SubscribePaige also had thoughts on a variety of other people, such as medicine show huckster Milton Bartok. On several occasions Paige recounted the vaudeville stories of Mr. Interlocutor and Mr. Bones. In one, Paige was Mr. Interlocutor while the master of ceremonies played Mr. Bones, who asked the famous pitcher to demonstrate his hesitation pitch. Paige stretched the windup out so long Mr. Interlocutor wondered if his arm had frozen. Charley Davis, who played two years in the Negro League before quitting baseball, was with Paige and Fox at this interview, and encouraged Satch to talk about his chicken pitch, a skit in which instead of the ball he threw a rubber chicken to the catcher.
Salary-poor ballplayers and reporters looked forward to meetings of local civic organizations. The athletes would speak, the reporters would record their words and then everyone would enjoy the rubber chicken dinner.
"All of us were the same age and sometimes that was the only meal we had for the day," says Frank Traynor, who was press secretary for Gov. William Donald Schaefer in 1991-92 and went on to become an executive with Bloomberg Financial News. "We'd compare the last time we ate.
"The only other option was the $1.10 special at Bonanza steakhouse, which consisted of a grilled cheese, fries, soda and a lollypop," says Traynor, who worked at the Bluefield TV station in 1977.
The endless series of public dinners and luncheons politicians must attend to raise funds and make speeches. The food often includes chicken, which is cooked hours earlier and then reheated, giving it a rubbery texture.Noting that Hellzapoppin debuted in 1938, and that the Loftus co. didn't start producing rubber chickens for commercial sale until 1939 (which is late for Vaudeville, and presumably in response to a broad understanding of what the joke meant) lends support to the idea that the humor in it arises from civic and political dinners. The political machines of the 1930s were notorious for luring voters and building allegiances with free dinners and the like. Chicken was a special-occasion food until the 50s, so it worked as bait ('a chicken in every pot').
The first I remember is the spitting image chicken song,
but then again, I was 11 at the time so I'm bound to remember it. All together now...
"It's the time of year, now that spring is in the air
When those two wet gits, with their girly curly hair
Make another song, for marronic holidays
that nausiate-ate-ates in a million different ways
From the shores of Spain, to the coast of southern France
No matter where you hide, you just can't escape this dance
Hold a chicken in the air, stick a deck-chair up your nose
Buy a Jumbo-Jet, and then bury all your clothes
Paint your left knee green, then extract your wisdom teeth
Form a string quartet, and pretend your name is Keith.
Skin yourself alive, learn to speak araphahoe
Climb inside a dog, and behead an Eskimo
Eat a Renault 4, wear salami in your ears
Cassarole your gran, dis-embowel yourself with spears
The disco is migrating, the sound is loud and grating
It's truly nausiating - let's do the dance again..
Hold a chicken in the air, stick a deck-chair up your nose
Buy a Jumbo-Jet, and then bury all your clothes
Yes you'll hear this song, in the holiday discos
And there's no escape, in the clubs or in the bars
You would hear this song, if you holidayed in Mars
Skin yourself alive, learn to speak araphahoe
Climb inside a dog, and behead an Eskimo
Now you've heard it once, your brain will spring a leak
And though you hate this song you'll be humming it for weeks
Hold a chicken in the air, stick a deck-chair up your nose
Buy a Jumbo-Jet, and then bury all your clothes
la la la la la la la...."
posted by handee at 1:42 AM on December 8, 2005