Here’s proof that I’ve been keeping tabs on Hollywood balding trends for a good 26 years. (Although I’ve been focused on such matters since my mid teens, which is when I first suspected that my own follicles might one day be in jeopardy.) I sent a snail-mail pitch to Esquire, and they went for it almost right away. I was paid something like $350 or $400. The same year I began writing a weekly Sunday piece for the N.Y. Daily News entertainment section. I also began a stint as a weekly columnist for the L.A. Times Syndicate, which I did for five years (or until ’99).