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7AD,riv
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORM A
Circumstances of Interview
STATE Now York
NAME OF WORKER Vivian Morris
ADDRESS 225 West 130 Street
DATE May 15, 1939
SUBJECT A Sailer en Shore Leave
1. Date and time of interview
2. Place of interview
3. Name and address of informant
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms,
each bearing the proper headinb and the number to which the material
refers.)
STATE
NAME OF liORKER
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
Now York
Vivian Morris
225 Wes t 130 Street
May 15, 1939
A Sailor on Shore Leave
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
"What tine is it, lady?"
"Four o'clock, sailor."
"Jesus Christ: It's late as hell!"
"What's the rush?"
*How far's the river, lady ---gotta be there by .4415."
"0, you'll make it. Three blocks over. From the Fleet, eh?"
"Yeh, lady. I got 24 hours shore leave, ant now I'm runnint back
to the tub."
"Not much leave, huh?"
"Nope, not much. I wuz havin' one swell tine. Enjoyed m'self like
all hell, an, now I gotta beat it back. Some stuff, eh?"
"What for ---on duty?"
"Duty? You said it, Miss, duty, hell: Gotta beat it back to the
galley and rustle up a moss uv food for them officers; I'm late as all glory
now. W etta break! Here we been offa shore for weeks beatin' it up an'
down the 'feast from Canada to the News an' now this here one chance to git
your feet on dry land ---an' New Yawk tlboot---this here chance is gotta
be busted up by shovlinl mess to them there officers. Justice, hell:
There ain't none:"
2.
"Tough, huh? Seen much here?"
"Yeh, tough. Yeh; I been at the World's Fair the first day. We
got passes, we guys. Some show, all right. We git ourselves some eyeful.
Yessir. Took in the town, too; some big place."
"If you don't mind my asking you, where do you come from?"
"Oh, down in some two by four town down in South Carolina."
5t"What made youa ke to the FleetnOf
*What kindyou do? Me, a young guy lookin' for wuk when they ain't
none gets born', t'say the least. They ain't any w uk to be had in them
small towns ant I didn' want my folks to start supportin' a big guy like
me, so I went off from home ant hitched into Charleston. Charleston's
a big town ant I had hopes tigit some wuk, but I sure wee fooled. They ain't
no wuk, 'specially for us folk that's got cullud skin, so I git the idea of
hikinl over to the Navy Yard over to Newport News ant looked around. Havin'
a coupla cents left ain't no fun so I flopped into the recruitinl office
an' here I am. Hunger's a funny thing. Makes you do funny things. It
ain't so bad, gentrally speakint, but I'd like to do sumthint commercial
like---yeh, lady, in industry."
"Have you been in New York before?"
"Yeh, once; a couple years ago. Been traipsint arount on these tubs
from Panama up the coast an' over to Europe ant the Pacific."
"Been dawn to the lest Indies much?"
"Yeh, I been dawn there plenty atimes. I been over to Puerto Rico
A
ant Haiti, ant Trinidad. No, I ain't ever been over to Jame lea ylt but
Ibsen over to the Virgin Islands. Pardon me, lady ---excuse me ---but it
always strikes me funny. Only one trouble 'twat them Virgin Islands
They ain't no virgins there. lope, they's all married in St. Thomas.
3.
No virgins there —maybe outside atawn, but none in St. Thomas.
We were gonna go to Europe, but on account of the crisis 110 Europe
now. Hope I make that there launch. —Thanks, lady, so long —thanks
a lot.--