PAINLESS PANACHE: A Tribute To Unlikely Style Heroes added this blog post on March 9, 2012. David’s March 13 reply appears at the end. Enjoy!

David Soul

In 1979, I had two unrelenting crushes on grown-ups: Randolph Mantooth from Emergency! and David Soul from Starsky and Hutch. Both played loyal public servants on their respective TV shows, but they didn’t look at all alike — Randy had dark hair and olive skin and David had the typical All-American blonde-haired, blue-eyed palette — but for some reason they both spoke to my prepubescent senses. I used my allotted one hour of TV per night to watch my imaginary boyfriends catch the bad guys and save lives, marveling at their perfect balance of manliness and compassion.

The 70s represent my least favorite decade for fashion, despite the fact that I spent the first seven years of my life surrounded by it. When I think of clothing from the 70s, I think of really good Halloween costumes. However, David Soul managed to take all the components I detested most from that decade — namely polyester, big collars and turtlenecks — and assemble a rather handsome look out of them. Maybe it was his baby blues or his pleas to “don’t give up on us, baby,” but something about David encouraged me to embrace those previously-derided style elements.

And the leather jackets! I see truckloads of these squeaky brown leather numbers with giant lapels at Goodwill and think, “These things have officially entered the ranks of the fashion obsolete.” But no! Throw that sucker on over a black turtleneck and some snug broken-in bellbottoms, and — voilà! You, too, can rock The Hutch.

And then there were the turtlenecks. Sometimes he donned them under his trademark letterman’s jacket and other times under his aforementioned squeaky outerwear. I’ve never been a fan of turtlenecks on men, but David’s got me rethinking my rash judgement about this marriage of practicality and comfort. Not to mention, a turtleneck looks a lot sexier when there’s a gun strapped to it.

I’m also an undying lover of what I like to call “ranch wear”: broken-in plaid wool shirts, chore coats, tooled leather belts, soft work denim and beaten-up leather boots. Perhaps this gentleman is part of the reason?

Update: David Soul Responds

Imagine my surprise when I received an email from the one and only DAVID SOUL this morning thanking me for my blog post. Of course, he also wanted to set the record straight that he did NOT wear polyester on Starsky & Hutch. (Duly noted!) I begged him to let me post his response here because it gives us a glimpse into how he and Paul Michael Glaser decided (i.e., fought over) what to wear on the show. Enjoy!

Dear Erin,

Your dress shop sounds delightful … as do you! A couple of comments about your opinion of S&H and 70s styles:

Of course, we were never aware that we were setting any “style” back then. Basically, we were like two brothers going at each other over “who gets to wear what”… That’s what set the style. “He’s got a blue shirt … I wanna blue shirt!”; “Whadya mean, I can’t wear jeans! Oh, I see, (with as much cynicism as you can wring out of these words) only Starsky can wear jeans!” “OK, have it your way … I’m gonna wear turtlenecks … like Steve McQueen did in Bullet (or did he?).” And I never wore polyester. My jackets were all REAL leather, albeit with big collars & lapels. Anyway, it was only after the fact that we were made aware that S&H were at the center of 70s fashion.

Aside from all that, thanks for a lovely write-up. Enjoyed it in spite of myself.

Warm regards from London,
DAVID SOUL

David writes:

Oh, my God … where did you run across this photo?!? I don’t recall the specifics and I can only identify it because of the ropes, the shovel, and the mud. This photo was taken on the set of The Stick Up or Mud as it was originally entitled. Obviously, out of costume, I was helping the crew prepare the ring for the mud-wrestling sequence (at a traveling carnival) in which ‘Duke,’ my character, sets ‘Rosie’ (his stow-away, pain-in-the-butt companion played by Pamela McMyler) up to challenge this gi-normous Amazon lady … just to put a ‘few bob’ in his pocket. It was a very funny scene. The film was shot entirely on location on the Dartmoor in Devon (the West Country of England) and it was bone-chillingly cold.

It was as a result of filming scenes like this one that I succumbed to viral pneumonia brought on by the cold, wet weather and all the mud and cow shit that I had rolled around in. To top it off, then, despite running a temperature of 106 degrees, I was asked to do a command performance for the Queen’s Jubilee (1977) back in London. I couldn’t very well say ‘no’ as the organizers had flown my band over from the States.

So I hopped on a private jet, which the organizers also supplied, and flew to London (The Palladium) just for the performance. It was the most prestigious event of the year … but I was so out-of-it I remember nothing except sweating like a pig and standing next to Dolly Parton’s breasts, which blocked my view of the Queen as she moved down the line greeting each of the performers.

Anyway, immediately following the show, I was whisked off back to Devon where — touch and go — I spent the next 3 to 4 weeks recovering at a hospital (The Wadleigh House) in Plymouth. Then I went back and finished the film — which unfortunately didn’t do very well.

Thanks for asking [about the picture].

David

They are made to appear so attractive, but they are nosy… invasive… and once you buy into them … in a peak of loneliness or desire to be ‘somebody’ or to get noticed… you have committed yourself and your ‘innermost’. Watch out! You are handing over your private feelings, your experience and photos to people who don’t know you and don’t give a shit. But now, they’ve got you and everything you have given them! Without knowing you, they know all about you. Ask yourself… Do you really want to give that much of yourself away that cheaply?

That’s why designated websites, like DavidSoulFans, put together with and by someone I can trust, is the only way to go. We tell people what we want them to know… freely… without giving away everything. Nothing goes up, in or out without considering the overall impact … good and bad. And the information goes or stays where it belongs… thanks to Laura… and to you, too, for that respect.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 28,1943, David Solberg (Soul) spent the first twelve years of his life between the prairies of South Dakota and the divided city of post WWII Berlin. Arriving in 1949 only weeks after the ‘Berlin Airlift’ was suspended and the Soviets had lifted the ban on road and train travel, David’s father, Dr. Richard Solberg — professor of History and Political Science as well as an ordained minister — moved his family to Berlin where he served as Religious Affairs Advisor to the U.S. High Commission and from 1953 as Senior Representative for the Lutheran World Federation, a refugee relief organization.

As advisor to the U.S. Commission in Berlin, Dr. Solberg’s mandate was two-fold: To help sustain the life and health of the Church in the Soviet controlled East Zone and secondly, as those religious communities were an important source of valuable information for the allies in the escalating Cold War, Pastor Solberg was to gather information that could be useful to the U.S. authorities. Because the Church was so central to the life of the German people, the Soviets, for fear of a severe backlash, could not afford to close them down. Dr. Solberg used his special credentials as a churchman to the gain entry into East Germany and travelled freely.

In 1953 Dr. Solberg was appointed Senior Representative for the Lutheran World Federation a position in which his primary function was to oversee refugee relief operations in West Berlin as well as to facilitate the reuniting and relocation of families who had been split apart by the iron hand of Communist controlled Eastern Europe and who had risked their lives to flee into West Berlin. By 1956, when the Solberg family left West Berlin and returned to their home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, up to 6,000 people a week were defecting into the barbed-wire enclosed “island city.” For this reason, the Berlin Wall was finally erected in 1961.

Deeply affected by his experiences in Berlin, David’s earliest thoughts of a vocation were to follow in his father’s footsteps. In 1959 he became involved with the South Dakota Young Democrats in the ultimately successful campaign to elect John Kennedy as President…

Click here to learn more about David Soul.

We can assure you that despite any implication or claims made by others that David either administers, posts, views, interacts or can be contacted via those sites, it is not — nor has it ever been — true. And he does not sanction the unauthorized use of his video archives. Furthermore, messages either sent from or posted on those sites as though they are from David are not and never have been authentic. They are generated by site administrators who, for their own selfish reasons, deceive David’s fans and, in the process, misrepresent David.

To support or promote any of those sites claiming — or even implying — to have actual connection to David amounts to helping them continue their misrepresentation of David and their exploitation of his fans. We here at DSF, with David’s blessing, are committed to preventing any further exploitation of you or him. We’ve decided to share this information with you so you can make your own informed decision.

As always, thanks so much for your continuing support of DSF and, most importantly, of David.