PAST BUSINESS IN HARMON COUNTY, OK

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"PAST BUSINESS of Harmon County, OK"
A project of the Harmon County Historical Museum

Sumpter Barber Shop

BY

Cecil Sumpter

Cecil Sumpter wrote the following stories about his dad�s barber shop in Hollis:

Many got shoes shined by leaving them on Saturday for pick up Sunday. Lots of women sent shoes, too. I used a "wall attachment" to shine shoes. Men usually came in Sunday morning for a shine, shave and tidying up for church. I used the "while in the barber chair" shine stand�.one shoe at a time�. to shine their shoes while they got their shave, haircut, massage.. or whatever. It only took about 3 minutes per shoe...usually. The customer then picked up shoes that I shined earlier and paid for it all at once. Now you know why I went to work early on Saturday and stayed late. Also, why I went to work very early on Sunday morning. "Blue Laws" said we had to close the shop during church services, so Dad just said no more customers in the door after 11 AM, but they could still pick up their shoes. I still wonder how some people had two pairs of shoes then. I noted that most were businessmen, bankers or bootleggers. Now you know the rest of the story... Sump

... Seems Pat Patton* and my dad had a "thing" about giving McCoy Cherry** a bad time. Cherry always came to the shop on Sunday morning for a shave before church. Dad and Pat noticed that he always wore the same tie. They "scummed" a scheme. Dad asked McCoy where he got such a nice tie. J.C. Penney's was the answer. So the next Saturday, Dad sent me there to get as near a duplicate as I could find. Lucky me.. I got an exact copy. Right proud of myself, too. On Sunday morning, after Dad had finished shaving Cherry, he took his barber scissors and placed both ends of the tie between the blades.. said something like: "Cherry, I hate this damned tie you always wear on Sunday morning. I have wanted to do this for quite a while now and I just can't help myself.".. He then cut the tie which became a three piece job at that point. Looked kinda silly with the two ends lying on the floor and the rest still around McCoy's neck..knot pulled loose and the top shirt button open. McCoy started raving and ranting..something about having to go home, get another tie to match his suit and being late for church. Everyone was laughing their buns off...making McCoy madder by the second�Dad then pulled out the new tie, and McCoy's tirade sputtered to a stop. He joined in the laugh, put on the new tie and muttered something about the old tie needed cleaning anyway. Life sure didn't get dull around there.

*Pat Patton managed the LaVista Theater
**McCoy Cherry managed the LaVista Soda Shop

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SEE on Display at the Harmon County Historical Museum a 1916 photo of Broadway St.

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Attention: Donna Wiley and Betty Motley, Project Committee

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Harmon County Historical MUSEUM | 102 West Broadway | Hollis, Oklahoma 73550
(580) 688-9545 | sites.rootsweb.com/~okhcgs/

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