Sunday, December 13, 2015

DONALD TRUMP AND SIDNEY




Well I’ll be dipped if I can find an on-line reference to it, but I distinctly remember most of a jingle that, on the early days of television, regularly played on, I believe it was NYC Channel 5 – the DuMont station. DuMont was always supportive of minorities, and they regularly aired public service messages like the one about Sidney S. Snigglegrass. It was sung to a lively tune:

Sidney S. Snigglegrass, Jr. was told
Of a magical lamp with a genii of old.
When he rubbed on the lamp
Came a great flash of fire,
And the genii appeared saying:
“What’s your desire?”

Said Sidney: “It’s my desire that every man of foreign descent 
                       be sent 
                         back to where he came from.”

And bam! The oceans were jammed,
Boats and barges appeared,
And thousands and thousands
Of folks lined the piers.

And on it went, until Sidney, holding his magical lamp, was the only one left on the pier. I’m surprised that Sidney himself wasn’t whisked away. I can’t dredge any more of the song out of my memory banks, and I couldn’t find it on Google.

What it said then, and what it means now, should be a lesson to Donald (The Mouth) Trump: this nation was built, and is still building, by people of foreign descent. What’s your background Donald? Many races, many colors, many creeds, along with the people who lived here to begin with: we’re not quite yet the “melting pot” we’d like to be. There are still distinct lumps in the soup, but we’re stirring like crazy and it should be a delicious mix when it’s done. We can’t go along with any loud mouth who declares that the borders should be closed and the nation fenced in.  


And I am unanimous in this. 








2 comments:

  1. Here is a reference perhaps - wasy down in this document www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/TV6AA.PDF

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    1. Many references to the DuMont station there, and yes! there it is on page 11: the mention of "Snigglegrass" cartoon used for Brotherhood Week. Thank you so much for finding this for me. It just might be time to bring Sidney back to the air waves.

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