Skidoo (1904); Do a Brodie (1904)

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SKIDOO

   It'll be in the next HDAS (that's the HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG).  Maybe this "skidoo" citation helps.

   25 December 1904, LOS ANGELES TIMES, pg. B2:
   "Skidoo for you, pal--get a live one."

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DO A BRODIE

   For those new on the list:  David Shulman is 90 years old and has been an ADS member for almost 70 years.  He's been collecting material on famed Brooklyn Bridge jumper Steve Brodie (1861-1901) for a long time.  He'd like to publish a book, but needs all the help he can get.  Brodie later owned a bar on the Bowery and helped popularize the New York or "Brooklyn" dialect...Maybe someone at Oxford can help?  A recent book was published on jumper SAM PATCH.  Why Patch and not Brodie?
    The Brooklyn Bridge jump was made in July 23, 1886.  I'd promised Shulman that I'd take him to Brodie's grave in Calvary Cemetery, and today was the day.  Brodie's profile is in "Statue of Liberty green" on his tombstone.  His wife and son are also buried there.
   There is an entry in the HDAS under "Brodie," but this article is also of interest.

   29 March 1904, LOS ANGELES TIMES, pg. 7:
_LANG ON SLANG._
_Expressions that Puzzle an Englishman._
(Andrew Lang, in London Post.)
   TO THESE columns I lately contributed a paper named "Studies in Slang."  The specimens of slang were selected from a deposit in the Chicago stratum, in the State of Illinois, were exhibited by the collector, Mr. George Ade, in his "Fables in Slang," and were of considerable antiquity, four or five years old, some of them.
(...)
   Of course, there is no reason why I should know what a "rube town," a "one stand town," "a steamer rug," "a signed, spotted girl," "a cinch," a "four-flush drummer," a "crap," a "squab," a "yap," a "spaghetti joint," a "graft,"and so forth, mean.
(...)
   "Feed me everything" means "offer me all sorts of food." (...)  The rest of the sentence in which "feed me everything" occurs quite baffles my correspondent, who thinks it is "probably cheap restaurant slang."  Now, does every American child learn cheap restaurant slang with his alphabet?
(...)
   To do a "Steve Brodie" is to take a perilous leap in the style of Mr. Stephen Brodie, a "celebrated bridge jumper."  To "jump a claim" means to steal one, but the game of bridge is not in question.  Mr. Brodie jumps, or used to jump, off high bridges for the edification of the citizens, who remunerated him, I hope, for his courage and address.