As previously established with our look back at the classic lifestyle guide, Jane Seymour’s Guide to Romantic Living, the 1980s were a time of much ado about romance and relationships. Another curious illustration: The May 11, 1983 “smooch-a-thon” to defend a Guinness world record for longest kiss.
“We know the secrets of kissing,” participant Barbara Kane informed UPI, explaining that, “Position has everything to do with success.” She and her kissing buddy Dino DeLorean had previously achieved a world record with a six-day kiss. But then they were challenged to go for ten straight days by a pair of college students, and somebody decided the best venue was “a chaise lounge outside ‘Only Hearts,’ a Manhattan boutique.” (The rules didn’t require absolutely continuous lip-to-lip contact; there were scheduled restroom-and-protein-drink breaks.)
“People ask me if I have been picking up weights with my lips,” said DeLorean, who admitted he had not.
The pair were not actually a couple, and their activities occasionally caused a little trouble in the romantic department:
But Mrs. Kane and DeLorean, both actors from Los Angeles, decided to meet the challenge in the window of the boutique, although she said the first time they did it her husband was upset when he saw television clips of her and Dino kissing. ‘It took a while, but he calmed down,’ she said.
Said DeLorean, ‘I had a girlfriend going into the contest. I didn’t going out. I guess she didn’t trust me and told me to ‘kiss-off!’’
Ultimately, they went for 21 days—after relocating proceedings to a nearby radio station when the crowd got too distracting for their host boutique.
Photo via AP Images.
GET JEZEBEL RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
