In 1952 two men named Johnny Standley and Art Thorson produced a 45rpm comedy recording called "It's In The Book". It featured a sermon-style presentation of "Little Bo-Peep" on Side A and a song entitled "Grandma's Lye Soap" on Side B. Here's the song:
1. You remember Grandma's lye soap
Good for everything in the home
And the secret was in the scrubbing
It wouldn't suds and couldn't foam.
Refrain:
So sing right out for Gramdma's Lye Soap
Good for everything, everything in the place
The pots and kettles, the dirty dishes
And for the hands and for the face.
2. Little Herman and brother Thurman
Had an aversion to washing their ears
Grandma scrubbed them with the lye soap
And they haven't heard a word in years. (Refrain)
3. Mrs. O'Malley out in the valley
Suffered from ulcers, I understand
She swallowed a cake of Grandma's lye soap
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land. (Refrain)
The last part of the second verse popped into my head today and I suddenly thought of quite a few words I haven't heard in years:
lavaliere
antimacassar
humidor
gramophone
impetigo
mercurochrome
merthiolate
culottes
campho-phenique
ipana
brylcreem
toadstool
Gentian violet
dirigible
ecru
snood
heliotrope
taffeta
organza
Saint Vitus' dance
faille
cotillion
dirndl
mustard plaster
What are some words you haven't heard in years?
You probably know that the months of July and August were named in honor of Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, but did you know that although Julius Carsar said "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered), Mrs. Julius Caesar said "Veni, Vidi, VISA" (I came, I saw, I did a little shopping).
In other news, this past Tuesday was the Fourth of July here in the United States. Actually, this past Tuesday was the Fourth of July all over the world but it has special significance in the United States where it is celebrated as our day of independence from Great Britain in the days of the late Queen Elizabeth II's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, George III, some 247 years ago on July 4, 1776. Thus it is, friends, that in just three short years my country will be observing its SEMI-QUINCENTENNIAL (a big word that may or may not catch on).
My personal observance this year included eating a hot dog, not attending a parade, and yelling "Who is Absalom?, "Who is John Singer Sargent?", and "What are the Brandenburg Concertos?" at the television set during periods of complete silence from the contestants on Jeopardy!, and I do not take those freedoms lightly.
I want to end this post by sharing with my vast reading audience (I'm joking, unfortunately) possibly the best four-line poem I have ever read. Called "The Middle", it was written by Ogden Nash, an American who is best known for lighthearted, humorous stuff. "The Middle" is neither lighthearted nor humorous, but strikes a chord deep within us:
When I remember bygone days
I think how evening follows morn;
So many I loved were not yet dead,
So many I love were not yet born.
Our lives are short in the overall scheme of things. Cherish your life and the lives of those you love and have loved, the human beings who preceded you, who are with you now, and who will look back on you as one who preceded them. Like it or not, we are all connected to others.
Gramma's lye soap is from the distant past. Good you reminded me of it or it would have been pemanently deleted from this brain.
ReplyDeleteI beg to disagree! Tryannosaurus Rex is from the distant past. Stonehenge is from the distant past. But 1952 (year Grandma's Lye Soap was composed ) is not the distant past; it is only 71 years ago. I am glad, though, that it hasn't been permanently deleted from your brain. Thanks for commenting, Red..
DeleteYou awakened so many memories here. I have two fanciful poems for you.
ReplyDeleteHalfway Down by A.A. Milne
Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!
and
Hiding by Dorothy Keeley Aldis
I'm hiding, I'm hiding
And no one knows where;
For all they can see is my
Toes and my hair
And I just heard my father
Say to my mother -
"But, darling, he must be
Somewhere or other;
Have you looked in the inkwell?"
And Mother said, "Where?"
"In the INKWELL?"said Father. But
I was not there.
Then "Wait!" cried my mother —
"I think that I see
Him under the carpet." But
It was not me.
"Inside the mirror's
A pretty good place."
Said Father and looked, but saw
Only his face.
"We've hunted," sighed Mother,
"As hard as we could
And I am so afraid that we've
Lost him for good."
Then I laughed out aloud
And I wiggled my toes
And Father said —"Look, dear,
I wonder if those
Toes could be Benny's?
There are ten of them, see?"
And they WERE so surprised to find
Out it was me!
Emma, those are two wonderful poems and I was not familiar with either of them. I do recognize the name A.A. Milne, though. I am pleased that my post awakened many memories for you. Thanks for commenting..
DeleteI don't even know all of those words! I can't think of words I haven't heard but I'm noticing the younger peoplpe around me no longer talk of jumpers but of sweaters, there are no more biscuits but cookies, even nappies are being exchanged for diapers.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Australia is slowly becoming Americanized, perhaps? (Not necessarily a good thing.) Thanks for commenting, kylie.
DeleteI really feel that this post deserves a really considered comment. I've actually printed it because I would live to comment meaningfully but don't have enough time at the moment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Graham. I look forward to receiving more from you anon.
DeleteGraham, congratulations! You have won the "Longest Comment Sweepstakes" for this round, your 63-lines beating out Emma Springfield's 61 lines by the hair on your chinny-chin-chin.
DeleteI won't attempt to reply point for point. I will just make a few scattered remarks of my own.
1. Lye soap is alkaline as opposed to acidic.
2. One of my mother's favorite dresses was ecru faille, ecru meaning off-white, light beige, cream-colo(u)red and faile being the type of material. A dark brown lizard-skin shoes and handbag compleed the outfit.
3. Merthiolate and mercurochrome were red liquid antiseptics applied to minor scratches and cuts. One stung like the dickens; one didn't sting at all.
4. Campho-phenique helped relieve the itch of mosquito bites.
5. You apparently are not familiar with the format of Jeopardy!. The answers are provided as clues that must be responded to in the form of a question. Hence I was asking "Who is ____?", "What is _____?" an so forth NOT because I didn't know the answer but because those WERE the answers, provided in the format required. Make no mistake, I am familiar with the Brandenberg Concertos, as well as ohn Singer Sargent (a painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries)..
6. The relevance of Ogden Nash's poem, in my opinion, is that one must not make the mistake of thinking that the middle of one's life (noon?) it the apex. Middle age knows the joys (and sorrows) of childhood and youth (morning) but not the joys (and sorrows) of what will occur later during afternoon and evening (old age).. In one's later years, one can see the bigger perspective of one's entire existence in a way that is impossible to grasp earlier..