As Logan and I discussed in the most recent episode, Charlotte Rae had a tiny role in the film version of “Hair.” It came out in 1979, so it was most likely filmed in 1978, and her hairstyle pretty much matches the way it looked on Diff’rent Strokes’ first season (1978-1979). Little more than a cameo, it’s still fun to see her among all the hippie chaos of this doomed dinner party. (She is occasionally shown in the scene, but you get the most of her during the song which starts around 6:00.)
Her role as “Lady In Pink” was originally larger, with an entire song that ended up on the cutting room floor. The audio still remains:
As one of the older, posh people at the dinner party, the Lady In Pink is one of the precious few in The Establishment who ‘gets’ the hippies and totally signs off on the way they dress and act:
“I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the male's emergence from his drab camouflage
Into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex.
There is a peculiar notion that elegant plumage
And fine feathers are not proper for the men
When ac------tually
That is the way things are
In most species!”