Document text
STATE
RAM OF WORKER
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
1. Ancestry
FORM
Personal History oV Informant
lest'fork
Mom Mk
tt Wort MO Pim%
Tillsrearjr MON Me
Maori of *ow Mi. alls
2. Place and date of birth
Pliihreary ant
3. Family
Sighs6op at Ms1i Theft*
4- Place. lived in, with dates
Sio sum memiliesid
5. Educationvwith dates
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
7. Special skills and interests
S. Community end religious activities
9. Description of informant
10.. Other Pointe gained in tpterthertri,
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
STATE
INAE OF WORKER.
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
FORM C
Text of Interviow (Unedited)
New York
Terry Roth
4? West 69 Street
February 34, 1939
Folklore of Stage Hands
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
'Hey, Matt, That ye think about yer brotherly love now, Whati Ya
aint hoard? They give 4morts brother in law one in the can at the lodge.
Sure -.they kicked him right out on hissa,Ant him a member of the lodge for
twenty years. Last tAsetint he gets up ta make a *peso& abort how hots strapped
for dough on aeoounta the depression. Ant kin you rigger it out' They says,
"No dues, no lodges, An' him a brother for twenty years. Ya know what? In
another five years he's a henry member; a free ticket, So I ees to quer. What
ya think about that brotherly love crap now/ Ws like I *away* say, In this
world ya gotta take care a your own love. All them things is a racket, MOS
(by the Catlic (hurch for 'mint on the level, Sure,' Ya gotta have fate in
the church. Like I says, ghetto in it for them? rigger it out.
It's like that guy over there hots got a sepration frum the gift. Yalu
Ale he got a kid, too, so the court makes him kick in the dough for a bond.
Then, if he dent pay the nissue a certain amount every week, the court kin take
the seven buoks outta the bond, what they think a guy is, a millionaire? Like
I was readint in the paper. That any one guy outta ten hangs on ta five huned
busks solls hots got it all together. Kin ye believe that? But It's true, Ye
know how it goes. Ye save up a couple bucks, !el, ye got sonepun else, 7hat when
iya got the WO? any one outta ten.
2
Hey, Red. Leave the dancer alone. Dent ya see you're marked lousy.
What a dog life you're gonna lead from now on,
0.X. So you're beefinl. If the hours are too long, wyn't ya have a
union. Or be a clerk. Koiki aive him a piece a paper an' a pencil sot he's a
clerk. So when 4$30 comes, he's gotta go home. Ya think ya helpin0 us here.
All you do's get 111xed up in that Spaghetti (electric wire) up to your neck, Now,
Koik. He believes all that crap about the show gain' on. Don' get Ym wrong. He
just was raised on that stuff.
Oh Kelly wid the big fat belly. It's all gain' down in the book. Ya
betta not say nothinl. Ya know---ap.ae it up from the short line and then come dawn
altogether. Ya betta talk staae talk to her. Then maybe she dot krow what's all
about.
Say, Elmer, Kelly can't hannel all the apaghetti h:self. Ya betta
take a look downstairs an get a coupla guys to help out. I'm aouaa drop a line to
it an' heat it up on the short. That's an awful he-, pull, Fred. Whet ya got,
Mitt? What ya holdinl? Oh, it's ale butter tub Joe with the dancer. 'That's
goint on down there, Ant I'm stuck up hare. Hey Uatt. get Joe to go fifty fifty
or I'll rub him out.
Christi Aint there no end. There's a million yards of that Spaghetti
comint up. Ohl I love that. Okay,Fraakie. Tie those trays dead dawn there and
leave the pipe line free. Wyatt ya give yourself up. Now start feedin' your
second boom up. Heavy on the juice now. An' see if there's somepun else dawn
stairs but grips. (men who move flat sets about)
Here's Jake. Don't climb the stairs. Ye gotta come up on the ladder.
Ant bring up some extra line to drag up this cable. The sunofsbitch. That brace
aint long enough. Eimeri What the hell did ya tie that god damn wire off here.
You'll be surprised what'll happen when we get through with that sorewinl. Yeh.
Ya hoard me. 1 need a piece a pipe, a half by five. Cherry it up ta me, willya?