Bruce Lee: THE Jay Sebring Connection (‘Classic Layflat’ Hardback book)

Description

The newfound autonomy of the free-love swinging sixties was far removed from the post-war restrictions of the previous decade. With the advent of The Beatles, the British invasion arrived in the United States with a new attire for hairstyle and clothing. With a youth culture now dynamically charged with newfound music and fashion, a counter-culture had begun a battle with the stoic discipline still prevalent amongst a generation of war veterans and political proponents of yesteryear. Until this point, every Hollywood star would adorn the post-war pompadour in the form of a crew cut or the like until this unique free spirit entered the Hollywood arena. Virtually overnight, Jay Sebring single-handedly restructured and rebranded the face of Hollywood celebrity with his unique brand of eclectic architecture in the form of male hairstyling.

Meanwhile, a young man had arrived in recent years from the far-flung reaches of Hong Kong in a bid to fulfil not only his educational rights as ‘officially a U.S. citizen (having been born in San Francisco) but to seek his destiny in the West. His name was Bruce Lee. Soon the paths of these two men would meet at one of the most prestigious martial art tournaments in the States, The 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships. Sebring, a student of famed Kempo Grandmaster Ed Parker, happened to attend the event as the twenty-four-year-old Lee gave a dazzling display of the little known art of Gung Fu. Some weeks later, Sebring, whilst styling the hair of William Dozier, an executive producer at Twentieth century Fox, mentioned Bruce Lee as a candidate for a role Dozier was looking to cast in a planned television series titled ‘Charlie Chan.’ Sebring then arranged for the executive to view Lee’s demonstration footage from Ed Parker, who always documented his events on 16mm. Impressed, Dozier agreed on a screentest for Lee who was driven by Sebring in his Cobra to the 20th Century lot. Jay Sebring was undoubtedly the fashion guru for many a Hollywood star. His personalised expression and non-conformity to the tired barber trade ran parallel to Lee’s non-traditional expression of the martial arts; Jeet Kune Do. Jay Sebring had recognised a kindred spirit in Lee. Not only was he the catalyst to Lee’s introduction to Hollywood, but also the creative genius who influenced and shaped the fashion consciousness of the man we all now know as the world’s greatest martial art movie icon.

In this exclusive limited edition ‘layflat’ hardback edition, we take a fascinating look for the first time the letters Lee wrote to Sebring and the influence both men had on each other, along with some great images of the two men.

Pre-Order from January 10th 2022

Release Date: March 10th 2022