Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1914 — PHILDELPHIA MAN WHO HAS SPENT 50 TEARS WITH RAZOR AND SHEARS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PHILDELPHIA MAN WHO HAS SPENT 50 TEARS WITH RAZOR AND SHEARS

Charley Gramlich, a Veteran Barber, Who Has Performed Tonsorial Work for Some of the Noted Men of His Time, Still Remains at His Post of Duty Doing Good Work —Has No Boast to Make of Old Days.

Philadelphia.— You take a barber of today. Well, never mind; no use picking needless quarrels. But they bred giants In the old First ward when Charley Gramlich learned his trade. A barber barbs these days, and lets it go at that. But Gramlich, with his record of fifty-six years behind him, might be called the Admirable Crichton among barbers. tsMornings you can find him In his shop at 1505 Mifflin street,' wafting the early thistledown off some young shaver who has come to consecrate" his chin to manhood under the razor of venerable experience, or .paring the stubble of some patron who has depended on him since the Centennial. Afternoons, if he Isn’t busy, he may be up in his studio, painting pictures that frequently sell for real money. Evenings, unless some special crop of whiskers glows in to claim his veteran skill instead of his assistant’s, he is arguing penuchle with the other experts, for he is acknowledged to be the champion penuchle player of the First ward and novices come to sit at his feet and learn wisdom.

Last Ma? brought around the anniversary of the day when Charley, the Bavarian boy of fourteen, was given his first job in Hertzog’s shop, on Wharton street above Fifth. His wages as apprentice was 75 cents a week and board with his boss’ family. Charley imagined he was fixed for life. But only eight months passed before Hertzog Bhut up his shop and the boy apprentice had to find another job. H|p new boss took him on as a half-baked journeymjn at the trade, and paid him one dollar a week, plus board. By industry, patience, frugality, diligence and the rest of the virtues which were urged on the toiling masses in that generation," Charley rose in his calling, until, in 1859, he was receiving the imposing wage of three dollars a week, board thrown in.

With the outbreak of the war in ’6l, Charley claimed the dignity and wages of manhood, and Gus Goebel —that very same Goebel by whose official license so many of us have been permitted to marry nnd pay the happy gas bills —took him on at sls a week and

feed himself, in the old Goebel barber shop on Moyamensing avenue, below Washington avenue. Charley worked for Goebel until 1864, and then negotiations opened for his admission to that distinguished station in barbering, a job at the Continental hotel. He went there in the spring of 1865. After that no higher glory was attainable. The job paid only sls a week; but a man in that shop was liable to have the president of the United States more at his mercy than had been possible for the Confederate armies, and what the Continental barbers valued more, he got a commission of 15 per cent, on the cups, brushes, French oil and lavender vinegar that went to complete a real gentleman’s shave. That amounted to four or five dollars a week extra. Gramlich, at the height of his profession, never shaved Lincoln. But he did shave Governor Curtin, and Billy McGrath, and Tom Archqr, and John Edgar Thomson, who was president of the Pennsylvania railroad, and most of the ether local notables In finance and politics. A couple of years of such prosperity and Gramlich, the Continental expert, reached the conclusion that one height remained for him to climb. He must be his own boss. He forsook the grandeurs of Chestnut street, and for two and a half y?ars he had his shop opposite the old navy yard, at Front and Federal streets. For 37 years he was located at 143.? South Fifth street, and it was only seven years ago that he moved to Fifteenth Add Wharton. In that time he has shaved every one of prominenco in the ward, and has played penuchle with most of them. He has old-time patrons, who make pilgrimages to him from far homes for old-time’s sake and the luxury of his familiar touch, thsm Thomas Taylor of Seventeenth and Diamond

streets, who, after 50 years, comes to him once a month for a hair cut and a shave. When the late Thomas G. Talker, one of the founders of the firm of Morris, Tasker & Co., whose home was on Fifth street below Tasker, got to be elghtv-three years old, aid doubted the sureness of his own hand on his firm old chin, he arranged with Gramlich to come to his house and shave him regularly at 50 cents a trip, and the service continued until Mr. Tasker died, at the age of ninety-three. TO Gramlich’s shop now come such faithful patrons as Dr. Charles Gessler

of the Art club, whom Gramlich has shaved for 44 years; Samuel Campbell, the cashier of the Tradesmens and Manufacturers’ bank, whom he shaved for 40 years, and Dan Cobb, of Broad and Mifflin streets, who appears three or iour-times a week after a loyalty that has lasted as long as Doctor Gessler’s.

The veteran has no boasts to make of the old days. “When l learned the business, barbers did cupping and leeching; but they were out for the cash ahead of an easy shave. It was a lick and promise for the customer then, and .many a face was sore after the barber got through with it. ■ •

"The regular price then was a flp—five or six cents —for a Bhave, and a levy—ten or twelve cents —for a hair cut. When you .got into a good, highclass shop, tips were the rule, just as they are now. The tip at the Continental was from 10 to 25 cents, and that money counted by the time your week was up. Billy McGrath, who was the president of the Union Street Car line, gave me a tip of five dollars every six-weeks. The prices then in the shop were 20 cents for a shave and 40 cents for a haircut. But we aimed to give shaves and haircuts that were the finest in the city, and a man had to be one of the best in the business to hold up his end in handling the people wtio came to us. It was a fine shop, but I wanted to be in business, so I started for myself as soon as I thought I could make good in the old First ward. "When will I quit? Oh, I don’t know. I’m feeling as well as ever, and I like to have something to do. People keep right on coming to me, and I may as well go on shaving them. Some time, maybe, I’ll take a little place out in the country. Say do you know any suburb where there are some right good penuchle players?”

Charles Gramlich, Veteran of Razor and Shears.

He Is at Work Still.