Barbershop today is a lot like barbershop in 1938, except the singers are younger, the music is hotter, and its reach is much broader. The things we love about barbershop -- the close harmony, the friendship, the "haven from daily cares" -- stretch all the way back to 1938., when O.C.Cash and Rupert Hall invited some friends in Tulsa for a little songfest.

Travel back to the earliest days of the Barbershop Harmony Society to meet its founders, or learn more about the historic roots of the music itself.



 
It All Started with 26 Men on a Roof
The movement we now enjoy as the Barbershop Harmony Society can be credited to a meeting in Tulsa organized by Owen Clifton Cash on April 11, 1938.
Original Invitation 1938
O.C. Cash cordially invited a small group of gentlemen to enjoy what would later be recognized as the signature event that helped kickstart the Society.
1938 Was a Very Good Year
Many could still remember, first hand, enjoying the old vaudeville quartets and the professionals such as the Peerless Quartet from the turn of the century.
Cash Explains First Meeting
Audio recording of Society founder O.C. Cash talking with radio host Richard Levins and then-Society president Charlie Merril about the first gathering in Tulsa, Oklahoma.