#SCUTTLEBUTT BARBERSHOP SERIES#
Tony has done it all in filmmaking, from acting in George Romero’s movies to creating his award-winning series of “Braddock Films,” which chronicles the struggles of our old mill town, its rich past and the people who are still there and who will not give up. Tony Buba’s films show us what those human connections look like. In rich towns and poor towns, what matters most is whether the people who live there come together as a “village.”Īnd where the American Dream appears to be dead, Carney says it is because “much of America has been left abandoned, without the web of human connections and institutions that make the good life possible.” In his recent book, “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive, Why Others Collapse,” Timothy P. These community institutions provide the glue for places that are making it, and towns that are fighting to come back are trying to recreate those places. The heart of any community depends on the connections made and nurtured at barbershops, church services, civic clubs, PTA meetings, labor unions and Little League games. That is what it means to belong to a place. They talked about their families and doctors’ visits and the next big game and local politics. They were all the same at Frank’s.Īnd every week, they retold some of the same old lies and caught up on the local scuttlebutt, but mostly they checked in and kept track of each other. There might be a doctor, a lawyer, an educator and an executive, a few retired factory workers and a couple of guys who went away for a while and never talked about what they do now. Somebody would bring the doughnuts and there was a coffee fund, the subject of a weekly good-natured controversy over who pitched in and who forgot. The regulars came every week, sitting along the wall, kibitzing and jibing in that easy way of old friends, as Frank cut hair. But Frank’s shop was more than that, much more than just a place to pass the time or get a haircut. Tony Buba, the great independent filmmaker from Braddock, shows us what that was like with “The Barber of New Kensington,” his new short film about the late Frank Costantino, who was still cutting hair at age 96.Ĭicero captured part of what went on at Frank’s when he said, “Nihil agere delectat” - it is pleasant to do nothing - acknowledging the simple pleasure of idleness.
That means more time and energy between customers.If you wonder why some Americans are divided and isolated these days, think about all the places like Frank’s Barbershop in New Kensington that are no longer there, places where folks got together for the sake of being together. Disinfecting was routine for the combs and scissors but now they have to spray down the chairs and other common surfaces, too. “There’s definitely a difference, but I feel like people are getting used to it.”įranklin and other barbers and stylists agreed there’s much more work involved in implementing infection controls. “A lot of customers will wait into their cars until the other customer comes out,” Franklin said. He can chat with the person in the barber’s chair but the two-person limit means no more shooting the breeze with people waiting inside. Ron’s Barber Shop in La Salle was closed for 11 weeks, “which did hurt.”įranklin still is open for business but much has changed, not least his interaction with customers. A year ago, the state imposed hunker-down orders on Illinois residents and temporarily halted operations at a number of businesses including barbershops and hair salons. That was true before the pandemic, anyway. Franklin has been cutting hair since 1977, and has had a place in La Salle for 20 years, and it was OK to grab a seat without getting a haircut. Ron Franklin’s used to be a place to hang out and get the scuttlebutt. Hub Arkush on the Bears (Opens in new window).Princeton football (Opens in new window).Fieldcrest football (Opens in new window).
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