as basic training. Upon completion of the course in 1925, Claude Jelley returned to O'Leary and opened a barber shop in the “Snake House”. At this time the popular hair style for young women was the Boyish Bob. This fad was a boon to the barbers who previously had done only men’s cuts. Claude was kept extremely busy. Using hand clippers, he could style as many as twenty-five women’s cuts in one day - for a meager twenty-five cents each. Claude’s shop met a simi- lar fate to that of many other early businesses in O’Leary. lt burned in 1940. He then built a second shop farther down the street nearer to the railroad tracks. Claude continued barbering until 1965 when he sold his shop to Elton Gillcash, and thus terminated a forty-three year old business.

Kenneth Campbell also took his six month basic training course at Molar Barbering School in Halifax. In 1926 Joseph Gallant moved to the back of his shop; Kenneth opened up his business in the front. He cut hair for both men and women using both hand and electric clippers for $0.25 a cut. His price for a close shave with a straight razor was $0.15. Kenneth carried on business at this location until 1940 when his shop and all other business in the Snake House were burned. The same year he rebuilt on practically the same site where he continued to barber until his death in 1956.

Elton Gillcash was born in Glenwood, Prince Edward Island in 1915. He attended Molar Barbering School in Halifax in 1936. He first worked with Claude Jelley and Jack Matthews until he bought Claude’s shop in 1965.

The shop has changed little since 1925. As you enter, you will likely see older men seated on an old wooden church pew discussing local happenings of interest. On the rear wall, Norman Rockwell fashion, you see a picture of Claude Jelley shaving Christopher Smith and, hanging by chains from the ceiling, a huge light fixture installed in 1939. The original hydraulic barber chair is still there (1989) and the walls are still painted red. The one noticeable change is in the price of a hair cut which has been raised from $0.25 in 1965 to $3.50 in 1989.

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