"Let George Do It"

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Way back in the day, before I knew that my destiny was 16 years of parking tickets, I wrote a screen treatment for Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor called MILES OF SMILES, based on the Pullman porter documentary of that name and the Charlie Chaplin song "Smile."
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All the porters were black. All the customers were white. The porters were all named George (whatever their real name was), after George Pullman, the owner of the trains. The porters were required to do everything for their customers for potential tips. The phrase "let George do it" arose there, but I didn't record the historical citations. A minstrel show use would also fit in.
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At the end of my screen treatment, at the end of the line in Chicago, Eddie gets stiffed on the tip and even has to pay for items stolen by the customer.
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There are a few Google hits for this Pullman porter explanation of "Let George do it."
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Saddleback Valley Trails
... Let me tell you about "George", as in "let George do it". ... a first cousin
of George Mortimer Pullman of the Pullman Sleeping Car fame. ...
www.rootsweb.com/~casoccgs/news1196.html - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Thu, 12 May 2005 09:04:58 -0400
Subject: Re: "Let George Do It"


Also 1909, as a song title, sheet music that year, by Bill Carney and Ray
Zirkel (Jungle Imps Minstrels), from "The Silver Star," "which opened at the
New Amsterdam Theatre on November 1, 1909," according to WordCat. There's also
a 78 RPM recording.

Stephen Goranson