For 44 years Hair Club for Men founder Sy Sperling was a weaver of dreams and hope for the follically challenged.
Daughter Shari Sperling said her father's ambition sprouted shortly after her parents divorced, and Sy had to move in with his mother. "All of a sudden my dad found himself in his mid-20s with thinning hair. He was trying to date again, and he wasn't really having much success."
But after restoring his own mane, an inspired Sperling went into business marketing a process that non-surgically attached actual human hair to men's existing hair. And in 1982 the Hair Club shot its first commercial – actually, two of them.
"They shot one commercial of, like, a guy on horseback with that kind of thick, like, wavy blowback hairdo," Shari said. "And the ad guy was, like, 'Look, in case this doesn't work, why don't we shoot one with you?'"
Correspondent Mo Rocca said, "On the spot, they said to your father, they said, 'Sy, let's do a backup'?"
"Yes. The first commercial didn't work; they got barely any calls. So, they run my dad's commercial, and we had, like, 2,000 calls."
And those calls were coming from Lonely Joes everywhere: "Let's say it's Friday or Saturday night. And maybe he didn't get so lucky, right? To be blunt. So, they come home and they're watching TV 'cause they're still awake, maybe a little drunk. And they're flipping through channels. And there's my dad, almost speaking directly to these guys."
"Saying, 'I'm gonna help you.'"
"Exactly."
"Regular guy" TV pitchmen were nothing new, but it was Sperling's bare honesty at the end of the ad that set him apart.
"I'm not only the Hair Club president, but I'm also a client."
That tagline became his mantra. Shari said, "He took something that was embarrassing for him, you know, being bald, and he made himself vulnerable."
"He was actually sharing something about himself," Rocca said.
"Exactly. Touché. Touché, Mo."
Sy Sperling became a late-night comedy favorite. Rocca asked, "Did he like being famous?"
"He loved it, he loved it," Sahri replied. "It's the American Dream come true."
But for Shari – and so many of Hair Club's clients – Sy Sperling was no joke. "He helped men to feel better about themselves and to live life the way they wanted to, without embarrassment," she said.
Sy Sperling died in February at age 78, in Boca Raton, Florida. His family said he was a Hair Club client to the very end.
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Story produced by Dustin Stephens. Editor: George Pozderec.
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