A friend just back from Paris tells me while there he happened to visit a hairdresser's shop in which are kept an assortment of musical instruments for the use of customers waiting their turn. He reports that the mandoline and banjo are the most popular, and it has been suggested that an accordion be added.
This news from Paris proves once more the truth of the old saying, "There is nothing new under the sun": for as far back as the Elizabethan age the lute and cithern were at the disposal of customers in barbers' shops. An old chronicler, in describing the atmosphere prevailing in these tonsorial establishments wrote: "Pleasant harmonies sound in your ears, and all to tickle the same with vain delight."
The Irish Times, March 26th, 1931.