"DEMON" BARBER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23512, 28 May 1938, Page 9

"DEMON" BARBER

TONY OF MAYFAIR SHAVING THE FAMOUS "BUT THEY WILL NOT TALK" One drop of hair-oil makes the whole world kin. That is the motto of Benedetto Viccari, the Demon Barber of Cork street, London West, writes S. F. in the Daily Herald. He is the most influential barber I have ever met. Crowned heads (temporarily minus their crowns) have bent before his scissors. Diplomats and international financiers have allowed him to tweak their beards. Famous singers have stretched their throats beneath his razor. But Tony, as they call him. a swarthy, lively Italian, with hands that jerk out at angles, like a fish's tail, whenever he speaks, is a humane man. NOTED WHISKERS " There goes a beeg banker," he said to me as a portly man with an inscrutable expression moved silently from the Mayfair shop with newlymanicured hands to rock the exchanges of Europe. "'E come evairyweek, but 'e don't tell me nothing." "Looka here," he said, diving into a cupboard beneath a row of pomades and hair restorers. And he brought out his autograph book. "Grandi, Stresemann, Jan Masaryk, Zoltan Korda. John Barrirolli, Ciano, Toplitz, General Fuller, Compton MacKenzie . . ."I read. What a panorama of notable whiskers, heads, and beards. „ . " Lo-10-10-LAH . . . •!" carolled Mr Viccari suddenly. " Suddenly I remember," explained the Demon Barber, "that one of my fairest customers 'e was Tom Burke, the opera seenger. I usta shave 'eem when I first com' to England and keep a leetle shop at Balham. ONE TRAGEDY " Sometimes I usta coach 'eem in 'to Italian arias." But Tony has a tragedy. This man ought to be a repository of State secrets, of high financial tips, of gossip gleaned beneath the razor. But no! "You see," he explained ruefullyj " w'en they are in my chair they like to 'ave silence. Now take Sir Thomas Beecham. W'en I 'ave 'eem he lie back. 'E is quiet, calm-minded. 'E does not speak." Then Mr Viccari flattered me. Still with that autograph book filled with famous names in his hand he stepped, back and looked critically at my hair. It was touch and go for a moment, then he spoke. "You com' back to me in a day of two and I willa see if I cannot maka something of your 'air." .•