Friday, February 19, 2010

  Oldest Barber - world record set by Anthony Mancinelli

 VAILS GATE, N.Y., USA -- 98-year old Anthony Mancinelli started cutting hair at age of 12 and he continues to work today at the age of 98 years , setting the world record for the Oldest Barber.
   Photo: On Saturdays, Anthony Mancinelli, 98, attends to haircuts, shaves and conversation at Antonio & Pasquale Barber Shop. Photo by Earl Wilson/The New York Times
  (enlarge photo)

   “He’s the fastest barber I know, and he still cuts very straight,” quotes New York Times Mr. Jaffe, 60, whose 4-year-old-grandson, Anthony Colonna, also was getting a haircut from Mr. Mancinelli.

   “To many of us who have been coming here for a long time, he’s like family. I hope he’s still my barber when he’s 125.” “I enjoy talking to people, it’s the best part of the job,” said Anthony Mancinelli.

   He started cutting hair when Calvin Coolidge was in the White House. He was 12.

    “When I started, a haircut and shave cost you two bits — a quarter,” Mr. Mancinelli told Mr. Jaffe, who has been a customer for 25 years. “A while later, it was 25 cents for a haircut and 15 cents extra for a shave.”

    Now, a haircut from Mr. Mancinelli costs $12 and, his repeat customers say, his fingers are just as nimble.

   Mr. Mancinelli, a razor-thin man with a full head of white hair who once owned his own shop on Liberty Street in nearby Newburgh, is now stationed at Antonio & Pasquale Barber Shop, where an old fashioned pole with red, white and blue swirling stripes is mounted outside the front door, and a dizzying array of Italian accents swirls inside.

    “I enjoy talking to people, it’s the best part of the job,” he said — and for nearly nine decades has been holding forth on topics both mundane and momentous, including the Great Depression, World War II, the Beatles and 27 Yankee championships.

    It was Mancinelli's late friend, John Oncher, who first encouraged him to reach out to Guinness World Records for a little recognition. When he finally heard back from them, more than a year had passed.

    “I’m proud to say that I cut the hair of young boys and their fathers’ hair and their grandfathers’, and sometimes even their great-grandfathers’,” he said.

   Mr. Mancinelli, a widower, works at the shop two or three days a week. “I would work every day if they let me,” he said, “but we have a full staff of barbers here.” He attributed his staying power to “eating well and never drinking or smoking.”

   “I still feel like I’m in beautiful shape, so I’m not even considering retirement because coming to work is what keeps me going.”

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   Friday, February 19, 2010