The picture above was taken at our old house in Encino in 1969. I'm the happy little lad on the left on my mother's knees. At some point, I'm told, the photo was sent to Redbook magazine, which was planning a beauty makeover story. My mom was one of three women selected as subjects.

Here's the cover of the October 1969 issue. Newsstands where we lived added a special post-it like tag on top with the artfully written phrase, "Encino Beauty's Beauty Treatment."

Also selected to participate was an Atlanta woman who had "an interesting job as a combination secretary, assistant-reporter-interviewer in the news department of Atlanta's station WQXI-TV" named Judy Woodruff. Perhaps you saw her on TV sometime. (NBC, CNN, PBS - do they ring a bell?) You can read more about Judy's beauty goals by clicking her first picture above.

In these next pictures above, you can click to learn more about the detailed approach by Redbook to the project (as well as see how one's skills in defacing high school yearbooks might have come in handy in the fashion world).

"To demonstrate this real-life, long-lasting approach to beauty make-overs, we selected three young women who typify many Redbook readers. They are concerned with their families, their jobs and community work, and while they have neither the time nor the inclination to be preoccupied with 'beauty,' they have found that life is more rewarding and fun for them (and their families) if they try to look their best."

Ain't that the truth.

Interestingly (to me), Judy and my mom shared an interest in art. My mom majored in art at UCLA, taught it at Canoga Park High School in the early 1960s and has been a docent at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for nearly 30 years.

Here's Mom.

"Sheila impressed us with her impeccable grooming and her fine, porcelain-thin, fair skin, but she felt her hair style was too severe for her face and accentuated her 'sharp' nose. She was right."

Sheesh - kinda blunt, huh? I think she looks great as is! But the biggest slight was that the long-awaited first mention of me in a national publication butchered my name, adding five extraneous letters. Who is this "Jonathon?"

You didn't know I was a model, did ya? I think I look pretty sharp. Of course, I lost my looks when I got older, but I was quite the catch back then...

This is a post-makeover photo that wasn't used in the magazine, featuring my mom (who was never one for going in the pool), my sister, me, my dad, my dad's sideburns and my brother.

Well, it's 2008, and the Encino Beauty is now an L.A. Grandma, five times over. Redbook is a distant memory, but I think her smile says it all. Happy almost birthday, Mom.
(Thanks to my sister Robyn for scanning everything.)