Document text
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Forms to to be Filled put for Each Interview
FORMA
Circumstances of Interviow
MATE New York
NAMIEOF MIXER Arnold Manoff
ADDRESS 27 Hamilton Terrace
DATE Nov. 15, 1938
SUBJECT GAMES PLAYED ON CONCORD AVE: _ DICKSTEIN
1. Date and time of interview Monday Nov. 14, evening
2. Place of interview
2060 Buhre Ave. Bronx, New York
3. Name and address of informant Ben Dickstein
2060 Buhre Ave. Bronx
4. Name and address of person, if any, wtio put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Three room apartment in modern elevator building. Simply furnished
with an eye for traditional comfort in the middle class Yiddish
styre. Parlor contains a nice fat sofa and two easy chairs, radio,
two lamps, coffee table. Colors red and green plush. Apartment
has shiny unlived-in appearance. Neighborhood is extremely quiet,
this building being the only house of its kind as far as the
eye can see. Location in Northeast section of Bronx, next to last
station on the Pelham Bay line. This is still suburban territory;
many empty flat lots and private houses. Reminds one of Long Island;
same flat stretches. One hour by train from Grand Central. Many
retired and pensioned people live in this area.
(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.)
FORNI
Personal HisterY or Informant
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKER Arnold Manoff
ADDRESS 27 Hamilton Terrace
DATE Nov. 15, 1938
SUBJECT GAMES PLAYED ON CONCORD AVE.:- DICKSTEIN
1. Ancestry
RUSSO YIDDISH
2. Place and date of birth New York City some 27 years ago
3. Family Married no children
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
4. Places lived in, with dates
5. Education, with dates College Grad. CCNY 1933
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
Employed as Laboratory Technician by the Westchester Square Hospital
Previously employed by the Bronx Hospital
7. special skills and interests
8. Comunity and religious activities
9. Description of informant
Handsome lanky man, prematurely grey hair. Lean quiet face,
sprawling lazy manner.
V). Other Points gained in interview
FORM C
Text of Ilterview (f-nediLe'Ll)
STATE New N"Calk
NE OF WOAER Arnold Manoff
ADDRESS 27 Hamilton Terrace
DATE Nov. 15, 1938
SUBJECT GAMES PLAYED ON CONCORD AVE: DICKSTEIN
FOLKLOBE
NEW YORK
The time I lived on Concord Ave., that was the time'when I
was a kid and we used to see the nurses from Lincoln Hospital go by
every day. Well at nightlespecially in the summer timelall the kids‘..
came down after supper and we'd get up a game of something. Sometimes
we'd play basketball near the light. There was an old hag that lived
on the rocks in one of those old wooden shacks. Well we used to play
basketball under the light near the rocks and she had a flight of
wooden steps that you had to climb to get on the rocks. There was
a slit like on top of the steps and that was the basket. Oh yeah we
played Ringo Leavio and Johnny on the Pony and Hop Scotch. Jesus
when I think of it we did a hell of a lot things then. There was a
kid, we used to call him Iron Back because he could hold up pretty
near the whole gang on his back and when we played Johnny on the Pony
and you landed on Iron Back's back, boy, you knew it! It was as hard
as a rock. There was another kid, Uncle Snot we used to call him. He
was the dirtiest looking specimen I ever laid my eyes on. I remember
he was always "It" when we played Chase the White Horse. I'll tell
you. Let's see. Yeah, now first we'd all line up on the curb and
somebody was "it". We always picked Uncle Snot the first time.
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Everybody could bop him around. We line up behind Natie who was
the leader of the gang and Uncle Snot is right off the curb in front
of Natie and he is bending over like when you play leap frog. So
first you have to perform three initiations on him. So Natie used
to start it off. He used to say "Eagles Grip1" And then we'd all
do the Eagle's Grip on Uncle Snot's back. You held your hands like
claws and then zinol you dug them into his back. That was the
Eagle's Grip. Then maybe we'd give him Brush the Collar. That one
you took a sock like this. (Slanting blow with the palm of the hand
on the back of the neck) Then there was another initiation called
"Shoot the Cannon". That was a hot one. You got behind the guy who
was "it" and you let him have it right in the pizazza and boy did
he flyl Then there was Dump the Apple Cart but we didn't do that
one much because it was hell on the spine of the guy who was "it"
You jumped over him like in leap frog but instead of landing on
your feet, you landed on the end of the guy's spine and if you did
it right he'd go over like a light. There were other initiations
I think but I can't remember them. Well, so when we got through
with the initiations there were other things we used to do before
Natie would hollar, "chase the white horse" and give the guy who was
a chance to nab somebody else. But the guy who was "it" never
knew when the leader was gonna call Chase the White Horse. One of
the 'things we used to do before Chase the White Horse was Elephants
in a Row. The first guy would hollar "elephants in a rowl" Then
he would jump over the back of the guy who was "It" and he would get
down next to him so the next guy had to jump over two guys' backs.
And then three and then four and so on. So sometimes depending on
how many guys were playing, you had to jump over ten backs and if
you missed and landed on the pile you were automatically "it".
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Then there Trees in a Row which went like this. You jumped over
the back and where you landed that's where you had to stay. Then
you would stick your hands out like branches and if the next guy
touched you when he jumped over, he was "it". By the time it got
around to the last guy, it was a pretty mean business to land
without touching anybody. Then there was Dead Men in a Row which
was just like Elephants in a Row except instead of kneeling like
in leap frog you lay out straight and the guy behind you had to
clear you on the jump. Sometimes you got landed on. Jesus! I
don't know how we used to take it. Another one we did waa Engine
Number Nine. This was my meat. I'd always be the last guy in
Engine Number Nine. You worked it like this. The first guy would
wrap his mitts around the lamp post and the next guy would held
on to one of his legs picking it off the ground. And each guy
would pick up the other guy's leg like that and when it was all
set like that in a chain,each guy with one leg off the -ground,we
would pull the other guy's leg like all hell and we'd hollar,
"Engine Number Nine!" three tines and if anybody let go the
other guy's leg, he was "It". If nobody let go, the s ame guy as
before was "It". As soon as a new guy was it he had to go through
the initiatio,,s. Then there was Lightening which went like this.
The first guy would suddenly holler "Lightening!" Then the guy
who was "It" had to count one two three four five six seven eight
nine ten and if everybody wasn't off the sidewalk by that time
all he had to do was tag a guy who was still on the sidewalk and
that guy was "it." When the leader was through with all the
initiations and the other things he knew, he usually would holler,
"chase the white horse" and as soon as he hollared that he would
jump over the b ack of the guy who was "it" and start running down
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the street. Then the next guy would jump over and follow the leader
and so on. When the last guy had jumped over the back of the guy
who was "It" the guy who was "it" had to count ten and then he would
start to chase the gang. That was the best part of the game. The
leader could go anywhere on the block and you had to follcw him
and do whatever he did. Natie used to raise hell when he was the
leader. He used to run in the alleys and bang the garbage pails
as he passed by. What a racket that made! Sometimes Old Man Klinke
the Superintendent would come running out and swear at us in Polish.
Sometimes we'd follow Natie up on the roof and raise hell up there.
If the guy who was "It" tagged somebody before the leader got through
and came back home, the guy who was tagged became "it" and we started
all over again. But the way we worked it Uncle Snot was always it,first
because he was the slowest runner and second because even if he did
nab somebody, nobody would stick up for him. When Uncle Snot got
tired the game was over. Another game we used to play was called
Pinch and Ouch. This is how it went. One guy was "it" and the
rest of us used to line up side by side in the gutter./ The guy on
one end was called Pinch and the guy on the other end was called
Ouch. Then weld all g rab hands and start moving up the street,
with the guy who was "it" out in front. He had to keep his distance
in front otherwise he would get a boot in the can from someone on
the line if he came too close. Then the Pinch guy would pinch the
hand of the guy next to him and so on until the Ouch guy got it
on the other end. When he got it he was supposed to hollar OUCH!
This was the signal for everybody to turn around and run like hell
back to the sewer which was the base. If the guy who was
tagged somebody before he reached the base, the guy who was tagged
became "it". We used to yell while we marched up the street,
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"Fifty feet awayl Fifty feet away: The captain used to say!
Now we gotchal Now we gotcha.' Waddya got to sayI" I can't
think of anymore offhand. The names of the kids? Well there was
Uncle Snot and Iron Back and myself, they used to call me Bo Evil
or just Bo. Then there was ilatie and his brother Blackie and his
other brother Chink or Itzhuck we sometimes called him. There was
Hymie Poop, Two In Georgie, Johnny O'Brien who turned out to be a
good soccer player. There was Whitey and Blinkey and Murray and
his brother who we called Ogre Moishe. There was a guy we called
Home .4ews because he used to deliver the Home News. It was a tough
neighborhood. We didn't play games all the time. When we got a
little older we stopped chasing the white horse and started chasing
the girls, yeh, and instead of shooting the cannon we began to
shoot the dice. And plenty of other things. Yeah and then I
went to College, but it didn't exactly reform me.