Does Anyone Remember?
by
Robert Betts
(Age: 62)
copyright 04-06-2005
Age Rating: 10 to 127
Back in the 50's and early 60's there was a movement to build fallout shelters. There was a very real fear that Russia might launch a nuclear strike against the US. However, many questioned if the shelter might become simply a tomb for those who used it. I remember a humerous poem from this era but can't remember all of it. I believe it was one of the folk groups who recited (not sang) it on one of their albums. Kingston Trio? Smother's Brother's? Brothers Four?
I searched the web for phrases that I'm sure of from the poem but could not find it at all. Somehow I feel it's a classic and needs to be preserved. It has some wonderful double and triple rhymes and alternating terminal rhymes. All in all, it is delightful.
Hammakaschlemmer is (was?) a company in New York City which is (was?) rather famous for supplying totally off-the-wall, distinctive, different items. I know not if the company is still in business or if I've spelled their name correctly. (footnote: They do exist and they have an online store: http://www.hammacher.com/ for someone who has everything *smile*)
Can anyone help? Complete the poem? Credit it properly? Does it ring a bell with anyone else?
This is the beginning of it, the first stanza:
Thanks to David Pekrul and Anthony Lane Stahlhut for helping to find the source. It was the Chad Mitchell Trio in their 1964 album "The Slightly irreverent Chad Mitchell Trio". I was able to find a copy of the track, "Rhymes for the Irreverent" on the web and transcribe it here. The poem was written by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg1896/98 - 1981
A poem by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg
Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a shelter,
worthy of Kubla Kahn's Xanadu dome,
Plushy and swanky with posh hanky-panky
that affluent yankees can really call home.
Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a shelter,
a push-button palace, florescent repose,
electric devices for facing a crisis,
with frozen fruit ices and cinema shows.
Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a shelter,
of chromium kitchens and rubber tile dorms
with waterproof portals to echo the chortles
of weatherproof mortals in hydrogen storms.
What a great come-to-glory emporium
to enjoy a deluxe moratorium
where nuclear heat can beguile the elite
in a crem-de-la-crem crematorium
* ~ * ~ *
500 Points to anyone who can complete this,
200 points for any signigicant information
Points won:
David Pekrel - 500 Pts
Anthony Lane Stahlhut - 200 Pts
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Like Regina, I'm a late-comer, but I lived through
those days in Pennsylvania, where we had air raid drills almost daily. I've been here a little more than a month now and am enjoying the camaraderie. I like reaching out to touch people, and being somewhat shy face to face, I chose writing to speak for me. ^-^
its seems i have come too late to help you find what you needed but that is a good thing it means you found it after all i am glad. i would just like to say how great it is to see so many people working together and not giving up to help you find such a great poem i think i am gonna like it here
Its funny how our minds remember things from the past. Sometimes just sitting there and all the sudden memories of long ago will resurface and you can relive special moments of the past. This is a great poem for the times and subject. Thanks for remembering it Bob. Anthony
The poem comes from "Rhymes for the Irreverent" by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg. I am trying to find the whole poem on the internet, but haven't yet. I'll keep looking.
Regards,
David Pekrul
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