Yonduh lies de castle of de caliph, my fadder (attrib Tony Curtis 1961 Nov)

Thu Oct 20 05:42:42 UTC 2011

Serendipitously I came across a quotation (and pronunciation) that was
discussed on the ADS list more than one year ago in July 2010. The
topic was Tony Curtis and the perhaps apocryphal line that he uttered
with a Bronx accent. Jonathan Lighter, Wilson Gray, Dave Wilton and
others commented and gathered evidence and posted it to the list (some
included below). There are different versions of the supposed line:

"Yonder lies the castle of my fodder"
"Yonda stands da castle of my fodda"
"Yonda is my fadda's castle"

In 1961 Life magazine gave the following version of the line: "Yonduh
lies de castle of de caliph, my fadder." The magazine claimed that the
words were spoken by Curtis in "The Prince Who Was a Thief".  I have
not seen this movie.

Has anyone on the list seen this movie? Are there cites before
November 1961 that make this type of claim?

Cite: 1961 November 17, Life, "Bee-yoody-ful Life of a Movie Caliph"
by Shana Alexander, Start Page 161, Quote Page 170, Time Inc, New
York. (Google Books full view)
http://books.google.com/books?id=6FMEAAAAMBAJ&q=fadder#v=snippet&
<Begin excerpt>
Finally they blew the sand off something called The Prince Who Was a
Thief, a preposterous adventure piece requiring a maximum display of
supple beefcake and a minimum of thespian skill. At one point, the
well-oiled hero emerged from a crocodile-filled moat, removed the
dagger clenched between his teeth, flung a dripping arm toward an
imposing heap of Arabian papier-mache, and declaimed,"Yonduh lies de
castle of de caliph, my fadder," in accents of purest Bronx.
Connoisseurs of cinematic goulash remember the scene with reverence.
<End excerpt>

Garson

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: rhythmic blends
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> According to Wikipedia (and many other sites), in the 1952 _Son of Ali
> Baba_Curtis did utter the line, "This is the palace of my father, and yonder
> lies the Valley of the Sun."
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Shield_of_Falworth#False_quotation
>
> Other sites state that his accent is not especially noticeable as delivers
> the line.
>
> The same Wikipedia article also credits a remark by Debbie Reynolds made "on
> television" with starting the tale about Curtis's line. It footnotes it, but
> to _Leisure Ways_ magazine dated "1980s." A citation that is even vaguer
> than the legend.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 6:50 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: rhythmic blends
>
> The movie in question was _The Black Shield of Falworth_ (1954).  I have a
> distinct (i.e., possibly phony) recollection of reading long ago that Curtis
> never uttered that line in the film (which remember even more vaguely).  But
> he certainly did sound like Tony Curtis throughout, just as in _Taras Bulba_
> (1962).
>
> A Google search, including GB, tends to confirm the line's absence. It may
> have been popularized (SWAGging here) by somebody like Frank Gorshin in one
> of his many appearances on the Sullivan show.
>
> Whippersnappers: Gorshin was an adept impressionist before he became "The
> Riddler."
>
> Ultra-Whippersnappers: "The Riddler" was a villain on the old _Batman_
> show.  The guy doing the current comic-book-style insurance commercials
> beginning "Fellow citizens! As we speak..." is Adam West, formerly Batman.
>
> Non-whippersnappers: He's over 80 now.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 8:53 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: rhythmic blends
>>
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>>
>> Speaking of Noo-Yawk-ish, remember when Tony Curtis was laughed at for
>> saying, in some long- forgotten swashbuckler,
>>
>> "Yonda is my fadda's castle"?
>>
>> I didn't see the movie, whatever it was. So, I have no opinion - well,
>> IMO, he probably *didn't* say it - as to what Curtis actually said.
>> But, IAC, he was famous for fifteen minutes for *supposedly* having
>> spoken thus.
>>
>> He probably got pretty tired of having to laugh it off, except when he
>> was on his way to the bank.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      rhythmic blends
>> >
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>> >
>> > Hilton Als (b. 1961) writes in the current _New Yorker_ of Al Pacino's
>> > speech in the current _Merchant of Venice_:
>> >
>> > "Pacino...brings to Shylock that appealing New York City diction, a
>> > combination of black, Jewish, and Puerto Rican rhythms."
>> >
>> > What, no Italian?  (Dutch used to be invoked, but now everybody knows
>> that's
>> > a stretch.)  I didn't notice any particular rhythmic substrates in
>> Pacino's
>> > film Shylock, except for "Jewish" - I guess Als means "Yiddish" (after
>> all,
>> > it *is* Shylock) - and I marvel at anyone's ability to isolate the
>> others,
>> > not just in Pacino's case but in NYC diction generally.
>> >
>> > Pop journalists like to mention "speech rhythms."  That seems to be the
>> > preferred idiom for all dialectal and idiolectical elements that really
>> > are too complex for pop-media discussion.
>> >
>> > It wasn't long ago - certainly in the '50s and '60s - that working-class
>> > diction like Pacino's was usually considered "unappealing."  So some
>> things
>> > do change for the better.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> ---
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"--a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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