The Ultimate Kennedy’s Movie List

I’ve never had any particular vices that I’m aware of, with one exception: movies. Before children, my wife and I would go out nearly every Friday and Saturday evening to watch the latest flicks. When we can get a “date night” now, we still usually see a movie. It was and is about the only thing that completely captures and keeps my attention. Movies effectively shut-off my rather active brain. I become absorbed in movies, so they’re a “release” from my day-to-day, busy world.

Watching sports can be a release as well, but so many of the regular season games are just so inconsequential — it’s hard to imagine game number 18 of your favorite NBA team sticking in your brain longer than a truly great movie. Game number 112 of your favorite MLB team also starts to pale in comparison. The World Series, the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl, the World Cup, the Olympics, and so on… I’m with you – they’re worth watching and do stick with you. But, for everyday, ordinary sporting events, I’d rather go to the theater or pop-in a DVD any time.

While I’m a voracious reader of books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and so forth, movies bring stories to life like no other medium. And because movies have the ability to “take me away,” I’m willing to forget about some of the ridiculous opinions from actors and actresses. Yes, I’m contributing to their incomes, I suppose, when I could be voting with my wallet, but if I stopped watched all movies or listening to all songs by people I disagreed with politically, there wouldn’t be much left. As I’ve mentioned in previous Kennedy’s magazines, gentlemen set aside their differences and conduct themselves civilly. Just because Sean Penn’s a raging politically maniac, in my opinion, doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s a talented actor, nor does it mean I won’t occasionally appreciate his movies. But when he opens his yap about wealth redistribution or “negotiating” with terrorists, I simply turn him off.

Another interesting thing I’ve noticed with movies over the years is how guys tend to remember movie lines so well. My 5-½-year-old son already does this with such ease it’s a little frightening, but my 7-½-year-old daughter… not so much. I’m not sure if it’s gender-based or genetic, but I know that getting a group of guys together for any extended period of time, often leads to movie line recitation. Why? I have no earthly idea. “We all go a little mad sometimes” – Norman Bates in Psycho. So just… “Fuh-get about it!” – Donnie Brasco.

With that in mind, I thought I would compile the 100 Greatest Movies Any Guy Must See in His Lifetime. I’ve listed below my top 40 favorites of all-time and why, plus the “Second 60,” and encourage you to add to it (Note: we’re looking for serious submissions, so explain your movie’s inclusion when you submit it). This is a deeply subjective process, so I’m hoping with your input we’ll be able to create the Ultimate Kennedy’s Movie List. Now, don’t worry if you haven’t seen every movie below. The point is to have a handy list of movies you ought to see and start checking off your list as you go.

There are clearly movies to “take your mind off of things,” and there are movies that do that AND teach us lessons about life. The ones worth re-watching are the latter. Below, in alphabetical order, are ones I enjoy, own and reach for every now and then:

Braveheart – because fighting for what’s right is worth more than any one of us.

Caddy Shack – because it’s the funniest sports movie of all time.

Dead Poet’s Society – because as funny as Robin Williams is, his most serious roles are the most memorable, and this one’s a gem.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – one of the greatest political satires ever… on second thought, it IS the greatest.

Field of Dreams – because playing catch (spending time) with dad is something to cherish, and we romanticize hope, even if it does make for bad business strategy.

Glory – because another classic war film of epic proportions isn’t enough.

Godfather I and Godfather II – because business lessons abound in these epic tales and every man secretly thinks the Mafia (assuming it exists, that is) is pretty cool on some level… you also get Robert De Nero in the second one.

Goldfinger and Dr. No – because these are the best Bond movies ever, and every guy secretly wishes he were James for at least one day. Common… admit it. No one’s listening right now.

Good Will Hunting – because this is a terrific tale of a kid from the wrong side of the tracks showing others up with his intelligence, plus Robin Williams, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck make for a great cast.

Goodfellas – because mob movies simply resonate with guys.

Grumpy Old Men – because when we’re old and lonely some day, only having a buddy will do and this is the best, senior “buddy” film.

Heat – because Robert De Nero, Al Pacino, and Val Kilmer in this plot would have been brilliant, whether or not Michael Mann (of Miami Vice fame) directed them.

Hoosiers – because it’s the most inspirational basketball movie of all time.

It’s a Wonderful Life – because honor and loyalty get validated in the end, and Jimmy Stewart is an American icon.

Jerry Maguire – because having faith in one man to make a difference is how it’s always done, even in the world of professional sports… and we can’t make a great movie list without including something from Tom Cruise’s repertoire… but only one, for that’s about all we can take.

Life is Beautiful – because any Kennedy’s man would do the same thing, and Roberto Benigni’s Oscar celebration is a classic.

Love Actually – because ensemble casts with multiple plots all about different types of love, wrapped around the Christmas season, is pretty damn terrific… even IF at first glance it appears to be a chick-flick (fear not, it isn’t).

Monty Python and the Holy Grail – because it’s still hysterical after dozens of watching and has the added benefit of annoying most wives.

My Dog Skip – because dogs are man’s best friend for a good reason, and this film is the closest one to ever capture why.

North by Northwest – because it’s Hitchcock’s best and Jimmy Stewart showed us his range.

Saving Private Ryan – because honor and duty are precious, and every Kennedy’s man aspires to live a “worthy life.”

Scarface – because it’s the ultimate rags-to-riches story, albeit without too many morals.

Scent of a Woman – because another underdog tale isn’t too many for this list.

Schindler’s List – because only through learning what must not happen again, do we have a chance for it not to repeat.

Shawshank Redemption – because a good buddy movie is worth admiring.

Star Wars (episode IV) – because in a galaxy far, far away, creative storytelling was thrust upon us like never before.

Swingers – because Vince Vaughn is a comic genius and good banter movies are hard to find.
The Fountainhead – because it’s one of the most powerful films ever for Entrepreneurs… you’re not the only one with a “me-against-the-world” attitude.

The Gladiator – because honor, truth and courage need to be shown more often –but why couldn’t Russell Crowe be an American actor instead of an Aussie?

The Hunt for Red October – because this is perhaps Sean Connery’s finest performance… we just wish Harrison Ford could have played “Jack Ryan” in this one, too.

The Incredibles – because it’s perfectly acceptable to be exceptional in a world where so many try to knock us down to the lowest common denominator… and it’s brilliantly animated.

The Passion – because nothing else has ever come close to capturing how events must have occurred over 2,000 years ago.

The Patriot – because we shouldn’t forget men like this once existed – of course, they still do, but we need to tell their heroic tales more.

The Terminator and Terminator II – because these are two of the best sci-fi movies ever made.

The Untouchables – because prohibition might have been bad public policy, but Robert De Nero (as Capone) and Kevin Costner (as Ness) make for great acting… oh, and Sean Connery’s thrown in there, too.

We Were Soldiers – because it’s a true story and it’s like watching William Wallace fight for us in the early days of Vietnam.

Wedding Crashers – because Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are the modern-day Laurel and Hardy. Hollywood: cast them together more often if you know what’s good.

Other truly quality movies that don’t quite make our top 40 all-time list include the following (in alphabetical order): A Bridge Too Far; Blade Runner; Blazing Saddles; Boiler Room; Bull Durham; Casino; Children of Men; Christmas Story; Cinderella Man; Clerks; Cool Hand Luke; Die Hard; Dirty Harry; Enter the Dragon; Escape from New York; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; First Blood: Glengarry Glen Ross; Grosse Pointe Blank; Happy Gilmore; Lethal Weapon; Mad Max; National Lampoon’s Animal House and Vacation; Ocean’s Eleven (the original one); Office Space; Old School; Patton; Raging Bull; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Raising Arizona; Rambo; Rocky; Rudy; Something About Mary; Spartacus; Stripes; Talladega Nights; The Bank Job; The Blues Brothers; The Bourne Identity; The Bridge on the River Kwai; The Dirty Dozen; The Empire Strikes Back; The Fugitive; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; The Guns of Navarone; The Kingdom; The Man Who Would Be King; The Matador; The Right Stuff; The Sting; The Usual Suspects; This is Spinal Tap; Three Kings; Tombstone; True Lies; Unforgiven; Wall Street; and Young Frankenstein.

War movies, gangster movies, fantasies, and raunchy comedies, as my wife likes to put it. That’s what guys tend to like. Probably, no surprise to you. There’s a bit more range in my “Second 60,” but she comes pretty close to summarizing The 100 Greatest Movies Any Guy Must See in His Lifetime: The Ultimate Kennedy’s Movie List. While this is by no means a definitive list, it occurs to me that several actors appear multiple times in the lists above. They represent some of the best at their craft of all-time. Kennedy’s men, for sure.

“I think… it’s not all bad.” – Grand Canyon.

All of us at Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® were as blown away as you probably were by the jaw-dropping finish of this year’s Super Bowl, one of the greatest games of all time. It looked like the Cardinals had it in the bag when Steelers quarterback Roethlisberger roared back to lead his team to the winning touchdown in the last 35 seconds of the game.

Naturally, we look at things a little differently at Kennedy’s – as in how did the players’ personal grooming affect the game play? Go ahead, laugh if you will, but we think we discovered why the Cardinals got clipped and the Steelers stormed to a last-minute win.

Kurt Warner’s “stubble stumble.”

The Cardinals’ QB had been famous for his “11 o’clock shadow,” as one of his old teammates on the Rams put it, for years. Warner was a man who never met a razor he liked. “People ask me all the time, ‘When is your son going to shave?’ ” Kurt’s mother Sue said way back in a 1999 “Sports Illustrated” article. “The answer, I’m afraid, is never.”
Warner himself said he couldn’t stand using a razor and would only use an electric beard trimmer on his face (obviously never having experienced a Kennedy’s relaxing, luxurious straight-razor shave from one of our expert barbers!).

But sometime this past month or so, something changed. And that something was the lack of tiny hairs protruding from the star QB’s face. Kurt Warner’s face was suddenly as clean as his All-American, Christian image.

It wasn’t the barber that made him do it – it was his wife. “She’s telling me to shave, and that I look old, that my beard’s gray,” said Warner, last week, pre-Super Bowl.
Post-Super Bowl, does he regret the move? Did he mess with success by changing his look going into the big game? Should the Cardinals formally reprimand Brenda Warner?

We don’t have all the answers. But superstition and sports go hand-in-hand – and we personally believe Kurt Warner should’ve stuck with his stubble. But, on the other hand, we also believe that discerning gentlemen and businessmen everywhere need a clean-shaven look to keep their good luck going –the caveman look usually doesn’t go over well with clients or in the board room.

So stop in a Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club®, where you’ll get the closest, most relaxing shave you’ve ever had. Check out our locations and franchise opportunities at http://www.kennedysbarberclub.com/franchises . As long as you’re not quarterbacking in the Super Bowl, it’ll do you a world of good.

Since our franchise, Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® , carries the name of one of our most prominent presidents, we’ve got to take notice when a new President takes the oath of office, right?

Most certainly. And this recent inauguration is definitely one for the history books. Whistle-stop train tours, Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama bobble heads have all added up to an event of enormous magnitude.

With all that in mind, it was weird to read “The Washington Post” claim recently in this article that a vital component of Presidential Inaugurations has actually gone downhill in the past few decades. It’s just hard to believe after watching the tremendous crowds, the soaring speeches and the bootylicious Beyoncè that we’re not hitting new highs when it comes to swearing in the new head man.

It turns out it all comes down to the balls.

Get your mind out of the gutter – we’re talking about Inauguration Balls, first begun by the numero uno White House hostess of all time, Dolley Madison, in 1809. At first, the Inauguration Ball was a glorified version of Dancing with the Stars, except the stars were politicians, and, in those days, everybody actually knew how to minuet (a lost art if ever there was one).

By the time Dwight Eisenhower took office, however, there were too many people coming to the Ball for there to be room to even move, let alone dance. Even when the Reagans tried to bring back the classy ball tradition, they found themselves overwhelmed with guests – one of whom apparently stole another one’s $8,000 mink coat (don’t worry if you weren’t aware of this – “Minkgate” never really achieved the status of other major presidential scandals).

But we know where things really went wrong with Inaugural Balls. It was never the same after Grover Cleveland’s 1893 wing-ding. Not only did it have a 120-piece orchestra led by the March-meister himself, John Philip Sousa, 150 gallons of lobster salad and 1,300 quarts of ice cream…

…but it also featured a team of ten barbers ready to shave and trim up any distinguished gentlemen in the mood for a quick grooming session.

Now that’s the kind of tradition all of us at Kennedy’s could have gotten behind.

All of us wish the new commander-in-chief the best as he takes the highest office in the land in difficult times. And President Obama, should you ever need “The Best Haircut and Straight Razor Shave You’ve Ever Had or It’s Free”™ – we’d be proud to send one of our highly-skilled Kennedy’s barbers in to do the job.

Just don’t forget us at your next Presidential ball.

Look for the nearest Kennedy’s location near you – and find out about our profitable franchise opportunities – at http://www.KennedysBarberClub.com. And ask not what you can do for your Kennedy’s barber – ask what your Kennedy’s barber can do for you!

Season 5 of HBO’s hit show “Entourage” just wrapped up with another great season and all of us at Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® are big fans. Let’s face it – most TV series are created with women in mind. “Entourage” is one of the few about guys, for guys – and one of our favorite scenes from a recent episode, “Seth Green Day,” illustrates that like no other.

It’s morning and Ari Gold, the hard-driving super-agent, portrayed brilliantly in his Emmy-winning performances by Jeremy Piven, comes into the kitchen of his home in search of one simple item – an egg. He wants breakfast and, of course, nobody’s going to cook it for him – so he searches the fridge and comes up empty.

He wails in vain at his 15 year-old daughter – “If a man can’t have breakfast cooked for him, is it too much to ask for a trip to the store so he can cook it himself?”

His daughter Sarah patiently explains that Mom cooks her breakfast every morning, but he’s usually already at work. Then, she proceeds to calmly take out a whole carton of eggs that Ari apparently missed in his frantic fridge food hunt. If we didn’t believe that puns should be completely outlawed by the new administration in Washington, we’d say his daughter left him with “egg on his face” (or that the “yolk was on him”).

Sarah then pokes at Dad a little more. What’s really on his mind? Turns out he’s feeling controlled by his female business partner at work – AND his wife at home. And then he gives voice to the Ultimate Guy Problem of the 21st century – “WHERE CAN A MAN BE A MAN???”

That made us laugh, because that’s exactly why we created our Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® franchise. Used to be, you could go to the local barbershop and be a guy with other guys – no women allowed, unless she was dropping off a kid for a haircut. But the old barbershops didn’t keep up with the times, and the new discount cookie-cutter unisex salon chains popped up everywhere. Suddenly, that sacred male sanctuary was gone for good.

Our Kennedy’s Barber Clubs were created to bring back the best of the old days, mixed in with the best of the new. A place where “a man can be a man”…but not just get a quick buzz cut from some old surly barber who’ll just slap some Old Spice on your face when he’s done and push you out the door. Instead, we want you to look as good as some of those guys on “Entourage” do – and have a great, relaxing experience at the same time.

As a matter of fact, you can see Eric on “Entourage” getting a classic straight razor shave just like we offer at Kennedy’s™ All-American Barber Clubs™, on the “Sorry, Harvey” episode from Season 4. But watch closely for a big production blooper, because the amount of shaving cream on his face grows and shrinks for no apparent reason from shot to shot!

So hook up with the Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® entourage – either by visiting a nearby location or investing in your own franchise. These days, the value of a place where “a man can be a man” is sure to skyrocket! Find out more about Kennedy’s at http://www.KennedysBarberClub.com – and don’t miss what’s sure to be another great season of “Entourage” starting this coming summer.

All of us at Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® believe taking care of a guy’s face is just as important as his hair. That’s something we wrote about in our article, “Let a Barber Put Your Best Face Forward” – and it’s also why we offer our great straight razor shaves, as well as mini-facials and waxing, in our Barber Club membership packages.

Studies show that women actually do like a man with a well-groomed face, instead of someone who looks like he just used a hand sander to exfoliate!

But studies also show something else interesting about how women respond to men’s features. The fact is…chicks dig scars!

Seriously. English researchers at the Universities of Liverpool and Stirling showed women a series of pictures of men with and without facial scars. The women rated the scarred faces as being more attractive. And yes, they tried the experiment in reverse – men did not respond more favorably to scarred women (no word if Tina Fey was included in the test group!).

Believe it or not, the study gets more specific – and a little weirder. Men’s scars were only sexier when it seemed as though they were the result of violence or injury – not the result of acne or chickenpox. The researchers think that’s because a scar from violence of some sort indicates some kind of truly macho guy – whereas a scar from disease or pimples doesn’t quite carry the same cachet.

So what does this all mean? Well, we’re not saying taking a knife to your face is going to get you more dates or anything like that. But if you find yourself falling on a pile of rocks…maybe lead with your chin.

And when you’re ready to take care of the rest of your face, visit a Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® near you. Women may like a sexy little scar, but they don’t like the rest of your features to be a mess! Plus, we’ll give you “The Best Haircut and Straight Razor Shave You’ve Ever Had or It’s Free”™.

So look for the nearest Kennedy’s location near you – and find out about our terrific franchise opportunities – at http://www.kennedysbarberclub.com. And sorry, we do not provide scarring services!

At Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® franchises, we’re real serious about making you look good and giving you a nice relaxing break while we do it. While we do keep up-to-date with the newest grooming products and modern amenities, a big part of our mission is to keep alive the classic barbershop experience we all remember at each of our barber club locations.

Take the tradition of barbershop jokes – please! Something you could always count on getting from your favorite barber was hearing the latest funny story making the rounds – and watching everybody else in the place either laugh or groan, depending on how hilarious – or corny – the joke was.

With that in mind, imagine you’re in one of our luxurious barber chairs and getting hot lather delicately put on your face in preparation for our close, signature straight-razor shave, while one of our licensed barber pros relates a few industry-related jokes – all of which begin with the key phrase, “Guy comes into a barbershop…”

Guy comes into a barbershop with a little boy. Guy sits down and gets the full treatment – haircut and straight razor shave. After he’s done, he motions for the boy to take his place in the chair, then turns to the barber and says, “Be right back, I have to pick up something at the drugstore.” The barber finishes the boy’s haircut and waits, but the guy doesn’t come back. He finally turns to the boy and says, “Did your dad forget about you?” The kid answers, “Oh, he’s not my dad. He just walked up to me on the street, said, ‘Come on, we’re gonna get free haircuts,’ and brought me in here.”

Guy comes into a barbershop, sits down in the chair and the barber begins prepping him for a shave. A hot, sexy, blonde woman bends down at the guy’s feet and starts giving him a shoe shine. The guy starts remarking on how hot she is, and how he’d like to spend some time in a hotel room with her. The blonde says, “I don’t think my husband would like that.” Guy says, “Who cares?” The blonde replies, “You should, he’s the one who’s shaving you.”

Finally, here’s what we consider the all-time classic barber joke. Guy comes into a barbershop. Barber asks “What’ll it be?” Guy says, “I’d like one sideburn two inches longer than the other, the hair in the back really jagged and uneven, and make sure I have a really weird wave on top that won’t go away.” Barber says, “Why in the world would you want that?” Guy turns to him and says, “Hey, that’s how you cut it last time.”

Rest assured, that’s NOT how we’re going to cut your hair at our Kennedy’s™ barber clubs – because we guarantee “The Best Haircut and Straight Razor Shave You’ve Ever Had – Or It’s Free!”™ We can’t guarantee the funniest jokes – but we’ll sure give it a good try!

If you want to read more from Kennedy’s™, be sure to check out our blog at www.KennedysBarberClub.com. And if you can’t wait to read the latest, add the RSS feed so you will be among the first to know when a new article is available!

Does long hair on a guy drive women wild? Or just drive them away?

Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club® thought it was in our best interests to do a little research and find out what the ladies like when it comes to a man’s hair style.

Yes, both Kid Rock and Tommy Lee got Pamela Anderson and neither of them is known for having a buzz cut. But it turns out, for the most part, the girls like it short or very short, not long.

Dr. Kelley Kline, a researcher at Florida State University, did a study a while back analyzing how hairstyles affect sexual attractiveness. And it turned out to be bad news for everyone from Tarzan to Fabio – women overall preferred short hair on a man and saw it as a sign of virility.

(By the way – since baldness wasn’t an option on the survey, all of you in the hair-challenged community shouldn’t assume you can take those results an extra step and pretend that no hair is the sexiest look of all! No offense, Joe the Plumber!)

The study also switched it up and looked into which female hairstyles men thought were the most attractive. This time, it’s Pam Anderson’s turn to cry – because most men preferred thick long brunette hair. So blondes may have more fun, but brunettes apparently get more dates. We’re not sure how that works, but who are we to argue with scientists?

What is clear is that both sexes seem to lock on to familiar stereotypes – men traditionally have short hair, women traditionally have long hair. And that’s apparently comforting when you’re looking for love.
So guys, scientifically-speaking, regular visits to the barber seem to be a good idea when it comes to the business of romance. May we humbly suggest a nearby Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club®? We offer the classic barbershop experience – with a lot of awesome modern amenities, such as free beverage service and the best in men’s grooming products.

Find out more about Kennedy’s Barber Club locations and franchise opportunities at www.kennedysbarberclub.com. And keep cutting it close, guys – because length does matter after all!

Well, now that the Presidential election is finally over, we can all breathe a sigh of relief – pontificating pundits, endlessly repeating talking points, will no longer be haunting our airwaves night after night. Okay…so they’ll still be on TV, but at least they won’t be talking about the election.

Funny thing, though. After the hours and hours and hours (and hours) of these party flacks handicapping the race in every possible way, one important topic was completely overlooked – barbershops!

You don’t think barbershops matter in presidential politics? Think again.

May 18th, 1993. When then-President Bill Clinton apparently didn’t have time to visit the local barbershop, it was reported that he held up air traffic while he sat on Air Force One on an LAX runway getting a haircut from super-exclusive Beverly Hills hairstylist Christophe. This created an enormous uproar and accusations of elitism that finally forced Clinton to issue a public apology.

A similar high-priced barber brouhaha struck Democratic candidate John Edwards during this past presidential primary season, when it was revealed that his campaign had paid a different high-priced Beverly Hills celebrity stylist, Joseph Torrenueva, $400 to cut Edwards’ hair. That turned out to be a pipsqueak of a scandal compared to “The National Enquirer” catching him cheating on his wife, which, luckily for the Dems, happened way after his campaign closed up shop.

Let’s face facts. These two incidents prove that most American people just don’t think guys should be getting their locks looked after by Beverly Hills prima donnas with their own styling salons. We agree and that’s why we started Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club, a new franchise business that brings back the classic barbershop experience, complete with straight razor shaves, where a man can be a man -and still get as good a cut as any 90210 ninny can provide.

And hey, getting a quality modestly-priced haircut demonstrates a certain moral authority. George W. Bush? Thirty bucks a haircut. Barack Obama? Twenty-one bucks. Has anybody ever caught those guys cheating on their wives? Nope.

Anyway, you can find out more about the Kennedy’s barbershop business and franchise opportunities at http://www.kennedysbarberclub.com. And remember – a Kennedy was president too. Okay, he fell more into the Clinton-Edwards camp than the McCain-Obama one. But his hair always did look awfully good.

In these days of Wall Street Weirdness, everybody looks at the Dow Jones Industry Average (DJIA) or S&P 500 to see which way business seems headed. But there are a few other “interesting” ways to monitor our economy.

Take liquor and beer. You’ll probably say, “Booze! Of course! People drink more when times are bad!” Actually, we always drink the same amount (apparently, we can’t help ourselves!) – the only thing that changes is that we stay home and drink, instead of going out to get lubricated. Guess we save on bar nuts and bartender tips that way.

Then there’s movies. During five out of the last seven recessions in America, the box office has boomed. Especially when gas prices started skyrocketing early this year and “stay-cations” were suddenly all the rage, people still had to find opportunities to get out of the house for a few hours – and the newest special effects extravaganza was certainly a great way to do it. Apparently, some stay – cations – might actually cause “cabin fever”.

We here at Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club wrote about one of the most unusual economic signs in our recent article, “How Haircuts Help in Hard Times.” It’s called The Lipstick Indicator Theory, first noted by Leonard Lauder, chairman of the Estée Lauder cosmetics company. Believe it or not, lipstick sales generally spike during bad economic times. Lauder noticed it happening after the post 9/11 stock market slide. When money gets tight, people splurge on affordable luxuries when they can’t afford the more expensive ones.

As we noted in the article, The Lipstick Indicator Theory has brought a boom to our barbershop business. Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club, if you’re unaware, is a new franchise that caters to “distinguished gentlemen” looking for a relaxing sanctuary from everyday woes and worries – as well as a place to get great haircuts and terrific hot lather, straight-razor shave administered by an expert, licensed barber. It’s definitely an affordable luxury for guys, just as buying lipstick is for women – so, as the Dow dives, our barber chairs just keep filling up.

Obviously, we can’t be happy about the Worldwide Market Madness. We are happy that people are discovering what’s unique and cool about Kennedy’s, though. All of our Kennedy’s franchises feature a lot of great grooming products and extra services in a classic barbershop atmosphere that makes a guy feel like a guy – and we think that’s the real reason for our success. You can check out our locations and franchise opportunities at http://www.kennedysbarberclub.com.

And, by the way – we don’t sell lipstick. And we Guarantee we never will.

We came across an interesting article today that mentioned two movie superheroes, Will “Hancock” Smith and Tobey “Spiderman” Maguire, and one real-life hero: Rudy “9/11″ Giuliani. Apparently, they’ve got something in common, besides having no fear.

What you might not think is the fact that they all know how to escape close shaves…yes actually, they love to get them. The old-fashioned way – in a barber chair.

For years, the number of classic licensed barbers has been on the decline. You remember them – the ones who gave you the great hot-towel-and-lather straight-razor shaves? Well, according to an article from Forbes this August , that kind of barbershop coming back into style – because, frankly, we think guys want to be guys again. They don’t want to hang out at upscale metro-sexual salons to get the right kind of “styling” and they don’t want to deal with cheap, strip-mall haircut franchises just to get a simple haircut.

And it’s also about what one Forbes reader posted online after he read their barbershop article, about how his wife gave him the barbershop treatment:

“My wife planned a birthday surprise about three years ago. She told me not to shave for about four days leading up to my birthday…I got a shave. I have been shaving since I was 14, and that was the first time anyone else shaved me, and it certainly has not been the last. I have given friends of mine the gift of a shave, and we have made a day of it. There is something about the way a straight-edge razor gives the perfect shave.”

Amen to that! That’s why we decided to start our exclusive barbershop franchise, Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club®. We missed the old shave-and-a-haircut experience, too – and we figured if we added all the modern extras, such as new grooming products, beverage service and other amenities, we’d have the perfect answer to today’s diminished barber businesses for men. As one guy put it in the Forbes article, “It’s a way for men to get groomed without doing the ‘walk of shame’ they’d have to do in a female salon.”

We love our new barbershop businesses and so do our customers. Explore our concept more at our website at www.kennedysbarberclub.com. There you can find out about our barbershop locations and also about franchise opportunities available for this exciting new idea. Kennedy’s combines the best of the past with what’s great about today – and, as the Forbes article makes clear, that’s something we all should want a piece of.