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

[Jonathan Lighter]

>From Tony Curtis & Peter Golenbock, _American Prince_  (N.Y.: Three
Rivers, 2008), p. 135 (i.e., the horse's mouth):

_Son of Ali Baba_ was the movie where I gave a line that people
unjustly made fun of for years afterward. There's a scene where I'm on
horseback and Piper [Laurie] is sitting next to me, and I say to her,
"Yonder in the valley of the sun is my father's castle." After the
film came out, Debbie Reynolds...went on television and said, "Did you
see the new guy in the movies? They call him Tony Curtis, but that's
not his real name. In the new movie he's git a hilarious line where he
says, 'Yonder lies the castle of my _fodda_.'"

...Unfortunately, her version stuck with the public, and for a while
it became popular for people to quote the incorrect line in a
ridiculous New York accent.


(But maybe, like everybody else, Curtis was mistaken. Only attentive
viewers can know for sure...)

JL


On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 9:59 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Yonduh lies de castle of de caliph, my fadder (attrib Tony
>              Curtis 1961 Nov)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Jonathan Lighter wrote
>> IMDb offers only one quotation from the 1951 film:
>>
>> "Son of a noseless mother! Maggot-brained child of a jackass!"
>
> Thanks for your response Jon. The short review of "The Prince Who Was
> a Thief" at the New York Times website claims that the film does not
> contain "Yonduh lies duh castle of my faddah." Yet this line differs
> from the line given in Life magazine. But is it possible to overlook a
> slightly different version?
>
> Life described a scene with specificity, and it should be possible to
> verify whether this scene is in the movie (or some other movie with
> Tony Curtis): "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."
>
> The claim in Life was made in 1961 and The Prince Who Was a Thief was
> made in 1951.
>
> The Prince Who Was a Thief
> New York Times Review Summary
> http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/106668/The-Prince-Who-Was-a-Thief/overview
> <Begin excerpt>
> Fine escapist entertainment, The Prince Who Was a Thief secured major
> stardom for both its leading players. And no, this is not the film in
> which Tony Curtis utters the apocryphal line "Yonduh lies duh castle
> of my faddah." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
> <End excerpt>
>
> Garson
>
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>



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