Jay Sebring.... Cutting to the Truth

Jay Sebring, pioneering men's hairstylist in the 1960s--and a favorite of Hollywood's top male stars including Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman and Henry Fonda--is profiled in this documentary by Sebring's nephew, Anthony DiMaria, who was just a toddler when Sebring was murdered along with actress Sharon Tate, friends Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski, and visitor Steven Parent in 1969 at Tate's residence by the Manson Family. Kept in the dark for most of his life about his uncle, DiMaria seeks the truth about Jay Sebring: his stint in the Navy, his career, his women, his financial debts--and possibly a darker side that has been hinted at in the past but never explored. Interviews with Jay's sister and brother-in-law, clients, his ex-wife, business associates and fans give dimension to this portrait, which is well-produced and well-researched if hesitant and slick in presentation. The ominous music that opens the film gives somewhat of a hint to the angle DiMaria is going for here, along with the usual blink-and-you-miss-them headlines, clippings and crime photos. Nevertheless, an overdue biography on a fascinating figure of '60s Los Angeles, a man unjustly left behind by the press in their rush to bring only the most sensational aspects of the murders to their readers. **1/2 from ****

I've never been interested in the "cult murders". I vaguely knew of them. I decided to watch this because it was about Jay Sebring, not Sharon Tate, not Manson and his crew. This is very well done, very well edited. It finally humanized the hair dresser to the male stars. The man was a very handsome fellow, personable, likable. He was a pioneer, it was nice to hear about his beginnings and he styled hair for so many celebrities... Frank Sinatra, to name only one.

I was surprised that there was so much footage of him, so many edits were extraordinary: the climbing up the stairs to meet Henry Fonda, very well done; the fade to black, leaving only the light in his eyes in the darkness, that really was very poignant. It never sinks into melodrama. Everyone was, for the most part, respectful, spoke highly of Jay Sebring. I wasn't aware of the many rumors that were published in Time Magazine (!) of all places. (The very disrespectful part, but it needed to be highlighted.) It sounds like they had the same problem we have these days, with lying and publishing nonsense to sell. And it was wonderful to see so many people, still alive, interviewed to rebuke all that.

It's really despicable how they press has further victimized the victims after their deaths, portrayed them as sexual deviants and done everything to glorify "the Manson family" and devaluate the murder victims, in the eyes of the public. Also surprised to learn that the mutilations of bodies didn't happen, after they were initially mentioned, as back in the early 2000's, I had heard that the gruesome photos of Tate were all over Google images if you so much as searched her name. This was on (unrelated) forum discussions, popping up in August of every year.

Anyway, it would be interesting to watch one about Abigail Folger and the rest of the victims. Call me strange but I have no interest whatsoever in Sharon Tate. I have never seen her in anything, and I don't think she was that great a beauty that people claim she was, but that's just me. I have now watched some of her acting and I remain unmoved by her. Not to say that she's uninteresting, I'm more interested in hearing about the others. I like how this documentary emphasized that it was always all about "Manson" and Tate "plus the others", nameless for decades. This bring a stop to it and shines the light elsewhere, where it was very much needed and deserved.

More people need to watch this. In the end, you have to realize that those T-shirt sales with the face of Manson are more the fault of the media (Time magazine et al) than the people buying the garbage because they've been fed a wrong narrative so the public is also victim of the press' lies. And you have to wonder if the family of the victims could sue and get their cut, if anyone should have this blood money, it's them, not the opportunists.

Well, very well directed and produced and superbly edited. I give this a 10/10 and I rarely watch documentaries. It was also a very easy watch, normally I'd get easily bored but not here. Much more I could say but I'll just wrap it up with a kudos to Jay Sebring's nephew who researched, interviewed and directed this. It's great that his love for his Uncle now remains unmired. Jay Sebring's legacy will also live on thanks to him. Well done.

This documentary can be streamed on Tubi Tv as of February 2021 or purchased directly from Shout Factory or Amazon. The film is a touching tribute to the brilliant Jay Sebring, a man who we are finally getting to know as a master at his craft rather than being a true crime victim. Everyone from Quincy Jones to Quentin Tarantino makes an appearance to speak up for Jay. We learn that Jay was a kind man, handsome, heroic, driven, brilliant, and that he had his heart broken a few times by incredibly beautiful women. Jay's life is a fascinating subject and his filmmaker nephew does an excellent job at preserving and redefining Jay's legacy. A wonderful film filled with beautiful unseen photographs and restored film clips that take you right back to the 1960's and earlier.

Despite some contrived moments used to make the interviewees react in realistic (yet melodramatic) ways, JAY SEBRING: CUTTING TO THE TRUTH, made by hairstylist Sebring's lookalike nephew, is quite good, especially the frame-device of showing a long-lost documentary Sebring did on his trade, months before he was murdered along with Sharon Tate by The Manson Family...

The anger and bitterness by the filmmaker is understandable, but it's extremely uneven... for example, right after the murders, Time Magazine and various other outlets were basically blaming the victims, including Sebring, for the deaths, as if they were involved in the cult that murdered them...

It's ridiculous but it happened... that's how the media works... however, once it was discovered a gang of crazy hippies led by the craziest of hippie killers killed everyone, all those things that the nephew is still raving mad about were long, long gone, and NEVER brought up again... Also ironic is, no one but Manson was ever blamed, and it was Tex Watson, mentioned here only once, who shot Sebring a bunch of times before stabbing him a bunch more times...

The late Jay Sebring's childhood, his stint in the Navy, and his bold risky move to Los Angeles in the 1950's to become not a barber but a hairstylist for men (very rare in those days), is far more befitting to a documentary that's supposedly fighting against the very things it's embracing since, even the summaries highlight Charles Manson and Sharon Tate (in that order) to grab viewers...

Also interesting is the post "MeToo" demonizing of Roman Polanski, who is the first person who say that Sebring was into bondage and kinky sex (before the media gets blamed for reporting the same things); there's even a theory that Tate was in the process of a divorce... and had this been made ten years ago, Roman Polanski would have been the shining star...

Overall CUTTING TO THE TRUTH is intriguing, and lets you see that Jay Sebring is more than just "the others" murdered other than eternally beautiful Sharon...

Then again, there's so much embracing the pop culture mythology about Manson and the killings as well constant name-dropping (and interview selections) of famous people Sebring hung around with... the poor guy, once again, gets lost in the mix: and at his own party this time.

Finally a deep, insightful look at who Jay Sebring actually was as a person & not just as a "murder victim". His nephew Anthony DiMaria does such a remarkable job with this documentary walking you through Jay's entre life story. This is also a real eye-opener for anyone who thinks they know who Jay Sebring was. It includes such amazing personal film footage & photos never-before made public. Hearing his story told through the people who really knew him best shines a light away from his tragic ending & back where it belongs- on the man who revolutionized men's hair styling & was absolutely legendary in his own right.- A MUST SEE film!