I saw a video a few weeks ago with a truly bizarre little scene. There were about a dozen 5 minute clips of various American (and Cuban) folk bands, and I think it was part of a late 1920s newsreel film. In one of the clips, an overworked black woman carrying a huge bundle of laundry hunts around for her missing washboard. She finds it and proceeds to scrub, scrub, scrub.
The scene shifts to a later time. A couple of black guys with guitar and jug in tow are sitting on a hay bale. A third comes sauntering up carrying the aforementioned washboard. He decries: "Would you believe it boys! That woman of mine has been usin' my INSTRUMENT to wash clothes with!
He then plops himself down and the three of them start playing a tune. Just seemed totally bizarre.
Rick