"Hi, I'm Nefertari Kalei, Tar's Goddaughter. My family has known Tar forever... well since he became a star in the Mirisch-Rich ABC-TV series "The Rat Patrol"... and he can believe Rat should have fans, because he fought so hard for an exciting and good show... |
Tar was not a hairdresser in the sense of that word. At the Academy Of Hair Design, Tar's teachers, Earl Anderson, Laurence Warner and Cliff Olsen were on the cutting edge of high fashion hair design, winning most ot the styling contests entered. Tar won three contests before he graduated with 2147 hours, enabling him to gain a license in any state. He was also featured in their only published book of hair design. After graduation, Tar went on to win 9 of the 13 contests he entered, the last two at the National Convention in Albuquerque, NM in '62, when on the first day in the open, he placed 3rd, adjusted his model's colors and style to win 1st in the masters competition the next day. At that point, there was no greater trophies to win, so Tar began to think of a new direction to take his life, since he didn't care for mainstream hairdressing. He seldom worked on hair longer than seven inches... (guess who bleached my hair...?) Oh, by the way, Tar used the name Mr. Howard then... |
Tar's salon at Genero's was called "Checkmate". He also won 1st place in the State's Parade of Units, not only building a space rocket over a wheelchair, designing the model's sexy space suit, creating the theme "NASA...the first woman in outer space...", taping a Viscount Mark 5 taking off and landing for the sound of his rocket... and a hair style that appeared to jet up out of her (Evelyn Rheman's) Elvis style collar. Tar went on to represent the state of Colorado at the National Parade of Units in St. Paul, MN, and afterward being voted in as the youngest president of unit 4 in Colorado... amazing... all this within two years of his graduation. I found out that Tar ran into John Lennon and Ringo Starr while filming Rat Patrol in Almeria, Spain. Lennon was filming "How I Won The War", and Ringo came down to celebrate John's birthday. Tar, John and Ringo are all born in the Chinese year of the Dragon. Another actor down there about to make history was Clint Eastwood, shooting back to back, "A Fistful Of Dollars", "A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly." Tar says, cowboys always bet big even though they don't have enough cash for a cup of coffee. "If it cost a dollar to go around the world, most of us couldn't afford to get across the street." Tar has a great sense of humor. He's my hero. Like, he and I (and almost everyone who knows him) have some running jokes, i.e. I say, "What's up?" and he says, "The sky." Or I'll say, "What's down?" and he'll say, "The sky. We're surrounded by black and blue." Tar told me never to lose a sense of humor or you might as well be dead. Once I told him he was so funny and he said, "Looks aren't everything." He taught me humor. Tar told me if I'd look into the reflection of a deep well during the daytime I'd see stars. Like Tar said, "The sun doesn't set -- the sun doesn't raise; it's just there, revolving in place. The earth is constantly rolling eastward, therefore the sun appears to raise and set." He told me many conquerors (i.e. Alexander The Great) always drove the armies eastward -- "... where the gods reside ...) never westward ("... where death and destruction rested in ruin ...") Just before I turned fourteen, I was intrigued with Tar's spontaneous wit, so I'd follow him about, listening and (hopefully) learning. I told him he was my hero, and he cocked his head at me, eye-to-eye and smirked, "yeah, right!" |
He learned to walk by watching Gary Cooper. He learned to strut by watching Robert Mitchum. He learned to be honest and good by watching John Wayne. And he wished his father had been Edward G. Robinson, though he considered his earthly father, John Doyle to be a great man with little chance to prove himself. He was a cowboy, out of time. Tar's grandfather, Elmer, lived in Independence, Missouri where Frank James and Cole Younger had their outlaw museum. He hung out with them. Tar's father, John Doyle was born in Missouri - of Black Irish descent. Tar swears there's some Choctaw Indian genes in him... and I believe him... He'd rather sleep in a tree out in the forest than in a bed in a house. Actually, the world of cosmetology for Tar was to be a means to an end. Neva, Tar's sister suggested she introduce him to her friends in the cosmetology business. Tar rejected the idea as idiocy -- ridiculous. But when nothing came his way... |
Tar went to AADA (The American Academy Of Dramatic Arts) in New York City. It's a prestigious 7-Arts Academy. It involves theatre, TV, drama, comedy, speech, voice, mime, fencing, ballet, dance... you name it. Frances Fuller ran the place then and she saw Tar as a new Louis Jourdan. |
Nefertari Notes... |
Tar designed "hip-hugger pants and made them out of leather, Coors beer cans, tooled and astrology signs as belts. He also made his pants out of drapery material and 4 inch wide "gun belt" laced leather belts with pockets inside for money and ID seen around Rat and with pic of him with Paul Newman on the set of "Hombre" at 20th Century Fox at the Tom Mix sound stage. Tar's leather was called "Tarus Bulba Leather Company." |
The name Justin came from three sources: (1) Tar's conformation name --- his parents wanted "John", Tar wanted "Justin". (2) Justin Tubb, Ernest Tubb's son (one of Tar's favorite cowboy singers). (3) Justin Boots, one of Tar's favorite (Texas) cowboy boots (after Hyers, the boot company who custom made father John Doyle's boots). Tar feels his greatest achievement to date is his ability to straighten scoliosis, lordosis and kyphosis victims. In California, he has a 97% success rate (strangely enough, that's the percentage he's straightened his own spine...) and oddly enough, he seems to be the only person on earth who is doing this. Kate Witt is one great love of Tar's life. Robert Stack's psychic told Tar when he was a Raja in India, Kate was one of his 200 wives. It was at the time Alexander stormed into India and Tar was killed; his elephants and wives were taken back to Macedonia -- except for one elephant, Igor, eventually dying where he stood guard over Tar's body. Except for his deep regard for Kate, Tar said he does not remember past lives, though he has an uncanny knowledge about such people as Temujen (Genghis Khan), Emmanuel (Jesus Christ), Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy), and Thoth (Hermes Trismagestos... Mercury on US silver dime, once, and the pyramid on the back of US dollar bill). Tar played football in his senior year for coach Frank Flood. Tar wrote this: "Frank Flood is not only a great name for a football coach, but he was one of the few people in my life who actually attempted to help me in my accomplishments and efforts, instead of criticizing me and just letting me... hang." When Tar was first introduced to a football, he ask about the covering: "This cowhide?" "No, pigskin." "Really," he chuckled, "which end's the butt?" At one of our family gatherings, everyone began telling about their favorite game, favorite play... Tar's story went something like this: Tar was on the bench with other players, whom Coach Frank Flood kept calling one by one to go in and replace injured players -- their worst, most awful game yet. Suddenly, Tar was the only one left on the bench when the sky began down-pouring rain. Another player was being hauled off the field with a pulled groin. Coach Flood, with rain pouring down over his head and face jerked his face toward Tar -- looked him square in the eye, reached down and pulled on Tar's shoulder. "Get up, son," he shouted. "You must get up to save us." Tar said he proudly stood up, smiled and faced the coach for instructions. "Thank you," Coach Flood growled. "I'm sending in the bench." After the laughter subsided, Tar added, he'd once run 30 yards without being tackled... "and revived a player with the water bucket." |
In '75, Tar became a Minister with the Universal Life Church ("...because they have no doctrine and are non-violent..."), and has a PhD and other degrees; and/or working on them (ask anybody, Tar's always a work in progress, ha, ha...) I asked him about the PhD, and he said he'd first become a PhD around the age of eight. I asked him in what? "Earth stuff, "he told me. "Earth stuff...?" I asked, "Anthropology...?" "Post hole digging, " he answered, then he roared with laughter. He thought he was so funny, but I wasn't falling for that again... "Well, ya know," he started... "Shut up," I said. Then I foolishly added, "...Remember I'm the one with the looks around here." "Funny," he said. (Dang! -- "Shut up! Shut up!") |
Many Thanks to Nefertari and Achilles for their contributions! |
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