The Gold Mine 65: Nice Shave

Stuff I've dug up.

As my skin continues to come to grips with the new shaving regimen, I thought we'd take a look at some words on shaving from literature and the theater.

You remember I said before that Ackley was a slob in his personal habits? Well, so was Stradlater, but in a different way. Stradlater was more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, Stradlater, but for instance, you should've seen the razor he shaved himself with. It was always rusty as hell and full of lather and hairs and crap. He never cleaned it or anything. He always looked good when he was finished fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyway, if you knew him the way I did.
--JD Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

What advantages attended shaving by night?
A softer beard: a softer brush if intentionally allowed to remain from shave to shave in its agglutinated lather: a softer skin if unexpectedly encountering female acquaintances in remote places at incustomary hours: quiet reflections upon the course of the day: a cleaner sensation when awaking after a fresher sleep since matutinal noises, premonitions and perturbations, a clattered milkcan, a postman's double knock, a paper read, reread while lathering, relathering the same spot, a shock, a shoot, with thought of aught he sought though fraught with nought might cause a faster rate of shaving and a nick on which incision plaster with precision cut and humected and applied adhered which was to be done.
--James Joyce, Ulysses

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.
His skin was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod,
Did Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

He kept a shop in London town,
Of fancy clients and good renown.
And what if none of their souls was saved?
They went to their maker impeccably shaved
By Sweeney,
By Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
--Stephen Sondheim, "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" (from Sweeney Todd)

Comments

[Christopher]

You see, sir, a man infatuate with love,
its ardent and eager slave.
So fetch the pomade and pumice stone
to lend me a more seductive tone,
a sprinkling perhaps of French cologne,
but first, sir, I think, a shave.
--Stephen Sondheim, "Pretty Women" (from Sweeney Todd)

[Z]

The closest I ever gave.

[Christopher]

A little pondering last night recovered the following:

Oh, I am a little barber
And I go my merry way
With my razor and my leeches
I can always earn my pay

Though your chin be smooth as satin,
You will need me soon I know
For the Lord protects his barbers,
And He makes the stubble grow.

If I slip when I am shaving you
And cut you to the quick,
You can use me as a doctor
'Cause I also heal the sick.

--Joe Darion, “The Barber Song” (from Man of La Mancha)

It's slightly forties, and a little bit "New Wave".
You may be dancing with a girl who needs a shave.
Where both the riffraff and the royalty are patrons
At La Cage Aux Folles.

--Jerry Herman, “La Cage Aux Folles” (from La Cage Aux Folles)

[Z]

And they call ME a musical theater queen . . .

[Christopher]

:-D