Document text
FOLKLORE
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORM A
Circumstances of Interviow
STATE 1Jew York
NAME OF WORKER Sidney Ascher
mwEss 434 E. 98 St. Erooklyn,
DATE November 23, 1938
SUBJECT SU:3WAY FOLKTALK
1.
1. Date and time of interview lovember 21
2. Place of interview 1. R. T. Subway (New Lots Line)
3. Name and address of informant
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
toucn with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
STATE
--i;ew York
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
!CANT OF WORKER Sidney Ascher
ADDRESS 434 E. 98th S Erooklyn, N. Y.
DATE November 23, 1938
SUBJECT SUBWAY STUFY: FOLKTALK
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
A trip in the city's subways may, if one is so inclined,
prove to be more educational than a college course in psychology;
more entertaining than a good motion picture and more dramatic
than Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is reasonable to suppose that since
New York City is a melti pot of all types and nationalities, an
alert observer may,if he wishes, obtain an absorbing cross-section
of the life, loves, happiness and sorrows of the Lew Yorker.
During the morning rush hour (from about seven to nine)
one sees people rushing madly about to :et on a train as if there
will not be another for at least an hour: As a matter of fact, during
rush hours, trains are run on a one minute schedule. The New Yorker
is fully aware of this but he still insists on crowding into a train
until he loses his individuality and becomes merely one of the "tightly
packed sardines in a car that lacks only the oil to make the illusion
complete."
After nine o'clock and until about two in the afternoon we
find housewives going downtown to see if the stores have any "specials"
or else to attend a "bargain matinee."
At three o'clock the trainsbecome filled with homeward bound
students. The noisy pupils are either straphanging, indulging in a
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bit of horseplay or heckling the conductor,but regardless of what
they say it is at the top of their lungs. Infrequently some are
to be found actually reading a text book.
After four o'clock the trains become jammed with workers
who are goin7 home. And just as much as they hurried to get to work,
so do they shove madly into a train to -et home. After six -thirty,
the trains are occupied by recreation seekers. The same wild, crowding
rushing Hew Yorker out to play but this time he -proceeds at a slower
pace. Some are bound for a =vie, others to night school, a show,
meetin,-, concert or lecture. And so until after midnight when the
trains take on a new class of passengers. The night worker, that
individual who lives an abnonlal life, who works while the city sleeps.
It may be noted that he does not rush to work. Men and women hurry-
ing home so that they may -et a few hours sleep before beginning their
daily workout on the morning train. Toward dawn the is a lull. The
passen_ers are sleepy individrals, drunks, and homeless. And so on
it goes, day after day.
Two Jewish -irls, (with little education as their conversation
seemed to prove) about nineteen years of age were discussing their
"dates" of the ni-,ht before.
One was slender, with nice features, and a clean, clear
complexion, that is, it might be clean were it not for the fact that
her face was struggling under an over -generous coating of powder End
rouge. Her eyebrows were tweezed to a fain tapering line, and for
her beautiful eyelashes credit must go to some false eyelash manufacturer.
Her thin lips were smattered with a thick layer of purple (Ye Gods!)
lipstick. Her beautiful black hair was dressed in "page boy" style,
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and she wore a black sport hat with a long feather, and a plain black
box coat. The second girl was about the same height as her companion,
five feet three inches. She was pleasingly plump, around 150 lbs,
and was also disguised with a poor paint job which she must have deemed
so vital. In addition, she was also the possessor of a moustache which
peeped through faintly in spite of an obvious application of peroxide
or some other hair lightener.
Hiss Moustache is speakin-, "Yeh, I hed some lousy time las'
night. I thing he's a fag. Wheredoyuh think he took me? Yeh, we
went to a 1 -7 -,roadway show but was that lousy. What was it about? It
was so stupid. I didn't even know whet it was about myself. Some old
man gets another man up in a tree and then he puts a fence around it
so he couldn't get out. It was so dumb. All the time the man was in
the tree nobody could die. If that wasn't dumb I don' know what is.
I would rather want to see Tobacco Road. Sadie told me they talk
ri-ht out plain in Tobacco Road. It's a wonder it wasn't raided Sadie
said. (The show Miss Moustache described so brilliantly was "On
Borrowed Time, cne of the season's biggest hits.) You think my Mother
raised crazy children? Sure we ate. He said he wanted to co to the
Automatic to eat just for the fun of it. I gave him fun. I'm wise
to that baloney. We went to Chin and Lees. After we ate, he took
me home. Yeh, and he lives all the v7ey in the Bronx. Yeh, I think
he's faggy. Whatta think-- he didn't eventry to kiss me good-ni7h
So what if it's the foist time we went out --maybe I wouldn't of let
him kiss me but he coulda tried. No, he didn't ask me for another
date. I think he's a f. Say whatta 'bout you Where didja go?
Miss Purple Lipstick replied, "Oh, we just went to the chinks,
and to the movies. "We saw "If I was King." Gee, that Ronald Colman,
can he kissl He can put his shoes under my bed anytime. It was one
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of them custom pictures. No. rrances Dee was the 7irl in the picture.
She looked so pretty. She has a ion,- face. Didja ever notice? Gee,
they way they push around in this train. I hadda use my hatpin yesterday.
Some wiseguy had hand trouble. They oughta have special trains for
women. Somebody slit my girl friend's coat last week with a razor
blade or somethin'. She didn't even know it was cut until she got
off the train. They oughta catch the louse who does them things.
I'm changin' at Utica, Rosalind. Will I see you tonight? Come over
to my house, I'll letcha do my nails. So Long.
(Two girls-- First Miss--)
Gee whi,, it gets worst every morning, If I ever quit my
job its gonna be because of the c'ush in the trains. By the time I
get to work I'm knocked out. I'd work for a couple of dollars lest
if I could get a Brooklyn job. You know, I'm sorry I couldn't meet
you las' night. It was like this --when I got home I was so tired that
I taught I'd take 25 winks --so I laid down on the couch and woke up it was
ten o'clock-- so what did I do? I got undressed and went to bed, and
like a dope I couldn't sleep all night. So maybe it wasn't so smart
to take the 25 winks. Was it a good picture?
(Second Miss)
It's good you didn't go. I dun't like dese silly pichures.
The Ritz Brothers are awful silly. I liked the oder pichure, "The
Lady Objects," see dat pichure learns yuh somethin'. It was refeened.
It shows how you can't have your husband and a good job both at the
same time. If I get a man with a decent job he should make his thirty-
five dollars a week steady, I'd give up my job --no career for me.
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(Girl to man who is reeding her paper over her shoulder.)
If you want I should give you this paper, so se --I wouldn't
want you to strain your eyes. You wouldn't think of taking my paper,
so alright, don't be reading it with me. I'm not being sarcrastic
but if you haven't two cents to buy a paper for yourself I'm sorry
for you. Some nerve, you wouldn't buy the -irrorl
Two men shabbily dressed, one, the speaker is in need of a
shave, and haircut, they are about thirty years of are....
Just think, I'da had a couple hundred bucks this morning
if it hadn't been for my lousy brother-in-law. Aw, he's an awful
2-07.11. Saturday in the shop I got a tip on a horse and nobody
wanted to lend me money to place a bet. I went to my lousy brother-
in-law and asked him to go partners with me. So what think, the
skunk he asts for security. Whatta nut. Didja ever hear of settin,_
security when you bet on a nag? So, he didn't wanna go partners and
he wouldn't lend me the money. So I ate my heart out when the nag
pulled in to win and paid 57. I coulda kilt my lousy brother-in-law.
When I tole him the horse won --he said he was clad he didn't bet because
if he woulda won he mighta been encouraed to bet again, and then
before he knows he'd be losing a lotta money. Some louse.
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Miss Purple Lipstick of a previous "subway s -tuff" tale is
tailing to a younL), man
Say, what happened to your friend Jack, did he drop dead? He
hasn't come around to see my girl friend for a week. I heard she's
in love with him, Anyway he's got a hell of a nerve. Haveyuh -ottapiece
of :um. He makes a date with her. That's why we came down to the club.
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She was all dres ed up and there he is in a polo shirt. Is that
the rictht thing to do? Where can you go in a polo shirt?
4:-.38:**iHHHK-.3:-.;HE.*****-:1-48HHHHHHHH8:
A shabbily dressed middle a-ed man carrying a carton---
Laydees and Gentlemen --A very famous stationary manufacturer
whose name is so big that if I were to mention it, you'd know immediately
who I mean --has his warehouses overstocked and that's why I'm selling
these mechanical pencils and notebook sets at less than the cost of
manufacture. I have to clean out the warehouses. Yes, siree, this
beautiful pencil and notebook is made in America by American union
labor. I'm selling the set for one dime. The pencil expels, repels
and mis-spells, hah, hah. Who else wants one of these beautiful sets?
Brinr, one home for the kiddies. Have one in your office. Huy one,
buy a dozen. Ten cents a set, and as an extra special for today only
ten sets for one dollar.