Document text
1 ..t, c _ '4N
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORM
Circumstances of Interview
STATE New York
NAME OF WOBKER Herman Spector
ADDRESS 4121 Third Avenue, NYC
DATE January 17, 1939
SUBJECT BRAINS IN OBSCURITY
1. Date and time c interview
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
2. Place of interview During a banquet given at a Bronx neighborhood
social club on Boston Road
3. Name and address of informant Jack Turner, alias "The Kid."
KEEP IDENTITY CONFIDENTIAL: SEE NOTE
4. Name and address of person, if any, wno put you in
touch with informant. None
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
None
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Partitioned loft, with raised platform at one end apparently used as stage,
long table at one side, posters and mottoes on walls. Typical of numerous
workers, clubs in the section. Story is the result of a very brief, informal
interview obtained while people were moving about, chatting, eating sandwiches,
and kids of various ages were running about.
(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.)
FORM C
Text of Intervir:w (Unedited)
STATE New York
VM: OF WORKER Herman Spector
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
4121 Third Avenue, NYC
January 17, 1939
BRAINS IN OBSCURITY
FOLKLORF
NE' YORK
NOTE: This informant is something of a local character, a somewhat
frustrated little fellow in the late thirties or early forties who
likes to put on a show of erudition and intellect by sprinkling his
monologues with a few fancified phrases. Although fairly well inocu-
lated against serious criticism, he is very sensitive to ridicule, and
it is essential to keep his identity undisclosed. He is affectionately
known in the neighborhood as "The Kid" and remains, at bottom, rational
and well-disposed toward humanity, for which he seems to express con-
tempt. Despite the Marxist flavor of some of his terminology, which
has obviously been acquired via the cafeteria, he is in theory at least
a rugged individualist who fights the "dominating factors," as he calls
them, singlehandedly. He maintains that the world must be made safe
for the intellectual aristocracy, of which select body he is at least
a charter member. In speaking, he uses enough energy to supply each
of the Interborough Subway lines with electricity for a month's unin-
terrupted operation. It is said that he plays the violin with equal
vehemence, but fortunately I have not been compelled as yet to put
this rumour to the proof. He also claimed, half -humorously to be
sure, to be a "lawyer de facto if not in fact," and indeed, he makes
a noise like the best of them. The following resume is simply a
Vorspeisse (appetizer) of his gab; I intend to obtain larger and juicier
samples later on.
Wot can you do wid ninety percent of de population which is
still obscure? Which instead of admitting it, dey like to give somebody
de hee-ho an de high -ho? I said it previously an' I will say it again:
dey are merely products of dis procedure of society. When I say products
it means products of de social order, of de dominating factors of high
finance which I am fightiag for years singlehandedly, for deir own benefit
which dey will not understand. I see you are more or less a cultured
person, you look somewhat intelligent; tell me mister, what is your avoca-
tion? I am a musician, it makes no difference one way or de udder, but
I would like sometimes to play for you Beethoven an' Bach. Dat is, if
you are sincere. I am not so sure of dis; why are you smiling? A person
who is cultured should not mile.
You would like to know how I am fighting dese dominating
factors of de social order, dose organized banditry? I am fighting
dem constittiLonally of course, troo procedures. Frinstance, when de
3
Gas Company comes to my house ta turn off de gas. Dis is a highly
organized institution, dis is one of de universal structures of de
capitalist system, you admit dis? So I tell dis gasman, No, No, you
can't come in here, show me in de Constitution where it says you are
permitted to come in my house. Don't worry, I am not afraid of dose
people. If I can tell a judge wot I tink of him, which I already have
done and I can prove dis, don't tink I will yield so easily. Dis is
identically de work which I am doing. I also understand people, haw
dey are developing emotionally and how dey stand in our cultural society;
dis is a procedure entitled Psychology. Excuse me, stay where you are
dey are calling upon me to give a speech on dis occasion
(At this point, the informant was actually called upon to
take the platform and talk in honor of the guest of the evening, whom
he evidently knew quite well. He did so with a great flourish, calling
out for silence with a Joe Humphries voice, and launched pell-mell
into a harangue of which the following is a very inadequate summation:)
Ladeez an gentlemen, brudders an friends, an fellow workersi
Because of dese dominating factors of industry an high finance which
you had de privelege of hearing me speaking in de past, so we de people
from all de Bronx around came here to pay tribute to a neighbor and a
friend, also a partner to me in an enterprise entitled Merit, an I wish
to announce it is a great privelege an joy to be elected to dis occasion,
so I will speak a few words in de form of a script I say script,- a
script which was projected over de facilities of WOR in de year 1936,
which I have written an I can prove dis, de topic of which is entitled,
if you please, "11. critical satire on Brains, which are being paid to
keep udder Brains in Obscurity" which it didn't please de dominating
powers in command, so I have anudder title which is addressed to de
intelligent an discriminating people in dis vicinity, in brief: "war
is imminent and inevitable"
(I did not attempt to take dawn the context of The Kid's
"Script", which he told me was a two -minute oration given on the
"Listener Speaks" program of WOR, but he has promised to make it
available to me in the near future.)