Shaggy Story (1929); Combed hair with wagon wheel (1931); Inquire within/Gin (1922)

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INQUIRE WITHIN/DRINKING GIN

This is a pretty popular one.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
IN the WAKE of the NEWS; DO YOU REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN:
Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963). Chicago, Ill.: Apr 3, 1922. p. 8 (1 page):
For Rent signs read: "Rooms for rent, inquire within, people turned out for drinking gin"?--Ginger.

(NEWSPAPERARCHIVE)
   Post Standard  Friday, August 04, 1972 Syracuse, New York
...of fifteen cents. Rooms for INQUIRE WITHIN A lady got put out For DRINKING.....et AND they a AND go to I am not a DRINKING AND I am not going to a so I..
Pg. 19, cols. 7-8:
_Readers Send Us_
_Jump Rope Ditties_

(Col. 8--ed.)
Rooms for rent,
Inquire within
A lady got put out
For drinking gin.
If she promises
To drink no more
Here's the key
To (--) door.

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COMBED HIS HAIR WITH A WAGON WHEEL

I search for these "Dan Tucker" lyrics.

(AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES ONLINE)
   Singing Games oF the Southern Mountains
By CARL HOLLIDAY. Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine (1868-1935). San Francisco: Dec 1931. Vol. Vol. 89, Iss. No. 12; p. 9 (3 pages)
Second page:
Old Dan Tucker was a fine man,
He washed his face in the frying pan.
He comed (sic) his hair with a wagon wheel,
And died with a tooth-ache in his heel.
Get out of the way for Old Dan Tucker.
Get out of the way for Old Dan Tucker.

Third page:
First to the courthouse, then to jail.
Hang my hat on a rusty nail;
Oh, come along, Jim, along, Josie.
Oh, come along, Jim, along, Joe.
Nail it broke, down it fell.
Mashed my hat all to hell.
Oh, come along, Jim, along, Josie.
Oh, come along, Jim, along, Joe.

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SHAGGY STORY

Botkin lists this as a "shaggy story." It's popular still. When I used to look for something, my father would remark, "Look over here. The light is better."


SIDEWALKS OF AMERICA
edited by B. A. Botkin
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill
1954

Pg. 515:
Another famous gag of this sort and period took place between a cop and a barfly on Times Square. The cop asks the questions and the barfly answers:

What are you looking for?
I lost a ten-dollar bill on Thirty-Eight Street and Sixth Avenue.
Then what are you looking around here for?
There's more light here.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
FOOTLIGHTS AND SHADOWS
By JOHN J. DALY. The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Feb 24, 1929. p. A4 (1 page):
'TWAS a very brilliantly lighted theater, outside. Taxicabs and private cars rolling in front of the entrance-way set out their patrons at the curb. A great gathering, just before the curtain time, milled and mobbed toward the lobby. AMongst them, a man slightly under the influence of a forbidden beverage, careened and swayed, keeping his eyes, the while, focused on the pavement.

Finally, a policeman, interested, waded through the multitude, asked what the stranger was doing; looking as if he had lost something.

"I have," affirmed the man, "I lost my watch and I'm looking for it.

"You lost your watch! Where do you think you lost it?" asked the cop.

"Out in Rock Creek Park," said the man.

The officer was exasperated. "If you lost your watch in Rock Creek Park," he bellowed, "why are you looking for it here?"

"Because," explained the man, "there's more light here."


(NEWSPAPERARCHIVE)
   Gazette Bulletin  Friday, April 02, 1937 Williamsport, Pennsylvania
...r "Why don't you look tHERE "THERE's MORE LIGHT HERE." NAUOtiix SPRING 1 wish.....MORE Judges in hear, MORE jto confer, MORE judges to discuss. MORE judges to..

   Frederick Post  Thursday, June 04, 1942 Frederick, Maryland
...IT TWO DOWN THE STREET.' THE LIGHT IS BETTER I'M LOOKING FOR rAV QUARTER i can.....time 32. Bundles oJ grain 33. Portable LIGHT 34. Except 25. Narrator 36..
(MUTT AND JEFF version!--ed.)

   Lima News  Monday, September 11, 1972 Lima, Ohio
...But I'd rather look here, because the LIGHT IS BETTER.' For those who warn.....that he had lost hIS keys AND was LOOKING for them. "The policeman joined..


   Daily Herald  Monday, June 13, 1988 Chicago, Illinois
...LOOKING for a lost item under a street LIGHT because the LIGHT IS BETTER even.....portfolio reg- ularly provided a BETTER return than the the small..


   Post Standard  Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Syracuse, New York
...wallet where you lost the man 'the LIGHT IS BETTER over here.'' I'm not.....friend7'' the vISitor in- quired. am LOOKING for my the other man replied..


   Chronicle Telegram  Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Elyria, Ohio
...lost "Because, the man replied, "the LIGHT IS BETTER over here. I'm not much.....on real money They are partISan AND LOOKING for a political ISsue. But they..