Evening star., 1942-06-01
Soldiers, Sailors Keep 9th Street Tottooist Busy
Designing Patriotic Symbols on Their Limbs
Little Change Noted
Between Customers
For 1917 and 1912

Between Customers
For 1917 and 1912
The tattooist who plies his trade
in the back of Charley's barber shop
on Ninth street has been through
all this before.
The faces are different, but other
wise his customers are just as they
were in 1917-boys in khaki and
sailor suits wanting eagles. American
flags and shields engraved on their
arms and shoulders.
If business has picked up since
Pearl Harbor, this tattooist, who
prefers to be nameless for some rea-
son known best to himself, is too
modest to mention it.
He has caused flowers to bloom
and flags to wave on manly arms
since 1904 when he started learning
the trade in Philadelphia. Tattooists
teach each other.
His own arms are a maze of de-
signs, so close that where one be-
gins and another ends is hard to
tell. His partner, now dead, deco
rated him when they worked to-
gether here IS years ago.
Here is craftsman, proud of the
little things of his work-the veins
discernible in the roses he affixes
on young soldiers arm. A single
needle, it seems, is very important
to get that clear, fine effect.
He Works Fast.
He works fast. The soldier had a
rose and three initials tattooed on
his forearm in less than 20 minutes.
Sometimes, of course, it takes longer
for something complicated like the
tigers head he sketched on another
soldiers arm.
His most priced design, one he
created himself. he calls the rose
of peace"-a vase almost a foot
high with roses springing from it.
You can have that for $12, the tigers
head for $6. Usually, however, the
designs cost less.
The tattooed ones say it doesn't
hurt bit, just tickles a little. The
way he does it, he claims, doesn't
even cause scabs. Two days and the
arm is as good as ever.
AS craftsman, he can afford to
be choosey. He won't create one of
them nude women" and regimental
insignia are barred to prevent idenI
tification of captured soldier.
Design Is First Sketched.
Since the operates more or less
publicly-Charley's barber shop
hardly being what might be called
quiet nook-the tattooist limits
his efforts to arms and shoulders.
With his shirtsleeves rolled up to
uncover his own beauty spots, he
works under a bright, unshielded
bulb with an Oil skin covering his
lap. Beside him is table with the
little drills and pigments on it.
First he sketches in the design.
Then he follows his art work with
the drill. The needle makes the
holes. the paint pours into the tiny
wounds and it's all done. He uses
five colors-yellow, green, brown, red
and black That takes care of every
thing. For an American flag, he
shades around the edge of the stars,
leaving the mans skin to provide
the white of them.
Some tattooists say they can re-
move the marks if anyone second
guesses, but this tattooist won't do
it-too dangerous. Instead, he can
make anything out of what's there.
A nude cutie, who might have
wriggled gracefully on a stalwart
arm for years, can look like a flower
when this artist is finished with her.
Sometimes, he just puts clothes on
her.
Then there are the initials ten
derly engraved when a love, since
extinct, was flaming. The tattooist
covers up the forgotten ones ini-
tials with the new loves.
Can Redden Lips.
Old-timers used to ask for a stand
by of sailing men-a rooster tattooed
on one foot and a pig on the other
foot. They claimed it saved them
from drowning on the theory that
the rooster would wake them up if
there was danger and the pig would
keep them afloat. But today's SOL
dier boys are less imaginative.
That in itself is discouraging to
an artist who likes to do big things.
Behind the barber shop, in e bare
room, are sheets of fancy pictures
the tattooist would like to puncture
somebody's arm Without they stick
to patrioic slogans and symbols.
Priorities haven't affected this
needle welder yet. He always keeps
large supply of pigments on hand,
and he's got enough needles to put
lot more posies and flags on manly
muscles.
If the war brings a shortage Of
lipstick, however, this tattooist ex-
poets to get orders for one type of
work he did in the last war and
hasn't done since-reddening girls
lips. He's,still got the machine for
it, girls.