Cindy

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Entertainment > Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits. How Much is a Bit?
 

Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits. How Much is a Bit?

Well, I've thought of stranger things I guess. On my way to the bookstore ( my usual Sunday night thing to do) I was started wondering " Where did the phrase, Shave and a haircut, two bits" originate? First I wondered how much a bit was.... is it 12.5 cents? Then I got home and googled it. Here's what I found out......



Shave and a haircut, two bits!



You've knocked it, you've hummed it, you've beeped it on your car horn.

We're talking, of course, about the old refrain: "Shave and a haircut, two bits!" Where did this musical couplet come from, and is there more to it?

The first recorded occurrence of the tune (with no lyrics) is in an 1899 song by Charles Hale, called "At a Darktown Cakewalk." In 1914, Jimmie Monaco and Joe McCarthy released a song called "Bum-Diddle-De-Um-Bum, That's It!" in which that line was featured in the last two bars of the song. In 1939, the same musical phrase was used in a tune called "Shave and a Haircut - Shampoo" by Dan Shapiro, Lester Lee, and Milton Berle. Somewhere along the line the phrase permutated into "shave and a haircut, bay rum."

The eight notes have remained the same, but over the years the phrase has become known as "shave and a haircut, two bits" (which would amount to 25 cents). Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim incorporated the tune into their "Gee, Officer Kropke, F*** You" number from the musical West Side Story, and the refrain became a key plot element in the motion picture Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

posted on Feb 17, 2008 4:08 PM ()

Comments:

A priceless piece of Ha-Ha history. Thanks Cindy.
comment by looserobes on Feb 20, 2008 2:12 PM ()
I knew "two bits" was twenty-five cents; but now I know the REST of the story!
comment by redimpala on Feb 18, 2008 8:13 PM ()
Wow, never knew that..
comment by ekyprogressive on Feb 18, 2008 2:45 PM ()
You know that the original silver dollar was so soft because of its purity that it broke or was cut into 8 pieces. People didn't have smaller denominations of money, so they would cut half moon shaped pieces of a silver dollar to pay for things. Just to add to what you said already
comment by teacherwoman on Feb 18, 2008 10:53 AM ()
This is going to sound funny, but I've always wondered the hell a "bit" was! Thanks, Cindy!
comment by hayduke on Feb 18, 2008 9:26 AM ()
Isn't it interesting to find out where these little sayings originate. Mind your P's and Q's is another. Saved by the Bell also.
comment by angiedw on Feb 18, 2008 2:29 AM ()
comment by strider333 on Feb 17, 2008 7:19 PM ()
Should I give two bits? When I had a dog he bit me twice, so I fined him 25 cents from his treats piggy bank. LOL
comment by jondude on Feb 17, 2008 5:10 PM ()
But why is a quarter two bits? I've never heard of one bit, so it most go in pairs. The line from the old song about "8 by 12 four bit room..." Nope, not 1, not 3, only two at a time.
comment by jjoohhnn on Feb 17, 2008 4:30 PM ()
someone called me a two bit tramp once and hit them with my bag of quarters.

reguards
yer easy but not cheap pal
bugg
comment by honeybugg on Feb 17, 2008 4:15 PM ()

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