Henry Roth On The Lower East Side

On Monday June 14 the Museum at Eldridge Street hosting a Tenement Talk on Henry Roth

Henry Roth: A panel at The Museum at Eldridge
A discussion of the works of Henry Roth, author of the classic novel Call It Sleep with Harold Augenbaum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, Robert Weil, Executive Editor at Norton, and Willing Davidson, fiction editor at The New Yorker. THIS EVENT IS AT THE MUSEUM AT ELDRIDGE, 12 Eldridge near Division.

 According to Roth's bio he lived for a while on the lower east side. I tried to figure out where and after re-reading parts of Call It Sleep I think I did. If the novel follows fact then the address is 749 E. 9th Street. (See page 432 of the 1964 Avon edition) Supposedly Roth lived on the lower east side between ages 6-9 (1911-1914) before his family moved to East Harlem. If he did his path might have crossed Benny Leonard, Yip Harburg, Sam Levene, Jimmy Cagney and my maternal grandparents. My mother wasn't born until 1919. They all lived on 9th street, near Avenue C. Leonard and Harburg both lived amazingly at 649 . 749 East 9th  is on the NE corner of 9th and Avenue D.  Artie Shaw was living about 6 blocks away. Roth could have gone to nearby PS 36. The book frequently mentions the stables that were nearby.

from kirjasto

Henry Roth was born in Tysmenica, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. His father was a waiter. Roth moved in 1907 with his mother to New York, where his father was already living. From 1908 to 1910 Roth's Yiddish- speaking family lived in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn and in 1910 they moved to the Lower East Side, "a virtual Jewish mini-state", as Roth later noted, and four years later to Harlem, an Irish and Italian neighborhood. Roth graduated from the City College of New York. During his college years he started to write. Roth was encouraged by the poet and professor of English literature Eda Lou Walton, 12 years his senior, with whom he lived in her Greenwich Village house. There he met such writers as Hart Crane and Margaret Mead.
Call It Sleep received moderate critical praise and went soon out of print and was forgotten. The story recorded six years in the life of a Jewish immigrant boy, a six- to eight-year-old David Schearl, in a New York ghetto just prior to World War I. David is shielded by his loving mother. His life turns in a nightmare when his paranoid father is unable to hold a job. David's father is tormented by his lack of success and he becomes increasingly menacing to the son, and is finally convinced that David is not his son. After he has survived a deathly initiation game, David closes his eyes, with his mother beside him, and "one might as well call it sleep."

April In Paris: Ella

Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics to this song without ever being in Paris

I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
I never missed a warm embrace
Till April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom
Holiday tables under the trees
April in Paris, this is a feeling 
That no one can ever reprise
I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
I never missed a warm embrace 
Till April in Paris
Whom can I run to
What have you done to my heart

Happy Halloween: Yip And Ella, Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics, but Ella changed some and had her own unique interpretation

Once there was a wicked witch
In the lovely land of Oz
And a wickeder, wickeder
Wickeder witch that never,never was
She filled the folks in munchkin land
With terror and with dread
Till one fine day from kansas way
A cyclone caught a house
That brought the wickeder, wickeder witcher dome
At she was flying on her broom
For the house fell on her head
And the coroner pronounced her: dead
And through the town the joyous news was spread
Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead.
She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho
Let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!
[instrumental]
She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho
Let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
That Wicked Witch...
That Wicked Witch is dead!

Happy Halloween: From Finian's Rainbow, That Old Devil Moon

A Tribute To Yip Harburg

In honor of Hallowen and his "Old Devil Moon." I just found this video tribute on Democracy Now It was recorded on 12/25/2008

A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz
Harburg
His name might not be familiar to many, but his songs are sung by millions around the world. Today, a journey through the life and work of Yip Harburg, the Broadway lyricist who wrote such hits as “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” and who put the music into The Wizard of Oz. Born into poverty on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Yip always included a strong social and political component to his work, fighting racism and poverty. A lifelong socialist, Yip was blacklisted and hounded throughout much of his life.
Taking us on today’s trip through the music and politics of Yip is his son, Ernie Harburg. First, we’re going to go through Yip’s early life, his collaboration with the Gershwin’s, through “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” Then we’re going to take an in-depth look at The Wizard of Oz. And finally, we’ll hear a medley of Yip Harburg’s Broadway songs and the politics of the times in which they were created.

Happy Halloween: Bossa Rio, That Old Devil Moon

Lyrics by the lower east side's Yip Harburg

I look at you and suddenly,
Something in your eyes I see
Soon begins bewitching me.
It's that old devil moon
That you stole from the skies.
It's that old devil moon
In your eyes.
You and you glance
Make this romance
Too hot to handle.
Stars in the night
Blazing their light
Can't hold a candle
To your razzle-dazzle.
You've got me flyin' high and wide
On a magic carpet ride
Full of butterflies inside.
Wanna cry, wanna croon,
Wanna laugh like a loon.
It's that old devil moon
In your eyes.
Just when I think, I'm
Free as a dove.
Old devil moon,
Deep in your eyes,
Blinds me with love.

April Fool's Day: J. Cheever Loophole, Attorney For Ex-Kvers

Today J. Cheever Loophole was supposed to be contacted by ex-KVers to claim back rent overcharges from 50 years ago. I had established an "office" for him at the Onion Magazine. Some people fell for it.... Some people aren't talking to me. I may have to change my name to Hugo Z. Hackenbush and move to Arizona. From: At The Circus, 1939, Music by Harold Arlen and brilliant lyrics by Yip Harburg, who lived at 55 Hester Street, between Allen and Eldridge, in 1900.
a link to learn all the song's historic and cultural references

My life was wrapped around the circus. Her name was Lydia.
I met her at the world's fair in 1900, marked down from
1940. Ah, Lydia.
She was the most glorious creature
Under the su-un.
Guiess. DuBarry. Garbo.
Rolled into one.
Oooooooh
Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that folks adore so,
And a torso even more so.
Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,
Oh Lydia the Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it the wreck of the Hespherous, too.
And proudly above waves the Red, White, and Blue,
You can learn a lot from Lydia.
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
When her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world,
If you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paris,
Or Washington crossing the Delaware.
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
Oh Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Oh Lydia the Tattooed Lady
When her muscles start relaxing,
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson
Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,
oh Lydia the queen of them all!
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
With a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia.
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
Come along and see Buff'lo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva but with her pajamas on.
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
Here is Grover Whalen unveilin' the Trilon.
Over on the West Coast we have Treaure Island.
Here's Najinsky a-doin' the rumba.
Here's her social security numba.
(whistles)
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia that encyclopedia,
Oh Lydia the champ of them all.
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
For he went and married Lydia.
I said Lydia (He said Lydia)
I said Lydia (We said Lydia)
La La!

The Saga Of Birnbaum The Butcher, Part 3: A 9th St Confluence

I told Elinor that my grandmother and mother lived down the block on 9th St from the chicken market on 9th Street and that Yip Harburg and Benny Leonard lived at 649 9th Street. She was amazed

WOW -- this is amazing. So I wonder, if your mother/grandmother shopped at the kosher chicken store of my grandmother Tessie's or the butcher shop at 10th and Second Ave that my father's father owned and which my father worked in.

Obama In Paris: Who's Almost Who, Nicholas Sarkozy

I know, this is a real stretch, but I wanted to show off my original lyric, adapted from the LES all star Yip Harburg. As for Sarkozy (read about his roots here) , he's a one half Greek Sephardic Jew, just like the webmaster. I just wish I had his kavorka with women

audio by the Singers' Unlimited

Obama in Paris, groupies in blossom
All of France buckle their knees
Obama in Paris, this is a feeling
No one can ever reprise
They never knew the charm of Barack

They never met him face to face

So easily were their hearts hijacked

John should just concede the race
Till Obama in Paris,
Sarkozy be careful too
What has he done to.. Carla's heart ?

from the nytimes, Maureen Dowd

It could have been a French movie.
Passing acquaintances collide in a moment of transcendent passion. They look at each other shyly and touch tenderly during their Paris cinq à sept, exchange some existential thoughts under exquisite chandeliers, and — tant pis — go their separate ways.
Sarko, back to Carla Bruni. Obama, forward to Gordon Brown. A Man and a Man. All it needed was a lush score and Claude Lelouch.
Even for Sarkozy the American, who loves everything in our culture from Sylvester Stallone to Gloria Gaynor, it was a wild gush over a new Washington crush.
Sarko is right and Barack is left. One had a Jewish grandfather, the other a Muslim one. The French president is a frenetic bumper car; the Illinois senator is, as he said of the king of Jordan’s Mercedes 600, “a smooth ride.”
But the son of a Hungarian, who picked a lock to break into the French ruling class, embraced a fellow outsider and child of an immigrant who had also busted into the political aristocracy with a foreign-sounding name.
After 200,000 people thronged to see Obama at the Victory Column in Berlin, christening him “Redeemer” and “Savior,” it turned out Sarko was also Obamarized, as the Germans were calling the mesmerizing effect.
“You must want a cigarette after that,” I teased the candidate after the amorous joint press conference, as he flew from Paris to London for the finale of his grand tour.
“I think we could work well together,” he said of Sarko, smiling broadly.
He did not get to meet his fan, Carla Bruni. “She wasn’t there,” he said. “Which I think disappointed all my staff. That was the only thing they were really interested in.”
He admitted showing “extraordinarily poor judgment” in leaving Paris after only a few hours. Watching Paris recede from behind the frosted glass of his limo was “a pretty good metaphor” for how constricted his life has become, he said, compared with his student days tramping around Europe with “a feeling of complete freedom.”
“But the flip side is that I deeply enjoy the work,” he said, “so it’s a trade-off.”
How do you go back to the Iowa farm after you’ve seen Paree?
“One of the values of this trip for me was to remind me of what this campaign should be about,” he said. “It’s so easy to get sucked into day-to-day, tit-for-tat thinking, finding some clever retort for whatever comment your opponent made. And then I think I’m not doing my job, which should be to raise up some big important issues.”
I asked how his “Citizen of the World” tour will go down in Steubenville, Ohio.
“There will probably be some backlash,” he said. “I’m a big believer that if something’s good then there’s a bad to it, and vice versa. We had a good week. That always inspires the press to knock me down a peg.”
He thinks most people recognize that “there is a concrete advantage to not only foreign leaders, but foreign populations liking the American president, because it makes it easier for Sarkozy to send troops into Afghanistan if his voting base likes the United States.”
How does he like the McCain camp mocking him as “The One”?
“Even if you start believing your own hype, which I rarely do, things’ll turn on you pretty quick anyway,” he said. “I have a fairly steady temperament that has at times been interpreted as, ‘Oh, he’s sort of too cool.’ But it’s not real.”
Obama kept his cool through a week where he was treated as a cross between the Dalai Lama and Johnny Depp.
A private prayer he left in the holy Western Wall in Jerusalem was snatched out by a student at a Jewish seminary and published in a local newspaper. In Berlin, the tabloid Bild sent an attractive blonde reporter to stalk Obama at the Ritz-Carlton gym as he exercised with his body man, Reggie Love. She then wrote a tell-all, enthusing, “I’m getting hot, and not from the workout,” and concluding, “What a man.”
Obama marveled: “I’m just realizing what I’ve got to become accustomed to. The fact that I was played like that at the gym. Do you remember ‘The Color of Money’ with Paul Newman? And Forest Whitaker is sort of sitting there, acting like he doesn’t know how to play pool. And then he hustles the hustler. She hustled us. We walk into the gym. She’s already on the treadmill. She looks like just an ordinary German girl. She smiles and sort of waves, shyly, but doesn’t go out of her way to say anything. As I’m walking out, she says: ‘Oh, can I have a picture? I’m a big fan.’ Reggie takes the picture.”
I ask him if he found it a bit creepy that she described his T-shirt as smelling like “fabric softener with spring scent.”
He looked nonplused: “Did she describe what my T-shirt smelled like?”
Being a Citizen of the World has its downsides.

Who's Almost Who In Knickerbocker Village History: Jimmy Cagney

I'm back to stretching the KV boundaries again. But, just wait...Jimmy Cagney is living two blocks away from future KVer Rubin Beer around the same time. Yip Harburg and Benny Leonard and my mother are three blocks away on 9th Street.

Who's Almost Who In Knickerbocker Village History:Benny Leonard

Benny earns that distinction because he lived on the same block as my mother. He may have even gone to PS 64. Amazingly, Benny lived in the same building as the great lyricist Yip Harburg at the same time. They were both born in 1896!

Who's Almost Who That Lived In Knickerbocker Village: The Marx Brothers' Maternal Grandparents

The Marx Brothers lived on 179 East 93rd Street as shown in the youtube video above. However their maternal grandparents lived on 376 East 10th, between B and C from 1880-1885. That was around the corner from where my maternal grandparents lived as well as where Yip Harburg lived.

Who's Almost Who In Knickerbocker Village History: Yip Harburg

A special KV father's day present from the 1942 movie "Ship Ahoy". The greatest woman tap dancer ever, Eleanor Powell, with the greatest drummer ever, Buddy Rich. The song by one of the greatest lyricists ever, E.Y. Harburg, who lived at 55 Hester Street between Allen and Eldridge in 1900. Bert Lahr (Irving Lahrheim) was a NYC "boy" as well.

Have you met Dolores? She's queen of the forest
Have you met Olivia? Her I'd gladly give ya
Have you met the queen, the rulah, Tallulah
For that gal Tallulah I would fight a duela,
I would climb a hillah, I'll paddle to Priscilla,
But this is getting sillah, I'm getting lots of thrillah, Tallulah
When she starts to lock on to a man to love she wants to fricassee
No one doing the hula, can do what Tallulah can do to me.
I have met Fatima (Fatima is a schemma)
I have met Marquita (Marquita is a cheeta)
I have met Jemima, she's a social climba
I have met Ophelia, she will double deal ya,
Just one who'll love me Trullah, I'll take Tallulah

LES Map Showing Harburg And Gershwins Residences

This is a scan from an excellent book on New York City maps by John Tauranac. I added a red square near Forsythe and Grand to show where George and Ira Gershwin lived in 1910. The red circle near Hester and Allen shows where Yip Harburg lived in 1900. Yip Harburg and Ira Gershwin would become friendly when they both attended Townshend Harris High school in Manhattan.

Brother Can You Spare A Dime?

another Harburg lyric gem from 1931
They used to tell me
I was building a dream.
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow
Or guns to bear
I was always there
Right on the job.
They used to tell me
I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower,
Now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits
Gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum.
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits,
Ah, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum!
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Oh, say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Who's (Almost) Who In Knickerbocker Village History: George and Ira Gershwin

From January 2007 on pseudo-intellectualism: One of the things I learned from the new Gershwin bio by Howard Pollack and also from my conversation with Ernie Harburg, was that the Gerswhwin's were fairly well off compared to other immigrants. Block makes reference to the family living in St. Petersburg, Russia rather than in the shtetls of the Pale of Settlement. In St. Petersburg, Morris, George's father may have been exposed to more modern business thinking. Like other immigrant families they may have moved a lot, not because of financial hardships, but rather so Morris could be closer to his many businesses. In 1910 they lived in this fairly new and spacious apartment house that still stands on Chrystie and Grand.
Here's a portion of the census where the family was listed as the Gershvens

More On Yip Harburg

Here's a slide show of various images of Yip along with scenes from the places and era that he lived. Also included are images of some of the songs (he was the lyricist) and shows he wrote for. The soundtrack is his "It's Only a Paper Moon." It's sung by Ella Fitzgerald. 84 Hester Street, where he was living in 1900 is about a half of a mile from Knickerbocker.

Who's (Almost) Who In Knickerbocker Village History: E.Y. "Yip" Harburg

One of the greatest of all the lyricists and a hero of mine. It is possible that Yip (born Isadore Hochberg) might have attended PS 42, which was just two blocks away from where he lived in 1900. He lived on Hester just off of Allen. He later moved to 9th Street and attended and graduated from PS 64. My mother lived on the same block and also went to PS 64, but their times didn't coincide.

from yipharburg.com:E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, often known as "Broadway's social conscience," was born on April 8, 1896 of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, raised in poverty on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and later attended City College of New York where he struck up a lifelong friendship with his classmate, Ira Gershwin. Yip was a master lyricist, poet and bookwriter who was dedicated to social justice.

On Broadway Yip began writing lyrics for multiple revues in the 1930s which included songs that became standards including "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," the classic anthem of the Depression (with composer Jay Gorney, 1932) and "April in Paris" (with Vernon Duke, 1932). He wrote lyrics for the satiric Life Begins at 8:40 (1934, with co-lyricist Ira Gershwin and music by Harold Arlen). He also conceived and wrote lyrics for book musicals with political and social themes, including Hooray for What! (1937, with an anti-war theme, music by Arlen) and Bloomer Girl (1944, feminist, anti-racist theme, music by Arlen). He co-wrote the book (with Fred Saidy) and wrote the lyrics for Finian's Rainbow (1947, music by Burton Lane) which won the Henderson and George Jean Nathan Awards for Best Musical Comedy, for Flahooley (1951, music by Sammy Fain), and for Jamaica, starring Lena Horne (1957, music by Arlen). He conceived the book and wrote the lyrics for The Happiest Girl in the World (1961, a musical version of Lysistrata, music by Jacques Offenbach). His last Broadway lyrics were for Darling of the Day (1968, music by Jule Styne).

In Hollywood, Yip Harburg wrote lyrics for numerous film musicals during the 1930's and 1940's. His most famous work was The Wizard of Oz (1939, with Arlen). In this classic, Yip conceived the integration of song and script, wrote the recitative for the Munchkin "operetta," and wrote the lyrics to all the songs, including the Academy Award-winning "Over the Rainbow." He was also the final script editor and made significant contributions to the dialogue. In 1962 he and Arlen scored the animated feature Gay Purr-ee (now a video classic featuring the voice of Judy Garland). From 1951 to 1961 during the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations and the McCarthy hearings Yip was “blacklisted” for his political views from film, television and radio. Broadway, however, remained free from this kind of censorship.

Altogether, Yip wrote the lyrics to over 600 songs with a variety of composers. "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1932, with Arlen), "Over the Rainbow" (1939, Arlen, which won the Academy Award), "We're Off to See the Wizard," "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" and "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe" (1943, Arlen, from the film Cabin in the Sky). Later, with Lane, he wrote "Old Devil Moon" and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" The team of Arlen and Harburg also wrote Groucho Marx's signature song, "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" (1939, from At the Circus). In 2006 Yip's two volumes of satiric light verse, Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965) and At This Point in Rhyme (1976) were reissued together in one hardcover edition under the title Rhymes for the Irreverent by the Freedom from Religion Foundation in cooperation with the Yip Harburg Foundation.

Yip followed the dream of democratic socialism: He believed that all people should be guaranteed basic human rights, political equality, free education, economic opportunity and free health services. He spent most of his life fighting for these goals; his songs "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and "Over the Rainbow" express these universal cries for hope in hard times to all peoples.

As Broadway's social commentator, and given his ability to "gild the philosophic pill" with witticisms and a lyric style all his own, Yip Harburg is a unique and major lyricist of 20th century American musical theatre.

Yip Harburg died on March 5, 1981 at 84 years young.

Let's Take A Walk Around The LES Block: From

The whole context of this post was a trip by 8th graders to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and then a neighborhood walk/scavenger hunt. The slide show was played prior to the visit to familiarize the students with the area. The scavenger hunt never materialized because of time constraints.
Here are all of my images set to this great Harold Arlen tune with lyrics by two original LES boys, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg. (rhyming Bangkok and Vladisvostok!) Song by two of my favorites, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral.
to be fixed
Someday we'll go places
New lands and new faces
The day we quit punching the clock
The future looks pleasant,
But at present
Let's take a walk around the block.
You're just the companion
I want at grand canyon
For throwing old blades down the rock
The money we have`ll go for travel
Meantime, let's walk around the block.
Gangway, we'll begin
When our, ship comes in
I'll sit on your lap
All over the map
To london in may time
To venice in play time
To paris in time for a frock
To boston in bean time
Darling, meantime
Let's take a walk around the block.
In winter at christmas,
We'll visit the isthmus
And see how they lock up a lock
And then in caracas, on a jackass,
We'll take a ride around the block.
We'll keep to our promise,
To visit st. thomas
And then at jamaica we'll dock
The prospect is thrilling,
Still i am willing,
Just now to talk around the block.
Onward, to cathay
Then to mandalay
Boom on to bangkok
P'r'aps vladivostok
We'll send the folks cables
Accumulate labels
Buy souvenirs till we're in hock
But since we are flat in old manhattan
Let's take a walk



Above was one of several scavenger hunt worksheets for my aborted post LES Tenement Museum tour of yesterday. I had a sheet like this for 4 blocks that were contiguous to the museum. After thinking beforehand about what would be a good activity I decided on one that would just require limited explanation and more exploration. The kids could go in groups with one adult assigned to each. I wasn't sure how many students there would be since it was a day I wasn't at the school and would just be meeting them on the LES. I also thought that the odds were high that any lecturing would be "mad" boring to the 8th graders after the museum docents. I also took a lot of pictures prior to the visit and later looked at them to decipher a pattern that they showed. The old and new theme was apparent.