Talk Stories by Jamaica Kincaid Page A

the party the whole evening.
    â€” January 16, 1978

Pippo
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    One recent morning, we noticed an advertisement at the Forty-second Street station of the Sixth Avenue subway. The advertisement was for a beauty salon called Pippo of Rome. It said “WE MAKE EVERYONE LOOK THEIR BEST!” and “14 INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS HAIRCUTTERS. ALL UNDER THE PERSONAL SUPERVISION OF PIPPO OF ROME.” After peace and justice, there is nothing in the world we like more than for everyone to look his or her best, and, after some of Richard Pryor’s jokes, there is almost nothing we find funnier than Internationally Famous Haircutters and any noun followed by the words “of Rome.” Encountering the advertisement, therefore, impelled us to visit Pippo of Rome, which proved to be a unisex beauty salon. We met Pippo himself—Mr. Pippo Guastella—and thought he was great. He looked like pictures we remembered seeing some years ago of Carlo Ponti, the Italian film producer who is now married to Sophia Loren. Pippo was dressed in sky blue: pants, shirt, and sweater all exactly the
same shade. He introduced us to some of the internationally known hairdressers. He told us that he had studied hairdressing in Rome and had worked there in a shop on the Via Veneto; that he had worked in Rome for a man called Frank the Neapolitan; that Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Rosalind Russell, the President of Italy, and other famous people used to have their hair done at Frank the Neapolitan’s place; that he himself had twice given Gregory Peck a haircut; that he had come to New York because everybody comes to New York; that he had opened his first salon in New York in 1959 and by 1960 it had taken off; and that he changed the furniture in his salon every two years. The furniture that he now has is in the Chesterfield style.
    Pippo then showed us an Italian men’s magazine called UOMO. As he showed us pictures of snappily dressed men with precision-styled hair, he said, “In Italy, it’s different from here. As you know, there is a lot of art over there, and this makes everybody—hairdressers, designers—very conscious of personality. When a customer comes in, you take everything into consideration. Face, personality—everything. I get all Italian magazines, because they keep me on top of things. In America, everybody wants to look the same. Same haircut, same clothes. But I give all my customers something different, to fit their personalities. I used to do the hair of Joe Franklin. You know, his face is puffed out like this!” Pippo made a face like a balloon, and then made a sound like air escaping from a balloon. “He would wear his hair flat on top, making him look even puffier. So I styled his hair so that he
looks all slimmed down. He’s a very nice man. Then, I do Barry Farber. He is more philosophic, and these philosophers don’t take care of themselves. I first saw him as a judge in a Miss America pageant. He was wearing a nice suit and he looked nice, but his hair was a mess. Then, one day, I see him in the lobby of the WOR building and I tell him what I think of him, and since then he has been coming to me to do his hair. In other words, I brought out his personality. A long time ago, I styled the hair of Tony Lo Bianco, but then he went to Hollywood. Now I style his brother John’s hair.”
    We watched Pippo wash and style a man’s hair. He had introduced the man to us as a special and long-standing customer. Pippo washed the man’s hair once with a shampoo called Superstar Professional Shampoo. Then he cut the hair by dividing it up into very small sections and cutting off a half inch or so. Then he massaged the man’s scalp, fluffed up his hair, and trained some hair-drying lamps on it. After Pippo was done, the man looked just like a celebrity on local television.
    â€” March 6, 1978

Honors
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    One miserable afternoon last week (it was the