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

[Jonathan Lighter]

"He's *got*" not  "He's git."

JL

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Yonduh lies de castle of de caliph, my fadder (attrib Tony
>              Curtis 1961 Nov)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
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>> 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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>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org