Palm Beach=cheese sandwich (1942); Waco=Dr. Pepper (1938)

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:35 PM -0400 7/5/07, Mark Mandel wrote:
>Dear kindly social worker,
>They say go earn a buck.*
>Like be a **soda jerker**,
>Which means like be a schmuck. *
>It's not I'm anti-social,
>I'm only anti-work.
>Gloryosky! That's why I'm a jerk!
>
>"GEE, OFFICER KRUPKE", from West Side Story, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,
>1957
>
>Not an antedate, just a high point in memory.
>
>* That's the stage lyric from the official West Side Story
>site<http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/lyrics/krupke.html>.
>The movie lyric has "get a job ... be a slob", and I remember it (from the
>cast album?) as "earn some dough ... be a schmo".
>
Good call, Mark.  I just located my original (1957) cast album and
listened to the song while tracking the lyrics at the above site.
Sure enough, they sing it with the "dough"/"schmo" couplet you
recall, pace Sondheim.  But are you sure you're not remembering the
"job"/"slob" rhyme from an earlier verse in this song?

Officer Krupke, you're really a slob.
This boy don't need a doctor, just a good honest job.
Society's played him a terrible trick,
And sociologic'ly he's sick!

LH

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