient.  The real Farley died years ago, so they got a stunt dog named Willy, and he did a great job.   

Interviewer:  In real life, did Elly just call the doctor, or did you go see an actual doctor and get an X-ray? 

John:  You don’t mess with your back. We went to the doctor and I got tested.  We wanted to reenact that part too, but the director said we did not have the budget to show an X-ray or an MRI.  Frankly, it does not give the right impression if a medical profession does not know what to do in an emergency, but budget..

Interviewer:  Do you really use frozen vegetables instead of an ice pack?

John:  No.  I am a medical professional.   We have ice packs in my house.  The director thought it would be funnier to use frozen vegetables.  Artistic licence is what they call it, but it was corporate sponsorship from the frozen vegetable company.  They were unhappy you could not see their brand label very well. 

Interviewer:  Next we have in bed for 3-4 days with a pulled muscle.   Was that the correct diagnosis?

John:  No.  Sciatica.  I got some paracetamol and diclofenac to help with the pain.  I was out for a few weeks.  For the purposes of the reenactment, they changed that to a pulled muscle and 3-4 days.  I guess the real injury was considered to be too scary for the kids who watch these reenactment.

Interviewer:  Any sympathy from Michael or was it like what they showed here?

John:  Part of this is right.  Elly started driving my car and that meant Michael could drive Elly’s car.  He was pretty excited.  I was excited that Elly did not total my car.  When I got better, there were scratches all over my car, but it was still drivable.  That was an improvement over the last time.

Interviewer:  Did Elly really leave you at home and go to work?

John:  This part is a little delicate.  In the reenactments they like to preserve the idea that Elly was the perfect mother and wife.  

Interviewer:  So, you are saying Elly did go to work and leave you there?

John:  She was at that point in our relationship, where that was the best she could do.  When Elly left to go to work, there was no lunch and there was no librarian telling her she was doing a good job.  That was for the reenactment.  It helped Elly feel better about herself, but it did not help me.  Even in the reenactment there was a backlash over her not taking any time off. 

Interviewer:  Too many medical doctors watching the reenactments?

John:  No, just people with common sense, who know how a marriage is supposed to work.  In real life, Farley helped me out.  He was such a good dog.  The stunt dog was very smart, but he was no Farley. 

Interviewer:  Is this the reason why you have this odd dialogue where you talk about Elly leaving you if you were permanently bedridden?

John:  Yes.  It had nothing to do with soap operas, which I don’t watch.   The dialogue here is very close to the response Elly gave in the actual situation.  Notice she does not answer those questions, but changes the subject. 

Interviewer:  In this scene where you are moving around, did you actually scream like that?

 

John:  Hell, no!  You don’t mess with backs.  I am a dentist and my back has to be good.  I waited until my back was much better before I started back to work.  That said, it was fun to do all that screaming in the reenactment.  Normally, Elly gets all the screaming moments, but this time it was all John Patterson!  It was like for one brief, shining moment, I was Elly Patterson.

Interviewer:  That’s the end.  I would like to thank John Patterson for coming out to talk to us.

John:  My pleasure.  I look forward to the next one.