Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

pursed. She had a dancer’s body, compact and
muscular. Her hair was a remarkably thick reddish
brown, and she wore it in long curls, as was the
hippie style of the day. She resembled a more
ethereal and soft Vanessa Redgrave.
Bowie was frustrated with Kenneth Pitt’s difficulty
finding him a new record deal. In an effort to
preserve whatever momentum they’d had with the
Visconti-produced Deram singles and their
commitment to launching David as an all-around
entertainer, Pitt figured if one aspect is not working
at the moment, best to pursue another. He found
David commercial work, selling Lyons Maid ice
cream. The ice cream company was intent on
cashing in on the hippie culture with their new Luv
brand. In the commercial, Bowie, in a shaggy cut, is
seen running upstairs while the jingle’s “Luv, Luv, Luv
…” strains to be youthful and infectious. “Now with
pop cards!” Bowie is heard to say at its end.
Whatever “pop cards” were (tradeable giveaways
with Peter Max–style graphics on them, one could
assume), they didn’t pay the bills. Bowie, as well as
Marquee scene pal Dana Gillespie, auditioned for
and failed to get a part in the British production of
the touring company of the hippie musical Hair as
well. “We both got turned down, can you believe it?”
Gillespie says. “Those bastards. But it was only for
the touring company to go to Amsterdam, but the
whole course of both of our lives might have
changed had we been accepted.”
Bowie did manage to find a small role in a BBC