Chamberlain, That's He

Did 4th Warder Jimmy Durante learn this old ditty from 4th Warder Al Smith?

Who is the man whose bad tosses will bring a loss?
Chamberlain, That's He!
Who will surely fold when your team needs a hold?
Chamberlain, That's He
For he isn't as proud of his name you see,
As a Sparky, Goose, or a Mo, could be.
Who is the man that blows a lead every time he can?
Chamberlain, That's He
C-H-AMBER-L-A-I-N  spells Chamberlain
Proud of all the Indian blood that's in he; Many a man can say a word agin he.
C-H-AMBER-L-A-I-N, you see,
Is a name that shame is usually been connected with, Chamberlain, That's he!
C-H-AMBER-L-A-I-N  spells Chamberlain
Proud of all the Indian blood that's in he; Many a man can say a word agin he.
C-H-AMBER-L-A-I-N, you see,
Is a name that shame is usually been connected with, Chamberlain, That's he!

Jimmy Durante: Ink A Dink A Doo

Jimmy Durante & Harry James - Inka Dinka Doo

An excerpt from It May Sound Funny, from Atlantic Monthly

In his 1960 essay "What Is Not Poetry?" the poet and critic Karl Shapiro writes, "The meaning of poetry, as far as language is concerned, is the meaning of hey-nonny-nonny. To the poet, hey-nonny-nonny means what the other words in the poem failed to say." He points to the nonsense refrain from Shakespeare's As You Like It.
It was a lover and his lass —
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no —
That o'er the green cornfield did pass
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye —
With a hey, and a ho, and hey-nonny-no —
These pretty country folks would lie
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
This carol they began that hour —
With a hey, and a ho, and hey-nonny-no —
How that a life was but a flower
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
And therefore take the present time —
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no -
For love is crowned with the prime
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
In this twenty-four line poem, a mere eight lines tell the story (the first and third of each stanza) but the antic lyric element, the part that most intrigues, is all syllable and no sense.

by Jimmy Durante of Catherine Street fame

Verse:
What is that haunt -ing re -frain that you hear in the air?
Here and there, ev -'ry where,
It's just a beau -ti -ful strain that keeps taunt -ing my brain con -stant -ly,
It's my mel -o -dy it's my sy -pho -ny.
Chorus:
Ink -A Dink -Doo, A dink -a dee, A dink -a doo.
Oh, what a tune for croon -ing
Ink -A Dink -Doo, A dink a dee, A dink -a doo,
It's got the whole world spoon -ing.
Es -ki -mo bells up in Ice -land, Are ring -ing,
They've made their own Par -a -dise Land, Sing -ing
Ink -A Dink -Doo, A dink -a dee, A dink -a doo,
Simp -ly means Ink -A dink -A dee A dink -a doo.
Once upon a time they played that "FO-LO-DEE-OH-DO"
But that was long ago..
Then they started singin' that "BOO-BOOP-EE=DO"
But they got tired of that, you know.
Now here's a little tune that's goin' 'round,
You can hear it all over town,
They're singin':
Ink, a dink a dink,
A dink a dink
A dink a doo,
Oh what a tune for croonin.,
Ink a dink a dink
A dink a dink
A dink a doo,
It's got the whole world swoonion'
Eskimo belles up in Iceland
Have got themsselves a real paradise land
Singin'
Ink a dink a dink
A dink a dink
A dink a doo
Ink a dink a dink,
s dink a doo.

1953 South Street Fire

a relative of Jimmy Durante?

Not a photo of the fire above, but a 1937 photo of a South Street fire by the famous photographer Arthur Fellig, aka Weegee

Jimmy Durante: Early Years

A family name mentioned In Jimmy's biography is Palladino. Could it be a relative of
Monroe Street's and PS 177 classmate Rosemary Palladino?

durante - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: durante

Jimmy Durante Mapped

From an 1893 map. Note St. Joseph's and PS 1 hadn't been built yet.
The next post will have more information on Jimmy Durante on Catherine Street

Jimmy Durante Scotties' Commercial

Durante was born in Brooklyn, the third of four children born to Italian-Americans Mitch Durante (1855-1929) and Margaret Durante (1858-1936). A product of working-class New York, Durante dropped out of school in the eighth grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist, working the city circuit and earning the nickname "Ragtime Jimmy," before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member of the group who did not hail from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line became a Durante trademark. In 1920, the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.
Durante became a vaudeville star and radio attraction by the mid-1920s, with a music and comedy trio called Clayton, Jackson and Durante. Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson (vaudeville), probably Durante's closest friends, often reunited with Durante professionally. By 1934, he had a major record hit, his own novelty composition "Inka Dinka Doo," and it became his theme song for practically the rest of his life. A year later, Durante starred in the Billy Rose stage musical, Jumbo, in which a police officer stopped him while leading a live elephant and asked him, "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante's reply, "What elephant?", was a regular show-stopper.
He began appearing in motion pictures at about the same time, beginning with a comedy series pairing him with silent film legend Buster Keaton and continuing with such offerings as The Wet Parade (1932), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942, playing Banjo, a character based on Harpo Marx), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962, based on the 1935 musical) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Eddie Cantor And Jimmy Durante

The audio from a radio show in the 1950's. I provided a background of Durante and Cantor iages.

I Like New York In June: Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

The first of a new series. 6/1/08 was a really beautiful day. Many of the pics are raw material for several panoramas to follow. I might as well start with the best version, Sinatra's with Nelson Riddle
The song is from the movie musical Babes on Broadway (1941) and has music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Ralph Freed.

I like New York in June, how about you?
I like a Gershwin tune, how about you?
I love a fireside when a storm is due.
I like potato chips, moonlight motor trips, how about you?
I'm mad about good books, can't get my fill
And James Durante's looks give me a thrill
Holding hands in the movie show, when all the lights are low
May not be new, but I like it, how about you?

A questionable link to Knickerbocker? This version includes Jimmy Durante of Catherine Street. I'm not the type to be awestruck by nature, but it really saddened me to think of those who are no longer with us who certainly would have.