Kenneth Morise called his customers “treasures,” and they called him a prince.
The flamboyant hairdresser, who sometimes donned gowns and feathers for charity events, died at his Denver home April 16. He was 63.
“At a funeral, people always make a dead person sound like a prince, but Kenneth really was,” said longtime client Dan Sloane, a Denver lawyer.
Morise was known to thousands of Denverites, often four generations in a family, and that included the Sloane family.
Morise owned The Hair Shop Ltd., at 1 Broadway, formerly at the Versailles and the Lido apartment buildings.
His clients stretched from “people who’ve had streets named for them to those on Social Security,” said his brother, Robert Morise of Denver. It wasn’t uncommon for Kenneth Morise to pick up customers if they needed a ride or go to their homes if they were ill.
“Mr. Kenneth,” as some called him in earlier days, did hair for Bette Midler, the late Ethel Merman and the occasional local TV anchor.
“He left the world with plenty of secrets,” said Robert Morise, because many customers viewed his brother “as a therapist and confidant.”
Morise worked 12- to 14-hour days, his brother said, and his customers were his family. “It was often like a three-ring circus (in the shop) with Kenneth as the ringmaster,” he said, comparing his brother to the fictional Auntie Mame.
People often brought food to the shop, and Kenneth Morise even had a lobster bake in a nearby park for his customers as a string quartet played.
Kenneth Morise was a born entertainer, loved crowds and parties and regaled friends with stories and jokes. “I think he was a frustrated actor, but he knew his limits and (with the shop) he had his own stage,” Robert Morise said.
Kenneth Morise created a character, Kinsey Rapport, and Rapport performed in drag shows around town – directed and produced by Morise himself. He dressed in “lavish outfits” for the shows and for the annual ball of the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire. He was elected empress at one of the balls.
“Kinsey was brassy, a Sophie Tucker type,” said Robert Morise, and dressed “in feathers, trains and sequin-covered gowns.”
Kinsey Rapport did acts to raise money for various charities, including the Colorado AIDS Project, Children’s Hospital and Toys for Tots.
But the shop was his home, and it also became home for many of his customers, some of whom called themselves “the steel magnolias,” a reference to the movie, much of which was filmed in a beauty shop.
Morise went to hospitals to see clients who had just given birth and to bar mitzvahs and weddings of customers.
Always generous, he cut the hair of Dan Sloane’s grandfather, Sam Stoole, for $3. Stoole refused to pay anyone more than that and eventually couldn’t find a cut for $3. “At the time haircuts were $15 or $20, but my grandfather would never pay more than $3,” Sloane said. “I wanted him to have a decent haircut.”
Morise wouldn’t take more than $3 from Stoole.
If a client asked for something Morise thought was stupid, he’d steer the person away. Cammie Grant McKee recalls when she was a high schooler and she and her friends wanted their bangs backcombed. “No, girls,” was Morise’s answer.
McKee’s grandmother and mother were customers of Morise’s. McKee’s first child, Bo McKee, not yet 2, had his first trim by Morise. “Kenneth never said ‘cut,’ because he didn’t want to scare kids,” Cammie McKee said.
Kenneth H. Morise was born Jan. 17, 1943, in Denver and graduated from Adams City High School.
He studied hairdressing in Aurora and then in Europe for almost a year. He began work in Denver at the May Co.
Morise was a Christian, but embraced much of Buddhism, his brother said.
He loved the theater and fine dining, collected Asian art and Russian lacquer boxes and decorated at least three Christmas trees at his home each year.
To the end “he believed in Santa Claus, unicorns, fairies and all things good,” his brother said.
Robert Morise laughed when he talked about how close he and his brother were, despite their differences.
“I’m straight and see muted colors. My brother was gay and saw the world in technicolor. Wherever he found it wanting, he was happy to supply a splash of color, a fawn of feathers and a string of rhinestones.”
In addition to his brother, Kenneth Morise is survived by his sister, Madeleine Cimyotte of Denver.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
