A Haircut at TV Mulvey's

By Avis A Townsend

In the mid-1950's, the men in our town had a choice of two barbers. They could get in and out quickly at Felix the Barber's, or they could enjoy a little television, some chat, and even view some T.V. repairs at TV Mulvey's.

I was happy that my father frequented Felix, because one of my favorite cartoons was Felix the Cat; and each time my father said "I'm going to Felix the Barber's" I imagined him being trimmed by a silly black cat with large whiskers. There were always one or two clients at Felix's, either in the chair or waiting, and each time my father got his hair cut he'd come home telling a story that one of them had told.

TV Mulvey had a larger clientele. Not only did he give men shaves and haircuts for the same fifty cents as Felix charged, but he also fixed televisions in between and during customer visits. There wasn't a day when at least five televisions, all black and white, weren't all set to the same channel, and customers could watch a show while they waited their turn in the chair.

Many times men would drop off the set the day before their haircut, and by the time their appointment rolled around, Mulvey would have the television fixed and ready to go. The customer could watch a show on his own set while he was being trimmed, and if he liked the picture quality, he paid for the repair and the haircut and left a happy man.

Now and then people would drop off old sets, not wanting them any more, so TV set up a corner with television sets for sale. Almost every one was a table model. He didn't care to repair the cumbersome floor models that adorned many of the well-to-do folks' home.

Do-it-yourselfer's could also stop by and purchase tubes, bringing in their blackened burned out ones in exchange for a new one. In the fifties, it wasn't difficult to repair a television. Generally, all you needed was a new tube and your vertical or horizontal lines would disappear, or your contrast would suddenly become clear again.

Eventually, TV Mulvey got out of the repair business. Tubes were replaced by special new-fangled circuits, and color televisions were far more complex than black-and-white sets. It was time for him to retire, anyway, so he didn't care too much.

Felix the Barber picked up a lot more clients after Mulvey retired. Some complained that his shop was boring with no TV shows to watch. He refused to give in and buy one, however. Before long, he retired also, and all the men were forced to visit the next town for shaves and hair cuts. TV repairmen sprang up, and some came to peoples' homes while others did in-shop repairs. There were no more barber combo paks.

Felix's barber pole remained outside his closed shop for several years, before an antique dealer offered him a good price for it. By that time I was out of the cartoon mode and didn't care one way or the other whether Felix the Cat had a namesake down the road. Still, after more than fifty years, I can't help but think of Felix the Barber each time my grandson watches the original Felix on Cable TV.

I wonder what TV Mulvey would think of a satellite dish?