Briggs; Hughes; SF; Hot dogs, et al. (LONG!!)
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Wed Jun 30 08:24:59 UTC 1999
Something like "Santa Shmanta" was in Franklin P. Adams's column in
the 1915 New York Tribune, but I seem to have lost it.
I haven't finished my studies of the cartoonists Clare Briggs & Ed
Hughes and SF literature and more, but there's only so much I can do in my
spare time. I gotta leave the country soon, so here's a heap o' stuff.
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PASTRAMI (continued)
Those who want more pastrami can call David Shulman at the St. Nicholas
Home in Brooklyn, (718) 230-8141. It's best to call after dinner, but before
9 p.m.
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BRIGGS CARTOONS
I've been going through the New York Tribune for the cartoonist Clare
Briggs--who was about as popular as Tad Dorgan. "Zasso!" ("Is that so?") was
one of Brigg's most frequent phrases. I was also checking Franklin P. Adams
and Grantland Rice. Here's some Briggs (with a few others) from the NEW YORK
TRIBUNE:
I SHOULD SAY SO!!, 3 January 1915, section V, pg. 7--Partridge has "I
should say!" from 1920. The story and illustrations are by James Montgomery
Flagg.
OH-H BABY!, 9 January 1915, pg. 12--Partiridge has "Oh boy!" from about
WWI.
WHADDYE TAKE US FOR?, 10 January 1915--"Polly" cartoon (not Briggs).
Partridge doesn't give a date.
I CAN'T DROP IT, 30 January 1915, pg. 12--said of an absorbing book.
CAN'T YOU LET THAT TRICKLE THRO' YOUR SKULL?, 10 February 1915, pg.
10--perhaps recorded in a different form, but I didn't see it.
IF THIS AIN'T THE LIFE, 4 April 1915--"Polly" cartoon (not Briggs).
Partridge has "This is the life!" c. 1910. Two characters are floating and
smoking cigars.
DITTO, 4 April 1915--"Polly" cartoon. Partridge has 1925-50 for
"ditto"/"same here." Not in the RHHDAS.
OLD EAGLE EYE, 6 April 1915, pg. 12--a wife's sharp eyes.
IT'S A SCREAM, 1 December 1915, pg. 12--Partridge has something like this
("it's a screetch"), dated decades later.
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ED HUGHES CARTOONS
Like Tad Dorgan, Ed Hughes was a sports columnist and cartoonist. His
work in the 1930s Brooklyn Eagle was wonderful.
It appears that Hughes drew the Brooklyn Dodger bum even before the idea
came to the NY World-Telegram's Willard Mullin. A Brooklyn Dodger bum is
shown on 8 June 1936, "Life Among the Hoboes!" On 13 August 1937, Hughes had
someone call the "Soak-em-up" Dodger "Just a born bum." On 23 August 1937,
Hughes even used the phrase "Who's a bum?" that Mullin would use after the
Brooklyn Dodgers finally won the world series.
From the BROOKLYN EAGLE:
HE WAS CARRYING AROUND WHAT WAS TERMED "EXCESS BAGGAGE," 3 May 1931, pg.
2c, col. 1--a fat fighter.
...WHEN THE PROPER MATCHES ARRIVE; THAT IS WHAT BOXING CALLS "NATURALS," 9
May 1931, pg. 12, col. 6--not in RHHDAS for "natural."
WHAT TO DO! WHAT TO DO!, 20 May 1936, pg. 20--usually not recorded.
I DON'T MIND THIS A BIT--IT FEELS SO GOOD WHEN IT STOPS!, 27 May 1936, pg.
22--the Brooklyn Dodgers are being given "THE USUAL HAMMERING." This cliche
also involves hitting your head against the wall; where is it recorded?
IS THERE A DERRICK IN THE HOUSE?, 28 May 1936, pg. 20--Partridge has "Is
there a doctor in the house?" from 1950. The RHHDAS has Tad Dorgan on
"derrick."
Said over a fallen fighter.
SAME DIFFERENCE, 17 July 1936, pg. 2, col. 3--Partridge has "it's the same
difference" from c. 1940.
THAT'S WHAT _YOU_ THINK?!, 10 August 1937, pg. 16--Partridge gives no date
for this.
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SF MAGAZINES (continued)
"Honey--they're playing our song," FANTASTIC, Jan-Feb. 1954, pg.
124--Nigel Rees guesses "they're playing our tune" is from the 1930s/1940s.
_And I couldn't put it down!_, ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, August 1954,
pg. 147, col. 2--said of a great SF book. See "I can't drop it" above.
"Fire me? I _quit_!," ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, December 1954, pg. 67,
col. 2.--not recorded anywhere? Followed by: "The hell with you _and_ this
company! The hell with everybody! The hell with the whole world!"
...she's "been there," ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, March 1955, pg.
133--half of "been there, done that."
"She chases anything in pants," AMAZING STORIES, April 1955, pg. 130, col.
1--the reverse of "skirt-chaser" is usually not recorded.
"...and as Sgt. Joe Friday would say, 'You figure it out,'" AMAZING
STORIES, June 1955, pg. 126--not in Partridge and not in the RHHDAS under
"figure."
LOW MAN ON THE ASTEROID, FANTASTIC, June 1955, pg. 4--This pun on "totem
pole" was a column written by The Editor.
"you can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em," ASTOUNDING
SCIENCE FICTION, August 1958, pg. 120--said by men and women of each other.
I couldn't find it recorded.
From AMAZING STORIES, October 1955, pg. 101:
I am now about to propose another portmanteau word inclusion in the
fans' vocabulary. (...) The word is "shlue." (...) For shlue is, of
course, the portmanteau word for "shock value."
From IF, December 1955, pg. 2, col. 2:
Someday, if enough of you indicate that it interests you, I will discuss
origins of terms like "stf" and "fen" and "egoboo" and "crifanac"; and even
"gafia". There's a new one just taking hold: _shlue_, which is shock value
run together with glue.
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THERE IS NOTHING CERTAIN IN SPORT
From Grantland Rice's "Sportlight" in the NEW YORK TRIBUNE:
"There is nothing certain in sport," runs an old adage, 4 May 1915, pg.
15, col. 4.
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HE'S NO EINSTEIN
Jay Leno uses this a lot. It's rare, but a person's last name alone can
be the slang phrase. "Hey, nice going, EINSTEIN!"
I've never seen it recorded.
The AMERICAN MACHINIST, 3 December 1956, pg. 109, advertisement for
Tomkins-Johnson reamers:
_Now they call Joe a genius_*
*He's no Einstein--but he figured how to cut costs...
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COME UP AND SEE MY ETCHINGS
Partridge is unsure if this dates before or after Mae West's "come up
and see me."
"Grin and Bear It" by Lichty in the BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, 17 May 1936,
has "Would you like to come in and see my etchings, Miss Smith?" (tattoos)
and 19 July 1936, "Would you like to come in and see my hatchings...?" (hen
house)
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ATTABOY!
"Attaboy!" was perhaps the most popular slang phrase of World War I. I
found a baseball citation in the NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 5 May 1915, pg. 12, cols.
1-2:
_"'At a Boy," "Keep a_
_Workin," in Danger_
"'At a boy is in danger. Reform threatens "Keep a workin'." The
movement to curtail and refine the chatter of the diamond began at Harvard
and has received enthusiastic support from Yale and Princeton.
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BANG! BANG!
"Bang bang," as in "kiss kiss bang bang" and "bang bang you're dead."
The RHHDAS has it from 1942. Partridge notes that George Ade's collected
stories were published in 1929 under the title BANG! BANG!
The BROOKLYN EAGLE, 8 August 1937, pg. D1, had this photo header:
"Bang! Bang! and 2 More Indians Bit the Dust."
The NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 2 November 1915, pg. 11, col. 1, "The Conning
Tower" by Franklin P. Adams, has "BANG! BANG!" as a header for an item.
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MAH-VELOUS
Billy Crystal's "Fernando" character on Saturday Night Live told guests
that they looked "mah-velous."
FPA's "Conning Tower" in the NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 20 November 1915, pg.
11, col. 1 header: "Marvelous, My Dear Watson, Ma-a-arvelous!"
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JABBER JABBER JABBER (YADDA YADDA YADDA continued)
The BRROKLYN DAILY EAGLE, 26 July 1936, the cartoon "High-Gear Homer,"
has a character using "JABBER JABBER JABBER" in two panels. It's used like
"yadda yadda yadda."
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LONG BALL (continued)
An earlier citation than before is the NEW YORK WORLD-TELEGRAM, 18 March
1943, pg. 25, col. 1, "Lindell Can Hit a Long Ball." (1952 in RHHDAS)
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THE NAME'S FAMILIAR (Book review)
THE NAME'S FAMILIAR: Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boyardee
by Laura Lee
Pelican Publishing Co., Gretna, LA (1999)
312 pages, paperback, $14.95
This book has been written at least 20 times by other authors.
Familiar, yeah!
There is no bibliography. The cover contains a blurb by Kenny Kramer,
"real-life inspiration for _Seinfeld's_ Kramer."
From the introduction on page 7:
_The Name's Familiar_ introduces you to the actual people who inspired,
conspired, or were just plain unlucky enough to have their names
immortalized. Names such as "lunch," "goblin," "hooligan," "boycott,"
"hooker," and "guillotin" once belonged to real people.
I turned to Joseph Hooker on page 130: "Such women came to be
laughingly referred to as 'Hooker's division,' and later, simply '_hookers_.'"
Then there's Samuel Benedict...
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A HOT DOG PROGRAM
"As you're firing up your grill this weekend, take a moment to be thankful
for Tad Dorgan. Without him, the hot dog might never have been."
--SYRACUSE (NY) POST-STANDARD, 26 May 1999.
"A Hot Dog Program" airs Wednesday, June 30th, at 8 p.m. on most PBS
stations. I wasn't contacted, so expect the Tad Dorgan myth yet again.
Gerald Cohen and I are indeed in the "hot dog" article in SMITHSONIAN
(June 1999) and David Graulich's HOT DOG COMPANION (1999).
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (www.hot-dog.org) STILL has the
wrong information on its we site. At least some things never change.
Last Saturday, I finally saw "American Eats" on the History Channel.
This was the program that said it would pay me for copies of my work--not
even for services--and didn't do that. It presented the Tad Dorgan myth as
"legend has it..."--then never told the true story at all.
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PERSONAL (Africa, July 2-22)
I'll be in Africa July 2-22.
For those keeping score at home of the two-year total of my overseas
trips: Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Easter Island,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Nepal, India,
Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
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