A common wooden backscratcher

backscratcher in action relieving an itch

A backscratcher (occasionally known as a scratch-back) is a tool used, as the name would suggest, for relieving itches for areas that cannot easily be reached just by one's own hands, typically the back.

Composition and variation[link]

They are generally long slender rod-shaped tools, with a knob on one end for holding and a rake-like device, sometimes in the form of a human hand, on the other end to perform the actual scratching. Though a backscratcher could feasibly be fashioned from most materials, most modern backscratchers are made of plastic, though examples can be found made of wood, whalebone, tortoiseshell, horn, cane, bamboo or occasionally ivory. Backscratchers vary in length between 12 and 24 ins. (30–60 cm.).

Backscratchers through history[link]

The first backscratchers were used by the Inuit and were carved from whale teeth. However, in recent history it was unquestionably also employed as a kind of rake to keep in order the huge "heads" of powdered hair worn by ladies in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the past, backscratchers were often highly decorated, and hung from the waist as accessories, with the more elaborate examples being silver-mounted, or in rare instances with an ivory carved hand with rings on its fingers. The scratching hand was sometimes replaced by a rake or a bird's claw. Generally, the hand could represent either a left or right hand, but the Chinese variety usually bore a right hand.

Although not specifically used for only back scratching, young Chiricahua men in training^{[clarification needed]} and women going through a puberty ritual traditionally had to use a ceremonial wooden scratcher made from a fruit bearing tree instead of scratching with their fingernails or hands. Young men who did not use the scratcher for scratching were reported to develop skin that was too soft.

References[link]

• Opler, Morris E.; & Hoijer, Harry. (1940). The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache. American Anthropologist, 42 (4), 617-634.
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Backscratcher". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Backscratcher

• “The Scratch-Back,” at the end of August 19 in The Book of Days by Robert Chambers.

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Frank Frost (April 15, 1936 — October 12, 1999(1999-10-12) (aged 63)^[1] was one of the foremost American delta blues harmonica players of his generation.

Life and career[link]

Born Frank Otis Frost in Auvergne, Arkansas, United States, Frost learned to play piano at church as a young boy. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri at age 15, and spent time as a guitarist with drummer Sam Carr and Carr's father, Robert Nighthawk. He learned to play harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson, who he toured with.^[2]

While playing with guitarist Big Jack Johnson, Frost attracted the interest of the record producer Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records. Some recordings of note that followed included "Hey Boss Man" and "My Back Scratcher".^[1][2]

In the late 1970s, Frost was re-discovered by a blues enthusiast, Michael Frank, who began releasing albums on his Earwig Music Company label by the trio, now called The Jelly Roll Kings, after a song from Hey Boss Man.^[1]

Frost appeared in the films Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads and Crossroads.^[3]

He died of cardiac arrest in Helena, Arkansas in 1999.^[1][2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Frank Frost at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Frank Frost in libraries (WorldCat catalog)