Headliners Club Pranks (1973)

Duration: 17:29

Year Published: 1973

Sound: sound

Description: This 1973 footage captures a pair of hidden camera pranks played for the entertainment of Austin’s Headliners Club. In the first, multiple groups of women are called to share their opinions on a new restaurant concept in which diners, segregated by gender, would be served by either topless female wait staff or male servers wearing only bikini bottoms. The first group of women includes Ann Butler, wife of Mayor Roy Butler and a prominent figure in Austin civic society, and Texas State Representative Sarah Weddington. In the second prank, hairstylists give unsuspecting customers a shampoo that includes unlikely ingredients like banana and cottage cheese. Targets include Mayor Butler and Lieutenant Governor William P. Hobby Jr. Established in 1955 by Charles E. Green, who would later serve as the Executive Editor of the Austin American-Statesman, the Headliners Club’s members included those who make and write the headlines. The exclusive organization did not originally welcome women as members. Weddington and Liz Carpenter were among the first to join in 1977, four years after the club included Weddington in this prank. Do you recognize any of the other people featured in the footage? Let us know in the comments or email us at info@texasarchive.org.