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In 1941 during World War II a hairstyle took the world with a bang and endangered the war effort in the U.S.A, Britain and the other Allied countries. The hairstyle which was termed 'Peek-A-Boo' Bang was created by a petite blond American girl of twenty three years. She was named Constance Ockleman by her parents who were of German-Danish origin. Her coiffure in fact was quite an uncomplicated one. She simply allowed a big bang of her long silken tresses to fall over one of her eyes. She always maintained that it was not deliberately arranged by her but that it was the result of the way her long blond silken hair naturally fell.

During this period both in Hollywood and in Britain, film studios were casting their top stars as heroes and heroines in war films to inspire and encourage young men and women to enlist in the three services and help to win the war against Hiltler's Nazi Germany. In 1941, Paramount Studio's Hollywood made their contribution to such recruiting films with a movie titled "I Wanted Wings". It was an air force drama with two of the studios top male stars, William Holden and Ray Milland. For its female lead however the studio cast a new-comer Constance Ockleman under the name of Veronica Lake. Films were the most popular form of entertainment then, not only in the West but in Asia too and Hollywood films more or less monopolized the movie business.

After "I Wanted Wings" was released, Vernoica became an overnight international sensation. Paramount cast her as sultry sex kitten with a strangely husky voice who provocatively swung her shoulder while seductively pouting under her Peek-A-Boo bang of silken blond hair. Men went crazy over her and servicemen stationed all over the world began to pin up her photographs along with the other World War Two favourite pin-up girls like Rita Heyworth, Betty Grable and Lana Turner, in their barracks.

The women began to copy her Peek-A-Boo hairstyle which soon became an international craze. Paramount rushed her into another film the same year by the distinguished writer-director Preston Sturges. It starred another of the studio's top male leads, Joel McCrea. The film was a roaring success and is considered today to be the director's best film. Early next year Paramount cast her with a comparatively new actor named Alan Ladd in a crime movie titled, "This gun for hire" from the novel by the eminent British writer Graham Greene. Alan Ladd was short for a Hollywood male star so the petite Veronica ideally suited him. His role as a poker face gunman and Veronica's role as a sultry gun moll complimented each other perfectly and they had the same chemistry between them as did Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Becall in later years.

Following the films worldwide success, Paramount hardly allowing the stars a breathing interval paired them again in another crime film. This time it was from a novel by a popular American author Dashiell Hammett called THE GLASS KEY. Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd appeared in two other crime films together, "THE BLUE DAHLIA" in 1946 and "SAIGON" in 1948.

However after the release of "THE GLASS KEY" in 1942 the United States government had to request Paramount not to release any more films with Veronica Lake wearing her 'Peek-A-Boo' bang of hair.

The reason for this rather unusual request was due to the serious accidents which were taking place in munitions factories where thousands of women worked in the U.S.A, Britain and other allied countries. Many of the young women who began to emulate the Peek-A-Boo hairstyle started getting their hair caught in the machines they operated. The result was proving hazardous to the war effort. Miss Lake then graciously complied and swept back her 'Peek-A-Boo' hairdo which had taken World War Two with a bang, and the U.S. government heaved a sigh of relief.

- Upatissa Attygalle

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