Sitting in My Dad's Barber Chair

My dad, Sidney Henry Frost, was my only barber from the time I got my first haircut in 1937 up until I joined the marines and moved to California in 1956. I have many pleasant memories of the haircuts and the barber shop visits. Dad was different at work, as are most of us. He was outgoing, talkative, knowledgeable, the kind of man others turned to for advice and opinion. He knew all the latest jokes as well as news and financial reports. He knew what was going on in town and around the world. All this with a 7^th grade education.

But, there was more to it than that. Cutting my hair was our private time. I didn't have to compete for his attention the way I did at home. My sisters didn't have this opportunity, but perhaps he found another time for them. He'd talk to me about what I was doing and what was going on in my world. He'd brag about me to the other barbers and to his customers.

Even when I didn't need a haircut, the barbershop would be a regular stop for me. Sometimes I'd go see him to get some money to buy the latest toy or go to the movies. There was a movie theater across the street from Travis Barber Shop on West 7^th Street where he worked for many years that had Saturday morning serials that couldn't be missed. There was another theater down the alley from the shop on 6^th Street across from Scarborough's. The one on 6^th Street would occasionally have cowboy movie stars there to sign autographs.

By the time I'd moved back to Austin in 1976, my friend Jack McCowan had become a barber and opened his own place on Congress. He was a hair stylist and I was drawn to getting the latest styles so I started to going to him. His wife, Doris, would wash my hair and then Jack would cut my hair with a straight razor while it was still wet. Then he'd blow dry it and cover it with a net to shape it while he sprayed it with hair spray.

I have to admit I felt guilty not letting Dad cut my hair any more, but I convinced myself it was for my career. I was working for Bob Bullock when he was the State Comptroller in an important job and needed that professional look Jack provided.

Later, I'd go back to get a haircut from Dad when I needed an old fashioned look for a part in the opera.

Dad cut hair until he was 90 years old. The Sportsman Barber Shop held a birthday bash for him, but he was back the next day, still working. 

The First Place I Lived in Austin

SIDNEY HENRY FROST
1908 -- 2001

My father, Sidney Henry Frost, is listed as a roomer living at 304 ½ West 9^th Street in Austin, Texas on the census report taken on April 11, 1930. According to the report, he was twenty-one years old and single. He was shown to be a barber who owned his own shop.

There were three other people at the same address. One was Mable Lewis, a thirty-two year old single female press feeder at a print shop. The other two were the owners of the $6,500 home, thirty year old Paul and his twenty-four year old wife Moselle Warren. Paul, a shoe store salesman was from Kansas, with parents from Oklahoma. All the others were from Texas with Texas parents.

My mother, Eva Lee Williams, was shown on the April 21, 1930 census to be living in Lampasas, Texas, living with her parents, two sisters, a brother and an aunt. She may have been in nursing school by then, however.

EVA LEE WILLIAMS FROST
1908 -- 2001

Dad's residence was close to where my parents lived when I was born, 1409 W. 10th Street in Austin. Since I had to get a secret clearance once and had to report all places I lived I asked my parents and was told that I lived there until the next year. I have no memory of the time, of course, nor do I remember the next house, 909 West Lynn Street. 

The first house I remember is located at 1004 Eason Street. I was there for the 1940 Census. The report, dated April 9, 1940, shows that I was three years old and my sister Barbara Ann was six years old. Dad was thirty-one and Mom was thirty. According to the census report, we had a boarder. It is hard to read the handwriting, but I think her name was Lurline Smith, a forty-year-old secretary for a Baptist Church. I remember her and I have many other memories about living at this place and I'll tell you about them in future articles. 

All of these places were close to each other. We moved one more time in the Clarksville area before moving to South Austin. I'll tell you about that later.