Museum Haircuts Start A Trend II by Deke Cutter

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I suggest reading Part I of "Museum Haircuts" first

Part II
As Part 1 ended Carol, the co-owner of Golden’s Kosher Deli had come over to the table where my Pops, my work colleague Kyle, and I were sitting. She brought two young men who I had seen taking orders and preparing food behind the counter over to the table. "These two are my younger grandsons Jonnie and Alan. They are working for me this summer. They complain constantly about the hairnets I make them wear behind the counter and the hats when they are serving. I told them that if they get nice haircuts like Danny and his friend, then that would solve the problem. So, could one of you take them over to Mario’s when their shift is over? I was about to offer to help out, but Pops got in first and said, I’m sure Danny and Kyle may have some preparatory work to do for their work assignment next week, but I will be happy to do so." The boys’ great-grandmother, the deli’s founder and family matriarch said something in Yiddish to her daughter that only "Pops" and the two women understood.

Carol looked at her mother with a smirk and said, "OK, ma, I’ll make sure and tell Giorgio that when he comes back." We (well, Pops) paid for our meal and headed out. Pops suggested that we might go over to the museum and do a practice run if we were both free. I looked at him and said, I thought that was good advice and Kyle was quick to agree. So, the next part of this story is what Pops told me happened later that afternoon when he took care of Carol’s request.

"You know, Danny, I told you that Mrs. Golden was still as sharp as a tack. She never liked disrespect from anybody, especially family and friends. That is why Carol wanted to make sure that you made ‘a fuss’ over her when you arrived at the deli. Those two, Jonnie and Alan, didn’t spend as much time with the older generation and Carol and her husband try their best, but the boys are what we used to call ‘mouthy.’ They don’t particularly like taking orders and aren’t crazy about working in ‘the city’ with the grandparents instead of hanging out with their friends at Point Lookout or Long Beach."

"What Mama Golden said to Carol before we left was ‘those two ‘little pishers’ deserve very short haircuts like two boys we know did back in the days when parents weren’t afraid to show them who is in charge.’ She was talking about something that happened years ago, that I will tell you about later. Carol told me that she was going to give the boys until the end of their shift to decide if she would ask me to give Mario to follow her mother’s directions. Apparently, the boys were angry about the haircuts and got a bit stroppy with a couple of customers when they thought Carol and Jake weren’t watching. But they have a closed-circuit TV set up in the living quarters for Mrs. Golden to keep her eagle eye on things. Carol and Jake were up there having a quick break and saw these two transgressions. So, she called me and told me she’d also call Mario herself and let him know what she wanted done with the boys.

"I met Carol and her grandsons back at the deli at the end of their ship and walked with them ver to Mario’s. Mario greeted me and the boys in his usual friendly way and asked after their family. Mario knew the entire family and mentioned to the boys how much he respected ‘Mama Golden.’ Then he said to me, ‘Giorgio, Carol called me and said that she had originally asked for the boys to be given haircuts like the ones I gave Daniel and his friend Kyle.’ But she said that the boys’ treatment of two customers this afternoon had caused her to change her mind. She said that, instead, they needed something that would serve as more of a reminder to them to put others first. She said that the boys should understand that their father and mother agree and that if they gave you or me any problems, a discussion on car privileges would ensue.’ The boys, who until that moment had looked ready to either complain, start texting, or do a runner out of the shop, suddenly grew rather pale and both slipped their phones into their pockets."

"I asked which one would like to be first and when neither jumped right up, I called on Jonnie who reluctantly made his way to the chair. His dark brown hair had a blond streak in the front and swooped down over his eyes when not held pack by a hairnet. The sides fell over his ears and touched the collar of his tee shirt. Mario was all business when Jon sat down. He quickly caped him and went to work with his clippers. ‘These are going to be short cuts boys and you will need to listen and follow my instructions,’ he stated. With that, his comb lifted the hair off the boy’s collar and the clippers with what looked like a very short guard on them started their first trip up the back of his head. As Mario continued to strip away his hair, I thought of my grandson and how different an experience his haircut had been. Jonnie was clearly distressed and appeared to be holding back tears. Even back when I was their age and hair was a cultural issue, I recall few boys crying over a haircut imposed on them. I was starting to get an idea of what haircut this fellow was getting. He taken the sides down to a very short length, and now put his clippers down and picked up his sheers and a comb. Mario combed all the hair on top to the left and cut all the hair hanging over the side to about an inch below the top of the head. He then combed the hair to the right and repeated the process. Finally, he combed the hair forward and trimmed the remaining hair forward and began combing the hair up and cutting it all down to about a two-inch length. At this point, tears started to drop out of Jonnie’s eyes. Neither Mario nor I said a word, and his brother pretended not to notice."

"Before he picked up his clippers, he took a clean towel and handed it to the boy to ’brush the hair out of his eyes.’ It was a gesture of kindness, but Mario then went back to business and told the boy that he needed to hold his head very steady. The boy sniffled as Mario slowly took the hair down to a short very tight flat top with a wide landing strip. He removed any hint of sideburns and cleaned up the neck. When Jonnie looked in the mirror, Mario told him, ‘From what your grandmother told me, you have some decisions to make, Jonnie, you too Alan. The first thing is that this haircut is technically perfect, as will yours be Alan. You can hold your head high when you leave here. You deserved to be corrected and these haircuts were a correction that your grandmother and your parents chose. Now, you can act like men and continue a tradition of honor that your family is known for, or you can lose in life. You choose.’ Alan, you’re up.’"

"Alan had light brown tightly curled. He wore it in the current style that was cut just above his ears but falling into his eyes. I stood as Alan did to help prevent him from running. To his credit he simply moved to the chair, patted his brother lightly on the shoulder and sat in the chair. Alan seemed more accepting of what was going to happen to him. He sat relaxed in the chair and when Mario told turned on the clippers, he bowed his head forward. Mario began to run the clippers with a slightly longer blade up the back of Alan’s head but did not stop at the crown. Rather, he went to about two inches from the front and did this until the back and top were cleared. He then removed all the curls from the side. Then, he wet the remaining curls in the front and tried to comb them out as best he could. He then used the thinning sheers and the comb to ‘debulk’ them. Then, he shortened them and with some butch wax had them standing up and curling back slightly. Mario finished his haircut with the same precision removal of sideburns and cleaning of the neck. Alan remained stoic and when shown the cut even thanked Mario. Jonnie had calmed down. Both boys paid for their cuts and, as Carol requested, I took them back to the Deli, where Carol, her mother and the boys’ very agitated father was waiting. I left them to it and came home."

I’m going to be interested to see if those guys figure things out or not. But the French visit to the museum is here and I am really excited about it. Kyle and I have been preparing for it. The bosses were impressed with Kyle’s haircut and how well he started dressing and they gave me more credit than I deserved. I told everybody that Kyle was a smart guy and he picked up on the guidance his mentor gave him. When the French Delegation arrived, I was surprised that there were some important sounding older people with the students. The students were an interesting group. The young women were charming, not all gorgeous, but all seemed very mature. The guys were another story. Like most guys our age, some were serious, some were jerks. There were several that, I assumed, thought they were artists. They were dressed very casually, had long hair, scraggly beards and were constantly looking for places to smoke.

The tour went well. Kyle and I did well, we were well prepared, and the translators didn’t ever have much to do because almost everyone spoke such good English. One of the museum’s big donors had paid for a catered lunch in the fancy dining room that is only used for fancy occasions. We tried to arrange the seating so we would be seating among the French guests and that worked well. I had noticed that some of the "artist types" had seemed to find Kyle and me amusing during the museum tour. After the formal lunch was over, we had about 45 minutes for informal chat. Three of those guys asked Kyle and me if we were in the police or the army. We asked why. They told us because we had police haircuts and they snickered when they said it I thought we handled it well. We said that we wore our hair in a professional style for our summer jobs, but that Americans no longer judged people by externals. Pops was shocked that the French guys made comments like that in front of us. He told me that in his experience, the French were diplomatic people and would never be that ‘forward’ with strangers, particularly in a formal situation like that. He wondered if there would be consequences down the line. He told me that, util a few years ago, France had mandatory national military service for all young men and that they would have had more severe haircuts than either Kyle or me when they served.

Pops was right again. The next morning Kyle and I were called to a meeting as soon as we arrived at work. I was relieved, for his sake, that Kyle arrived in one of his sharp outfits and with his hair looking freshly combed. Grace Masters, our big boss, was there and the first thing she did was tell us we were not in any trouble. "Danny and Kyle, I wanted to thank you for your excellent work with the French delegation yesterday. All the team did well and will get recognition. I had to call you in because of an incident that occurred. Apparently, a few of the young men made some disparaging comments about your haircuts."

"Yes, Grace, but Kyle and I just responded nonconfrontationally and moved on. It seemed that perhaps they were trying to "score some points."

"Indeed, Grace responded. The entire exchange was observed at a discrete distance by one of their chaperones who was particularly concerned with the behavior of those young men. Madame Lascelles, an old acquaintance of mine who is one of the supervisors of the tour, asked me if she could prevail upon you to accompany the three to your barber for haircuts like yours. Your mentors have agreed, noting that you both gave up your weekends to work on your preparation for the tour. The three young men are outside now with one of the male chaperones and will come in to apologize to you and then you can be off. I understand that you will be going to Brooklyn, so the French have arranged transportation for you."

"If I may, Grace, I’d like to call Mario and see if let him know and see if he is busy" She agreed, and I put the call through and asked that he tell ‘Giorgio’ too. I knew Pops would give him the back story if he was home.

The three French guys were then led into the room, all freshly shaven, I noticed and the one called Jacques stepped forward and said, "on behalf of Etienne, Louis, and myself, I wish to apologize for our boorish behavior and inappropriate remarks to you too gentlemen yesterday. On reflection, we all realize the wisdom of your words and we too wish to adopt less provocative haircuts. We agree with you that too much concern with external appearances is not a good thing. We understand you have kindly agreed to help us achieve our goal with a visit to your barber."

Kyle and I accepted their apologies and, with their chaperone in tow, we all headed out to a comfortable Peugot 308 SUV. I had heard they were coming to the US but hadn’t seen one before. I was really hoping it didn’t break down with nobody prepared to repair it in Brooklyn. We made it to Mario’s without any problems and we all went inside as Mario was finishing up the last of his morning customers, Mr. Vultura, the insurance agent. "Hello Danny, Kyle. ‘Bienvenu’ gents. I’ll be with you in moment."


Once Mr. Vultura had been assured that the Peugot didn’t need any insurance, the haircuts could begin. Kyle and I had learned on the ride over that Etienne and Louis were to receive haircuts as like ours as Mario could craft. Jacques, however, had received direction directly from the Colonel, his father, who are retired recently from a career in the French Army. His haircut was to be cut with a Number two guard, leaving no more than an inch at the front, short and neat, as the Colonel said. He had been forthcoming on the ride from the museum. The Colonel had warned him that anymore bad behavior would result in consequences. "My mouth gets me into much trouble, is that how you say it in American English Jacques asked."


"Oh yeah," said Kyle. We do it all the time over here. Look man, since you are getting the shortest haircut, why don’t you go first. It will make it easier on your friends and I promise you Mario will make you look your best with that haircut." And that is exactly what Mario did. A Number 2 buzz is pretty quick and easy. He quickly cleaned off most of Jacques’ hair and then took some time on that bit in front. Jacques had a bit of a cowlick up there, so he would have kind of a jaunty look when he brushed it up. The removal of his sideburns and the definition of his hairline and his ears gave him a more mature look and, in my view would probably do him no harm with the girls on either side of the Atlantic. Still, I knew this was not how he wanted to present himself to the world, so I wondered how it would go for him. Hopefully, it will be a lesson learned in when to keep his thoughts to himself.

Neither Etienne nor Louis had hair as wavy as mine or quite like Kyles, but Mario managed to reduce the length and bulk of both of their hair significantly. Etienne’s nearly shoulder-length blonde hair was soon chopped down to a style that resembled mine in that his ears were uncovered, he had a side parted style and his bangs came no where near his mid forehead anymore. He was the quietest of the three and I wondered what this would do to him. I showed him some pictures of Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt with short hair like that, but he just seemed dazed. Meanwhile, Louis seemed to be up for the adventure of the haircut. He wore his hair combed back off his face so I thought Mario might give him a haircut that kept that feature, but what he ended up with was quite a surprise. Mario took his sides down shorter than Kyles, but still not to a scalped look. Louis’ hair was so thick that even at that quarter inch, his scalp was covered. He gradually lengthened the sides near the top so that when the top hair was combed back and over, the length looked natural and not disconnected from the sides and back. Yet it was much shorter than it had been. These haircuts were meant by Mario to show these three young guys that there is more than one way to be a young man and be distinct. I think he did it. He took before and after pictures of them, as did their chaperone. Mario was paid and well tipped for his work that day. On the trip back to the museum to drop Kyle and me off, Jacques, said to us, "I hope you do forgive us, I was the instigator and I feel very foolish now." My papa will, I think make sure I keep this haircut, until I get a job. I am glad your barber Mr. Mario is such an artist. Perhaps some day you will visit France and we will meet again."


"So, Pops, that is the way things turned out for the three French artsy type guys. I kind of felt bad for them in that they really got slammed hard for Jacques’ smart mouth, but I have learned pretty quickly this summer that it is really what is inside the head rather that what grows on the head that is most important. But there is one thing that we still haven’t discussed. There was a haircut that you got back in the day and I’m pretty sure it was an important one in your life. Are you going to tell me about it?’


"Back in the summer after 9th grade. This was in the middle of ‘the hair wars,’ Danny. Boys wanted to look like the Beatles and all the others. We wanted to wear cool clothes. Our dads had all been in World War Two or, if not, in Korea, terrible places, terrible wars. Men don’t talk about them to this day. And here we were, to them, trying to tear down everything they fought for. It wasn’t that way, in our minds, but there you have it. We were still a little too young for all the politics anyway. Our parents could see that coming, I think. Your great grandparents, my mom and pop were good people, so were Mama Golden and her late husband. Mom would tell pop they had to let me dress like the other kids and Carol Golden would be the fashion advisor pop would listen to. My hair could cover my ears, but no longer. Mama Golden, well, you can imagine what it was like! Carol’s brother Sam, he was the one that was destined for great things, but he worked behind the counter, and like Carol’s boys, if he wanted long hair, he wore a hairnet. But, Sammy, he wore it, he would not give in. And Sam charmed the customers, the old ladies loved him. He was a natural comedian. But Sam was smart too. That is why Mama made sure he studied hard and went to law school. That summer, long ago, though, Sammy and I did something dumb. Sam convinced me to go with him to Long Beach where he knew these girls that were "up for it." At 14 going on 15, I had little idea of what that meant. We both had curfews of no later than 11:00 PM on a summer weekend, but Sammy said he had it all figured out."


"Sammy didn’t figure on the girls being out to take us for a ride. We had to but them pizza and coke. Then they wanted to play all the boardwalk games and ride the ‘Chair-O-Plane.’ Before we knew it, we missed the bus and didn’t even get a kiss on the lips from those girls! When we got home, it was well after midnight, and we were in deep trouble. Dad was waiting up for me. All he would say was, ‘we will discuss this tomorrow.’ At 8:00, I was roused from my sleep and told to get showered and dressed. Mom and pop took me over to Goldens and we were ushered upstairs to where the family still lived at that point. Carol made tea and coffee for the adults and then went downstairs to relieve her mother who came up to take the first shift of the punishment shift. Sam was called out of his room. ‘Lucia, Marco, first let me say, I don’t know how my boy even heard of these ‘chazers’ who would take our boys for a ride. And the reputation they have, thank the Almighty they only took their money! Our boys have grown up together. They are good boys. Believe me, there will be changes with this one, starting with that hair. It’s going today. Marco, maybe you can take him over to Tony’s for me and get him a nice butch cut. My Manny and I are too busy to take off today."


"Without missing a beat, ‘of course, Bessie, if you think that is proper, I think the boys should both get a similar punishment and something they can easily remember over the course of the summer, was my pop’s answer. Lucia and I still need to have a talk with Giorgio at home and then he and I will be over to pick up Sam."


"When we got back here, my pop and mama were angry with me and first of all told me I had better get to Confession over at Holy Sacrament Church today. Next, they told me how I had lost their trust and how I needed to work hard to get it back. Pop said he wouldn’t have chosen the butch cut for me, but since Mama Golden was forcing it on Sam, then let it be a reminder to me about being a follower and not a leader. By the way, years later after Carol and I had our brief fling, just before I got serious with your Grammy, Mama Golden told me that had I not been such a knucklehead with her Sammy just a few years before, then just maybe, she would have let things develop between Carol and me. But back to the story. Pop and I got Sammy and headed to barber’s then owned and run by Mario’s dad Tony. As was often the case in those days, two long-haired teens coming in meant either an athletic coach had figured out a way of getting his boys to clean up or else a punishment was coming down. In this case, Mama Golden had already been on the phone to Tony. ‘So, Sammy, you are here for a butch cut. Well hop up in the chair’."

"’You’ll be giving two butches in a row Tony, his accomplice is getting one too’, pop said."


"I don’t think I have ever seen anybody as miserable as Sammy looked in that chair. He had a great head of hair for a rising Sophomore. Tony was merciless. He started right in the middle of his forehead and took a straight line all the way across the back with his Number 1 blade. He continued this across Sammy’s head eventually clearing it al all hair and removing his developing sideburns and his rather sad excuse for a mustache too. The straight razor work was just a bit of added humiliation. But I suspect Sammy would say the same about me, though my hair was considerably shorter than his and my haircut probably took a whole minute or two less than his to complete. Pop took his two butch cut charges out of the shop, dropping Sammy off at the deli and me at church to seek forgiveness for my carnal sins."


"Pops," I asked, "whatever happened to Sammy?"


"He did become a lawyer and a darn good one. Once he finished law school, he got a job clerking for one of the most prestigious Supreme Court Justices, a very liberal member of the court. The first thing he did was cut off the pony tail he had grown and never cut after that butch cut and never had long hair again. Sadly, Sam was murdered during the crack epidemic in Washington, DC by an unknown shooter."


"What about you, Pops, any lasting impacts from that haircut? Well, my pop really made me think about being a leader rather than a follower. The feelings of embarrassment and shame that the forced haircut left me with, though, stopped me from ever using a haircut for punishment. I think a parent sets clear behavioral limits and if a child goes beyond them, then corrections are needed. But, to say, the child broke a rule that has nothing to do with their personal appearance, but the punishment is a severe haircut, well, that seems wrong to me.

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