BUMBO JUMBO
BUMBO JUMBO was not gibberish.
The ironclad warship was invented in 1592.
At the age of 92, she sprout teeth.
Can you imagine that?
Well, my friends, this is the first of a whole series of little visits that we are going
to have together during the next few weeks. That is, if you will allow us the pleasure
of coming into your homes and chatting with you every now and then. This is Lindsay McHarrie
talking to you, and my little playmates and I think we've dug up quite a spectacular array
of little known facts and fancies. Some of them not so fancy, but nonetheless amazing.
And they're all facts, yes indeed. Every one of the statements and dramatizations you're
about to hear are, according to all available sources, absolutely true. So if you'll make
yourselves comfortable, we'll be back in a trice.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well here we are, and our first scene is in the corridor of the General Hospital in Knoxville,
Tennessee, April 14, 1938. A couple of nurses are standing by the call board talking to
an intern when...
Now who's that?
Oh, it's 392. Oh, that's Aunt Mary.
Poor old soul. She's so patient. That fall she had about four years ago, just about later
up permanently.
Well, I'll go see what she wants.
Say Lester, when did 364 have his last hypo?
Just ten minutes ago. I haven't...
Oh, Dr. Holmes, come here quickly.
What? Well, I wonder what's happened to Aunt Mary. Come on, Lester, we may need help.
Doctor, Aunt Mary is teething.
What? What are you talking about?
Now, don't you laugh now, young man. Yes, it's true, I'm teething. Look, see here?
Well, it is true. She's sprouting a new tooth.
Yes, sir. Old Aunt Mary rule. 92 years old was sprouting a new set of teeth. The doctors
explained that although it didn't happen very often, such a situation generally was caused
by a failure to replace baby teeth in childhood. Can you imagine that? I'll bet there won't
be any water under her bridges.
Say, I just happen to think. We think our navies are pretty smart. We look at those
leviathans of war steaming past and we marvel at those almost impregnable hulls of steel.
But you know, we're not so clever. No, sir, 400 years ago, the Koreans... Oh, but I'm
getting ahead of my story here. In the 16th century, Korea was under the control of China.
As usual, Japan was looking with envious eyes on anything controlled by her ancient rival
and suddenly invaded the little peninsula country with 300,000 men. Well, China came
to the rescue and during one of the many bloody naval battles, the commander of the Korean
Navy Yi Sun-sin was standing on the deck of his flagship.
What was that? Lee-Tan, what is that sound? I do not know. It is not thunder. Oh, I know
it is not thunder. Look, there is smoke coming from that Japanese ship. Ah, Excellency, one
of our ships is sinking and these ships of Japan is no way near it. I know. I know what
they are doing. In a recent battle on land, the Japanese have used strange weapons that
shoot small balls of metal into the hearts of our soldiers. Now they are using larger
weapons of the same kind to sink our ships. Lee-Tan. Excellency. Give the command to turn
about and return to port. Our ships are faster than those of Japan. We can escape them this
time, but we will come back. We will come back.
We will come back. He did. Yes, sir. Some time later, Yi Sun-sin, commanding a new ship
built to his order, sailed into the midst of the Japanese Navy. Now we shall see. The
leading ship of Japan is coming nearer. Soon they will shoot their balls of iron toward
us. Then we shall know. Now. God is my Father. Let me look. We are safe. The ball of iron
has only dented our hull. Lee-Tan. Give the command to sail full speed into the center
of the Japanese. We will win this battle for Korea.
Yes sir, they did win too, because Yi Sun-sin had built himself a boat with a wooden hull,
but plated on the outside with sheets of iron. And the cannon balls of the Japanese had little
effect. Can you imagine that? During that six-year bloody war, the Japanese used firearms
for the first time against a foreign enemy, and Yi Sun-sin invented the first iron-clad
warship. Say, uh, what's that big African native doing? Why, he's just giving utterance
to a little mumbo jumbo. And that's where you're wrong. That's gibberish, or jargon.
Many people think that that's the meaning of mumbo jumbo, but it isn't. Well, indeed,
what is mumbo jumbo? Originally it was a little tuft or pom-pom worn on the hats of the men
of some of the Negro tribes of the western Sudan. And they wore their mumbo jumbos to
frighten their women and keep them under firm discipline. Can you imagine that? Well, here's
another little tidbit we dug out of the past. On January 3rd, 1912, Charlie Powers, a clerk
in the city of Stockton, California, decided to have himself a time in the big city of
San Francisco. Consequently, he spruced himself up, had his hair cut, donned his new shepherd's
plaid suit, red tie, and brown shoes with the pearl buttons, and headed for the bay
city aboard the old steamer, Pride of the River. There he curled himself up on a berth,
but alas, he forgot to lock the door of his cabin. As the boat was docking, Charlie awakened.
Oh, my clothes, my new suit, my new shoes. Oh, hey, somebody, stop the boat. I've been
robbed. I've been robbed. My clothes. Look, look at that train. Say, I'll bet he's a stowaway.
Hey, what's going on here? It's that man, sir. He's a stowaway. Oh, a stowaway. No, no,
I'm no stowaway. Somebody stole my clothes. Oh, yeah? Likely yarn, fella. Come on, come
on, off the boat with you and quick. Oh, wait a minute. I'm no stowaway. I'm no stowaway.
Poor Charlie Powers. His clothes appropriated, he found himself with an old pair of badly
worn brogans and the rags of a night of the road, nothing more. And in the pockets of
his stolen suit was all the money he had saved for his holiday. So he made his slow, sorrowful
way to the freight yards to catch a ride on the rods. Hey, where you heading, bro? Stockton.
Me too. Come on, here's a string going out in about 10 minutes. Come on, Vo, here's a
couple of nice clean rods. Okay. See, how do you... Hey! Jumping catfish, what's eating
you? My clothes. That bum's got my clothes. Hey, hey, what you doing, bud? Lay off of
me with your stuff. You're the one that stole my clothes. Give them to me. Ah, Gwen, you're
daft. All right, then I'll take them off of you. Give me those clothes. Out of the crowd
the quickly gathered stole the strapping San Francisco policeman. Separating the combatants,
he escorted them to the city Bastille, where Charlie Powers retrieved his clothes and some
of his money. Wending his homeward way remarked Charlie with admirable philosophy. Never again.
Stockton's good enough for me. Can you imagine that? One of the most interesting and enjoyable
phases of this series of Can You Imagine That? is going to be the revelation of some odd
facts concerning some of your favorite musical numbers. Here's the first one. I'm going to
ask our quartet to give you about eight measures of a grand old hymn in the garden. As you
hear the melody, see whether or not you can associate it with an extremely popular number
composed almost 35 years ago. I come to the garden alone. I come to the garden alone.
Could you hear the similarity in that hymn to an old popular ballad? Well, those eight
bars are identical to the first eight bars of... Oh, but wait a minute. Listen to this.
They called her frivolous salve, a peculiar sort of a gal.
Yes, friends, it's My Gal Salve written by Paul Dresser. And poor, big hearted Paul never
lived to know the tremendous enthusiasm with which his last song was later greeted. He
was sure it would be fully as successful as his great song On the Banks of the Wabash
Far Away, but he had loaned so much money to former friends and associates in show business
that he couldn't afford to push it and he died without sharing in its ultimate great
popularity. On the front cover of the original song copy, by the way, is a picture of a very
attractive young lady, the young lady who first sang My Gal Salve, a young lady whom
dressers so respected that he allowed her to use his name as a stage name. Have you
guessed who she was? Yes, it was the famous actress Louise Dresser. Can you imagine that?
They called her frivolous salve, a peculiar sort of a gal. With a heart that was mellow,
an all-round good fellow was my old pal. Pure trouble, sorrows and care, she was always
willing to share. A wild sort of devil, but dead on the level was my gal.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed our first session of Can You Imagine That? And you'll be back
the next time we're around to visit you on this same station, won't you? We all hope
so. Yes, indeed. And until then, this is Lindsay McHarrie bidding you goodbye, which is really
just an abbreviation of the warmer farewell, God be with you.