The Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-03-20, Page 170
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• Published every Il k: in The Listowel.Banner, The Wingham Advance -Times
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-Crossroads--March 20, 075 --
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OftONT__..,0•
The barbershop
Photos and
Feature by
Steve Yorrnak
111h -
A dying way of life, barbering,
the way we knew it anyway.
But yesterday?
Walking downtown during the
lb 1920's a casual stroller couldn't
help being drawn to the shop with
all the commotion about it :
"What do you mean it was all
political! We had to go over there
to help our friends."
"You probably were one of
4
w
M
those idiots who thought you were
going overseas to make the world
safe."
"If we needed help they'd have
come over here to fight."
And from another corner,
customers wait, offering their
pearls of wisdom to anyone who
happens to park his rear next
door.
"Expand, I say, the modern
Once bustling and alive .. .
now waron
businessman can't stand still.
The world keeps moving. I used
to think a good horse would be all
I need. But no more. That Model
T out there will see that no horse
ever sets a hoof on a road again."
"Never. Nope. Just last week I
passed you four times on my nag
Bessie while you were cranking
that modern contraption between
kicking the fenders black and
OLDER THAN THE SHOP—"Toad" said the cash register which still carries the
names of the barbers who worked at the shop for years was bought secondhand in
making it more than 50 years old.
three
1929,
blue."
A barbershop? Sure, in any one
of 10 or 11 shops Listowel used to
have years ago.
But now it's a different story.
End Of The Road
Snipping, shaving and groom-
ing for half a century, Arnold
"Toad" Gibson, 71, of Listowel
estimated that long hair • really'
began taking its toll from barbers
about four or five years ago. He is
one of three old-time barbers left
in town.
"If they want hair styling, `l1
sent them somewhere else," he
said, "A good percentage of my
customers are older."
Edgar Kitely, 73, of Listowel;
knows "Toad" well and brother
Norman Gibson, 87, who owned
the barber shop until a year ago
when his brother took over. Mr.
Kitely has been coming- into the
shop about once every three
weeks for 50 years. Addison Wen-
zell of Wallace is in the same po-
sition—almost 50 years as a
regulAr customer.
They all agreed that things
were completely -different years
ago.
"People got to be in too big. a
hurry," ."Toad" Gibson said.
• "Years ago businessmen came:
in for the daily shave and shot the
breeze. They had the time to sit
and do: alittle talking. They don't
today."
He added that most came in for
a shave everyday at the price of
15 cents. Haircuts were 25 cents,
compared to today's $1.75. The
trend really began tailing off in
the 1950's with the coming of new
shaving equipment.
With only one 50 -year-old
barber «hair in the shop, Mr.
Gibson said it was the invention
of the safety razor that began the
end of the barbershop shave. But
it was the' electric shaver that
sealed the doom.
The relics still stand proudly,
however.
Pasted on the mirror that
covers a full wall is a symbol
associated with barbering:
50 YEARS' EXPERIENCE --After S0 years of giving Edgar
Kitely a haircut at least once every three weeks, "Toad"
doesn't hesitate, only pausing to ask the formal, "The regu-
lar".
. . . fading awa
"Mountain Rose Products,
beautifies and invigorates the
hair and face, stops dandruff and
falling hair—Used and Sold
here."
It's years since it's actually
been sold or used.
The antique clock is still .much
in use not only as a timekeeper
but to fill the quiet now prevalent
in the old barbershop. In fact,
with just about 20 customers a
day the only sound coming from
the shop at times is the tick -tock
of the clock and theslish-slosh of
the scissors.
"I can't figure it out anymore.
Saturday isn't the day it was:
Saturday was the • big shaving
day. But that's a thing of the
past," Mr. Gibson said.
"And there were more beards
and moustaches before."
In those days, a barber had to
apprentice for years to be quali-
• fied to work on his own: It wasn't
until, 1964 that the government of
Ontario stepped in and required
provincial exams for a barber to
be licensed.
Mr. Gibson refused to take the
exam. After all, he had been clip-
ping for over 40 years by then.
But there the certificate proud-
ly sits in the corner of the mirror.
"They finally just gave it to
guys like me who had been
barbering for years," he said.
*-.A.1.741)0437_ .1 .*ng t#i r $WXW
year the Beatles with th it new
fad of long hair arrived in North
America. It was just a matter of
time before the style seeped down
to the local level.
"All . these mothers want to
have long hair on their kids. They
make girls Out of boys."
Mr. Gibson said that as a rule
through the years he found little
trouble giving little ones hair-
cuts. Not today.
'gids used to be scared more
than anything else."
Hard to believe anyone could
be frightened of the five-foot,
five -inch "Toad"? Not really.
The equipment the old-time
barber used lent itself to that.
The sharp razors, the sharp-
ening leather strung on the side of
the chair that always reminded
kids of "the strap" back home,
and of course those clippers.
The uniform, however, is and
was the same for Mr. Gibson, a
tie and a white shirt.
But it wasn't always that way,
Mr. Gibson said.
Real Class
Mr. Gibson started with older
brother Norman in the early
1920's when the shop was located
in Wroxeter. When Norman sold
out to move after three years,
"Toad" decided to strike out on
his own.
Stepping up in the barbering
world "Toad" took a position, as
it was called, in a large establish-
ment in Stratford.
"It was a five -chair shop. We
wore blue trousers, white shirts
and black bow ties."
Then in 1929 brother Norman
called to ask for a helping hand in
his new shop on Wallace Ave.
North in Listowel.
Still at the same location in
Listowel, most of the equipment
dates back from the 1929 opening.
The traditional barber's pole, the
shoe -shine polishing chair, the
clock, the barber's chair, the 50-
year;old cash register which still
has the names of the three
barbers on it—N. A.-Gibson,
_Gibson, A. E.
Gibson and W. A. Gibson—the old
coal stove, now a space heater
which serves as a favorite
waiting spot for Mr. Gibson,
gently puffing on his pipe:
But it is the movements of Mr.
Gibson himself that so strongly
remind one of the old-time
barber, the artisan.
With that pleasing smell of talc
always present, Mr. Gibson
starts his labors with the usual,
'`Regular?„
Within seconds he's snipping
here, there, imperceptively rock-
ing from heel to toe, effortlessly.
He walks in a predetermined
path, apparent by virtue of the
worn-out tiles in a semi -circle
aroundie chair. He stops only
for a ware to a neighbor or cus-
tomer passing by the large front
window which has "Gibson's"
written across it and only an Offi-
cial Team Canada '74 souvenir
showing.
Then with a flourish and a
carefully studied flare, the
71 -year-old barber takes. his
brush off the counter and
methodically sweeps the extrane-
ous hairs from the customer's
clothing.
With the job done, out comes
the tobacco, into the pipe and
over to the stove.
It was at moments like this that
"Toad" was able to talk (freely.
`He recalled that he married the
former Elsie Grosz in 1932. The
couple have had five children.
Asked if he wanted any of his
sons to follow in his footsteps, he
said, "I kept them away from
that. Aw, shoot, why would any-
one want to be a barber?"
Then with a little more thought,
"I've always enjoyed it."
But it is the last statement that
you remember -*`lien leaving
Gibson's.
The call for the old-time barber
is obviously no longer . there,
which is all but symbolized by the
grey and 'white hair swept away
at the end of the day.
But there's something appeal-
ing about the scenario—no, not
just that familiar refrain of a nos-
talgic visit to a quiet, friendly
peaceful time.
It's irresistible in its own right.
The feeling upon entering the
shop is that you're actually
leaning towards the old way of
life.
Or is it simply that through the
years of use and natural wear the
floor is warped and has begun to
tilt right towards that old-time
barbershop and barber{?
JUST WAITIN.'—"Toad" Gibson, hands in pocket, nudges
close tohis favorite spot, next to the old converted space
heater awaiting the arrival of his next customer.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE—Hair toni, talc, brushes and combs line the counter along with
"Toad's" Ontario barbering licence'issued to him in spite of the fact that he refused to
take the exam.