"With Thousands Dying / Thousands Lacking Homes / I Sit and Labor / With My Trivial Poems"
I am not the first person in my family to keep a blog. Sam Fishback started "City Ditties" in October, 1937, under the pen name "Poisson Lac." This archaic form of blog was then known as a "journal" (pronounced: [jur-nl]). The 20-year-old New York City postman made observations on global politics and city events, with the occasional personal anecdote. He also wrote humorous verse. I'd like to share a few highlights, as I peruse the archive...
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December 12, 1938
Left Wing Hollywood and Broadway gave their all for Spain at Mecca Temple last Sunday night. Gypsy Rose Lee did a superlative bit in her striptease satire. It was a striptease with a social significance. Remarking to the audience that she no longer can do that which made her famous, she said, "but for Spain," she would "strip everything." (And strip she did, way down to three tiny patches covering no man's land (but all men's paradise).) When she lifted her skirt, exposing an exciting pair of gartered bestockinged legs, she said, "Now if only we could lift the Spanish embargo!" Gypsy's take-off brought down the house.
February 5, 1939
"Words Words Words!"
You've talked with the girl for weeks
And you know your minds are compatible
Ne'er at a loss for something to say
Your topics for gab are indefagitable
Before you met her your voice was strong
But now it's down to a whisper
Tell me, my talkative topic tickler:
When - Oh - when will you kiss her?
November 15, 1938
...The Jews must go to that country where there are "livings" for all and where the Jews are not looked upon as an undesirable minority because of their race. That country, where the Jews could go, unfortunately does not allow them to enter. The Soviet Union has fought for twenty years to rid its people of religious and commercial ways of thought. Hence that nation finds that it would be dangerous to allow in to its lands a group, the Jews, famous for their religious steadfastness and their commercial cliverness. What is more, Trotsky was a Jew, and the Jews might be harboring a few more Trotskys. What then prevents the Jews from finding a homeland in Russia? Their religion and their business talents. Two eternal millstones around the Jewish neck. Again I say, Jews must cease being Jews. Jews must cease being capitalists or tradesmen. ...Russia now can't forget that Trotsky was a Jew. Perhaps Russia will remember that Karl Marz was also a Jew. Perhaps the new Russian film "Professor Memlock" (portraying Nazi persecution of the Jews) will be followed by a Soviet offer of haven for the Jews. Prestige lost by the recent purges can be regained by such a gesture. Of course, the Soviet offer cannot be an unconditional one. Any Jew who settles in Russia must forget his prayer book and his account ledger. He must become a "godless" worker. He must forget that past of his heritage, his religion that has brought him much more sorrow than joy. How many Jews, if offered a place where they can live and work unmolested, will accept the offer? How many only want a place to pray? I feel that most Jews, especially the young ones, would take the Soviet offer, conditional (and at the present time, conceptual) as it is.
February 4, 1939
"Know Thyself (Superficial Fishback)"
Superficial Sam Fishback
(Pseudonym is Poisson Lac)
Never can let pass a crack
For puns his brain he loves to rack
Why does Fishback have few friends
Though often backwards he does bend
Won't someone him this message send:
"Words are Means and never Ends."
***
Maybe I'll share more later.
Love
Dan
nl
***
December 12, 1938
Left Wing Hollywood and Broadway gave their all for Spain at Mecca Temple last Sunday night. Gypsy Rose Lee did a superlative bit in her striptease satire. It was a striptease with a social significance. Remarking to the audience that she no longer can do that which made her famous, she said, "but for Spain," she would "strip everything." (And strip she did, way down to three tiny patches covering no man's land (but all men's paradise).) When she lifted her skirt, exposing an exciting pair of gartered bestockinged legs, she said, "Now if only we could lift the Spanish embargo!" Gypsy's take-off brought down the house.
February 5, 1939
"Words Words Words!"
You've talked with the girl for weeks
And you know your minds are compatible
Ne'er at a loss for something to say
Your topics for gab are indefagitable
Before you met her your voice was strong
But now it's down to a whisper
Tell me, my talkative topic tickler:
When - Oh - when will you kiss her?
November 15, 1938
...The Jews must go to that country where there are "livings" for all and where the Jews are not looked upon as an undesirable minority because of their race. That country, where the Jews could go, unfortunately does not allow them to enter. The Soviet Union has fought for twenty years to rid its people of religious and commercial ways of thought. Hence that nation finds that it would be dangerous to allow in to its lands a group, the Jews, famous for their religious steadfastness and their commercial cliverness. What is more, Trotsky was a Jew, and the Jews might be harboring a few more Trotskys. What then prevents the Jews from finding a homeland in Russia? Their religion and their business talents. Two eternal millstones around the Jewish neck. Again I say, Jews must cease being Jews. Jews must cease being capitalists or tradesmen. ...Russia now can't forget that Trotsky was a Jew. Perhaps Russia will remember that Karl Marz was also a Jew. Perhaps the new Russian film "Professor Memlock" (portraying Nazi persecution of the Jews) will be followed by a Soviet offer of haven for the Jews. Prestige lost by the recent purges can be regained by such a gesture. Of course, the Soviet offer cannot be an unconditional one. Any Jew who settles in Russia must forget his prayer book and his account ledger. He must become a "godless" worker. He must forget that past of his heritage, his religion that has brought him much more sorrow than joy. How many Jews, if offered a place where they can live and work unmolested, will accept the offer? How many only want a place to pray? I feel that most Jews, especially the young ones, would take the Soviet offer, conditional (and at the present time, conceptual) as it is.
February 4, 1939
"Know Thyself (Superficial Fishback)"
Superficial Sam Fishback
(Pseudonym is Poisson Lac)
Never can let pass a crack
For puns his brain he loves to rack
Why does Fishback have few friends
Though often backwards he does bend
Won't someone him this message send:
"Words are Means and never Ends."
***
Maybe I'll share more later.
Love
Dan
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Dan Fishback is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Dan Fishback may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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