The scene Thursday morning in the Red Bank storefront could have been one in any barbershop across America: a barber and his customer engaged in friendly conversation as shears clicked rhythmically.
Only when Rob Inman stood up from the chair, he sported a pompadour that would have turned heads in the early 1900s.
Mr. Inman is portraying the stage manager in Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Our Town,” which opened at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre Friday night. Before a male lead in a period play steps into the spotlight at the CTC, he first must step into the barbershop of Merritt Potter in Red Bank.
For four years, Mr. Potter, owner of White Oak Barber Shop, has volunteered his talent to give male actors haircuts that match the time period in which they are playing. His work has added authenticity to costuming in plays such as “The Music Man,” “The Graduate” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
“He has been a true asset to a lot of productions,” said Mr. Inman of the barber.
“It’s an interest of mine,” Mr. Potter said of his research to match an actor to his part.
If You Go* What: “Our Town”* Where: Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St.* When: 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 21.* Admission: $12 to $25.* Phone: 267-8534.
“At the time of ‘Our Town,’ younger people were going with short hair. They’d just had the introduction of electric clippers. The style was short on the side, but not on top. That’s where the saying ‘a little off the top’ came from,” he said.
Mr. Potter said that some pompadours, when combed forward, “would reach to their chins. That’s how men got it to lay back so smoothly.”
Mr. Potter began his career as a ship’s barber in the Navy before owning his own businesses in Florida. He said that there are two distinctive periods of change in men’s hairstyles.
The first, he said, was the early 20th-century, years in which “Our Town” is set. The advent of electric clippers replacing hand clippers resulted in tapered haircuts that drew the eye upward to the pompadour. Men were just coming out of the muttonchop era and moving toward shorter sideburns.
“The second was the 1960s, with the arrival of the Beatles. They brought in long hair, but the biggest change was that men quit wearing oil in their hair, such as Brylcreem or Vitalis, and started wearing dry hair,” Mr. Potter said.
Mr. Inman is a well-known actor who has performed in at least one show per year on a CTC stage since 1976, in addition to roles at the Backstage Playhouse and Signal Mountain Playhouse. He said he played George Gibbs in a high school production of “Our Town,” so taking on the role of stage manager feels like he has come full circle.
“Stage manager is a huge role, but it’s the backbone of one of the greatest American plays written,” he said. “People still connect with this play because there is a reminiscence of better times.”
“Our Town” is directed by Bob Willie. Performances are scheduled weekends through Feb. 21.