“Don’t Bogart that joint, my friend…”

On June 24, 1968, ABC Records released the self-titled first album by The Fraternity of Man, a California-based rock band whose members included former Mothers of Invention guitarist Elliot Ingber and a young, 17-year-old singer and songwriter named Larry Wagner.

The album wasn’t a big hit. But it included a humorous, country-flavored song that coined a new slang term.

The song’s lyrics were written by Wagner, who was nicknamed “Stash” by the band. The music was written by Ingber.

They titled the song “Don’t Bogart Me.”

Today, it’s more commonly (though mistakenly) referred to as “Don’t Bogart That Joint.”

That phrase, from the song’s chorus, became a slang term meaning “don’t keep holding onto that marijuana joint — pass it on and let other people have some.” 

Initially, awareness of the song and the Bogart term was primarily limited to “Hippies” (a name coined by San Francisco journalist Michael Fallon in 1965).

That changed in 1969, thanks to actor Dennis Hopper, one of the pot-smoking hipsters who knew the song.

Early that year, Hopper was engrossed in editing the new film he’d created with his friend and co-star Peter Fonda — the seminal counterculture classic Easy Rider.

As he edited the movie, Hopper chose some of songs he’d recently been listening to for the soundtrack.

One of them was the Fraternity of Man’s “Don’t Bogart Me.”

When Easy Rider premiered in the US on July 14, 1969, the song and it’s drug-related slang term were launched into worldwide fame.

Soon, millions of people who had never heard the 1968 Fraternity of Man album were familiar with the phrase “Don’t Bogart that joint.”

The use of “Bogart” as a verb eventually became an idiom used in association with things other than just a marijuana joint.

Indeed, today, you get thousands of, er, hits if you Google “don’t Bogart” -joint (using the minus sign to find uses that do not include the word “joint”).

There are various theories about why Humphrey Bogart’s last name came to be used as a verb that was originally tied to smoking something.

The one that makes the most sense to me is that, in many of his classic films, Bogart often has a lit cigarette hanging from his lips but is not actively smoking it. He’s just letting it burn and turn to ashes.

Bogie may or may not have liked the way his name was used in the song. But somehow, in my mind, I can imagine him and Dennis Hopper in the afterlife gleefully singing “Don’t Bogart Me” together.

And, thinking about that makes me want to sing along. If you want to join us, click the video link at right. Here are the lyrics…

Don’t Bogart that joint my friend
Pass it over to me
Don’t Bogart that joint my friend
Pass it over to me

Roll another one
Just like the other one
You’ve been hanging on to it
And I sure would like a hit

Ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ll another one
Just like the other one
That one’s just about burnt to the end
So, come on and be a real friend.

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Related listening, viewing and reading…

“A boy’s best friend is his mother.”

When Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho was released to movie theaters in the United States on June 16, 1960, it wasn’t immediately embraced by critics.

For example, the New York Times critic Bosley Crowther opined in his column the next day that the ending “falls quite flat.”

He added: “But the acting is fair.”

Of course, in the decades since then, Psycho has been recognized as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.

It also includes one of the most famous movie quotes of all time: “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” (#56 in The American Film Institute’s list of Top 100 Movie Quotations.)

In context, the line is a witty double-entendre, as are many other lines in the film.

“A boy’s best friend is his mother” started out as a sappy proverbial saying of uncertain origin.

It wasn’t coined by Psycho scriptwriter Joseph Stefano, or by Robert Bloch in his 1959 novel that inspired the film. And, it had been used less memorably in previous movies, such as The Awful Truth (1937).

But in Psycho the creepy relationship between lead character Norman Bates and his mother gave the saying a dark, drily humorous significance that is apparent once the plot unfolds.

The line comes fairly early in the film, during a conversation between Norman (Anthony Perkins) and Marion (Janet Leigh) inside the Bates Motel.

Perkins added his own fillips to the scripted line, which is why you sometimes see it quoted as “A boy’s best friend is his mother” and sometimes as “Well, a boy’s best friend is his mother.”

What Perkins actually stammers out is “Well, uh – a boy’s best friend is his mother.”

The scene starts when Norman brings Marion a tray of food and invites her to eat it in his back room behind the office, where the walls are covered with dead birds he has stuffed.

After you’ve seen Psycho and know how it ends, reading a transcript of the scene makes it even more clear just how smart and subtly funny it is.

[Lines as spoken…]

MARION: I’ve caused you some trouble.

NORMAN: No. Uh – Mother – m-my mother, uh – what is the phrase? – she isn’t quite herself today…

MARION: (Indicating the tray) You shouldn’t have bothered. I really don’t have that much of an appetite.

NORMAN: It’s all for you. I’m not hungry. Go ahead. (Delightedly watching her eat) You – you eat like a bird.

MARION: (Nodding to the stuffed birds) You’d know, of course.

NORMAN: No, not really. Anyway, I hear the expression ‘eats like a bird’– is really a fals- fals- falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But I don’t really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things – you know – taxidermy...

MARION: A man should have a hobby.

NORMAN: (Sitting back) Well, it’s – it’s more than a hobby. A hobby’s supposed to pass the time – not fill it.

MARION: Is your time so empty?

NORMAN: No, uh – well, I run the office, and uh, tend the cabins and grounds, and – and do little, uh, errands for my mother – the ones she allows I might be capable of doing.

MARION: Do you go out with friends?

NORMAN: (Pause) Well, uh – a boy’s best friend is his mother.

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Related viewing and reading…

“Elvis has left the building.”

Even people who aren’t Elvis Presley fans know the line “Elvis has left the building.”

Credit for popularizing this famous quote goes to Al Dvorin, a Chicago bandleader and booking agent hired by Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker in 1957 to help organize Elvis concerts and serve as an announcer at the shows.

From the late 1950s until Presley’s death in 1977, Dvorin spoke these familiar words at the end of “The King’s” concerts, to let audiences know a show was definitely over and that Elvis would not be coming back for any more encores.

The most widely heard use of the line by Dvorin is on the live album Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden, taped at a classic Presley concert at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 1972.

That album has been listened to by millions of people around the world. On the last track, titled “End Theme,” Al Dvorin is heard saying:

       “Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night.”

Dvorin’s use of “Elvis has left the building” (sometimes preceded by “Ladies and Gentlemen…”) is so well known that some websites erroneously claim he coined the line.

In fact, although he did make it famous, he didn’t say it first.

It was actually coined as an off-the-cuff remark by Horace Lee Logan, the producer of Louisiana Hayride.

Louisiana Hayride was a pioneering country and early rockabilly music show broadcast on radio from 1948 to 1960 and on TV from 1955 to 1960 from Shreveport, Louisiana.

It helped launch the careers of many famous music artists, including Elvis Presley.

Elvis first appeared on the show in 1954, not long after his first single “That’s All Right, Mama” was released by Sun Records and before he was widely known.

Over the next two years, Presley had a string of hits and became a star.

When he returned for a final appearance on Louisiana Hayride on December 15, 1956, his young fans mobbed the auditorium in Shreveport where the show was held.

Elvis was the third of many performers scheduled to perform that day.

After he gave a final encore and exited the stage, many of the young people in the crowd continued screaming for him.

Some stood up and began leaving, either hoping to see Elvis outside or not seeming to understand that the Hayride show was not over.

At that point, according to many written sources, Hogan took the microphone and said: “Please, young people...Elvis has left the building. He has gotten in his car and driven away...Please take your seats.”

In an excerpt from an audio recording of the show, the words Hogan uses are slightly different (though it’s possible that the written sources and recording may both only include part of what he said that day).

What Hogan can be heard saying in the audio version is: “All right, uh, Elvis has left the building. I've told you absolutely straight up to this point, you know that, he has left the building. He left the stage and went out the back with the policemen and he is now gone from the building.”

Further confusing the issue is the fact that at least one version of the audio posted on YouTube credits these words to KWKH disc jockey Frank Page, who was the radio announcer for Louisiana Hayride.

Based on what I’ve read and other recordings of Page’s voice I’ve listened to, I believe the voice in the Louisiana Hayride audio is Horace Logan.

I’m also pretty sure that some sites credit audio clips to Hogan that are actually the voice of Al Dvorin.

What seems certain is that the phrase “Elvis has left the building” was first used at at the end of Presley’s appearance on Louisiana Hayride on December 15, 1956 and that it was later picked up and popularized by Al Dvorin — whose most famous use was recorded at the Elvis concert at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 1972.

 

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Further reading: some recommended and recent books about Elvis…

“Never let them see you sweat” was launched into our language on this day in 1984…

In 1984, the Gillette Company launched a new series of TV commercials for its Dry Idea antiperspirants that introduced what quickly became a famous ad slogan: “Never let them see you sweat.”

According to the Gillette’s trademark registration for the slogan, it was “first used in commerce” on June 7, 1984.

The TV ads featured celebrities who mentioned three “nevers” for their profession — the last of which always included “never let them see you sweat.”

This highly catchy slogan is credited to veteran ad man Phil Slott.

Slott was especially hot at the time, having also recently coined the Navy recruiting ad slogan: “It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.”

The Dry Idea commercials were memorable not only for their tagline, but also because they were witty and well-performed by the celebrities who were featured.

In case you missed them, here are the scripts for some of the commercials in the series that have been posted on YouTube (click the links to view the ads)...

DONNA KARAN (Fashion Designer): [NOTE: This ad is in the clip at about the 3 minute mark.] There are three nevers in fashion design. Never confuse fad with fashion. Never forget it’s your name on every label. And, when showing your lines to the press, never let them see you sweat.  ANNOUNCER: That’s what new Dry Idea solid is all about. Maximum control. It keeps you drier than any other solid.  KARAN: Feeling tense is understandable. Looking tense is unfashionable.  ANNOUNCER: Dry Idea. Never let them see you sweat.

DAN REEVES (Head Coach, Denver Broncos): I think there’s three nevers to being a winning coach. Never let the press pick your starting quarterback. Never take a last place team lightly. And, really, no matter what the score, never let ‘em see you sweat.  ANNOUNCER: That’s what new Dry Idea aerosol is all about. It keeps you drier than the leading aerosol.  REEVES: Everyone feels pressure. Winners don’t let it show.  ANNOUNCER: Dry Idea. Never let them see you sweat.

LAUREN HUTTON (Actress): There are three nevers to getting older in Hollywood. Never audition first thing in the morning. Never try to play a character half your age. And, even if your leading man is prettier than you are, never, never let ‘em see you sweat.  ANNOUNCER: When the spotlight’s on, no other solid keeps you drier than Dry Idea solid.  HUTTON: Believe me, Dry Idea handles sweat a whole lot better than some people handle birthdays.  ANNOUNCER: Dry Idea. Never let them see you sweat.

ELAINE BOOSLER (Comedian): Well, there are three nevers in comedy. Never follow a better comedian. Never give a heckler the last word. And, no matter how bad a joke bombs, though it’s never happened to me personally, never let ‘em see you sweat.  ANNOUNCER: When you're center stage, new dry Idea roll-on is the best roll-on there is.  BOOSLER: In comedy, being nervous is natural. And, looking nervous is deadly.  ANNOUNCER: Dry Idea. Never let them see you sweat.

By mid-1990s, the ad series had run it’s course.

Eventually, Gillette let its trademark for the famed slogan expire and sold the Dry Idea line to the Dial Corporation (now a US division of the German consumer goods conglomerate, Henkel).

But the line “Never let them see you sweat” is still quoted, repurposed and parodied today.

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Related and recommended reading…

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by the American-born British poet T.S. Eliot, is one of the most famous poems of the 20th Century.

It was first published on June 1, 1915 by Poetry magazine, an influential Chicago-based journal read by literary luminaries and poetry buffs in both America and Europe.

Although critical reception of the poem was mixed, it launched Eliot’s career as a poet and gave him initial visibility that grew to worldwide fame with publication of his other early masterpieces of modernist verse: “Gerontion” (1920), “The Waste Land” (1922) and “The Hollow Men” (1925).

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was included in Eliot’s first book of collected verse, Prufrock and Other Observations (1917).

It remains one of his most best-known poems and contains several passages found in many books of quotations.

One of those oft-quoted passages comes from the beginning of the poem:

       “Let us go then, you and I,
       When the evening is spread out against the sky
       Like a patient etherized upon a table.”

In literal terms, an evening spread out like an anaesthetized patient makes no sense.

But, like much of the verse Eliot wrote, it evokes an image that works memorably as poetry.

As the poem proceeds, it becomes apparent that the character speaking is an old man who seems disillusioned, lonely, bored and unhappy.

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” he says in one of the poem’s most famous lines. (Sometimes misquoted as “I have have measured out my life in coffee spoons.”)

Other passages express the old man’s haunting feeling that life and love have passed him by and that he may have let them pass, by settling into a humdrum existence.

In another oft-quoted part of the poem he says:

       “I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
       I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
       Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?”

The poem ends, gloomily, with these final famous lines:

       “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
       By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
       Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

Eliot’s poetic trip inside an old man’s mind in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was not based on his personal experience.

He was only 22 years old when he began composing the poem in 1920 and only 26 when it was first published.

I suspect that, in part, the poem reflects the sense of dread many young people feel when they realize they might reach old age without having pursued their dreams, without ever having found true love, without escaping the sometimes soul-crushing limitations imposed by society and the need to make a living.

As Eliot reached middle age and beyond, his work became less gloomy.

His even wrote comedic plays and a book of whimsical poems about cats titled Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (the basis for the hit Broadway musical Cats).

Eliot’s last well-known poem, published in 1959, suggests that, after an unhappy first marriage, he found happiness with his second wife, Esmé Valerie Fletcher.

It’s a romantic, almost sappy bit of verse titled “A Dedication to My Wife” that has become a popular wedding poem.

Apparently, Esmé helped Eliot escape the lonely fate of his character J. Alfred Prufrock.

When they wed in 1957, she was 32. He was 68.

To which I say: good for you, old man.

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Further reading: about and by T.S. Eliot…