Monday, July 6, 2009

I Quit.


One of the most famous resignations in Amercian History was of Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan at the dawn of World War One. The story in the history books was that he resigned in protest over President Wilson's handling of the sinking of the Lusitania. But the true story was that he resigned over the sinking of his broken heart into a pool of despair.

You see in his frequent trips to New York City, Secretary Bryan struck up a very close friendship with a young ingenue of the Yiddish Theatre named Molly Picon. It seems that what really attracted him to her was the fact that she had a pet monkey.
You see Miss Picon was heavily involved in the rescue attempts by animal lovers to prevent the abuse of organ grinders monkeys which where forced to work in squalid and dangerous conditions by unscrupulous hurdy-gurdy men. Now the monkey that Miss Picon rescued happened to be very talented and in fact was an excellent organ grinder in his own right which Secretary Bryan discovered in a gin soaked three way on the Lower East Side. He continued to haunt the theater and send flowers and bananas to Miss Picon to point that he became a figure of fun and derision. Such terms as "Hot Monkey Sex" and "He has a Monkey on his back" originated during this unfortunate time of sexual obsession.

Finally Miss Picon was forced to break it off with the venerable statesman who became distraught and inconsolable to the point that he resigned his office and moved back to the hinterlands.

He only came out of retirement whenever there was an attempt to destroy or somehow harm monkeys, apes or any other erstwhile simian Americans. He became a vindictive and hateful old man. But many a night he sat and rocked on his porch and dreamed about those glorious nights with his little Yiddisher momma and her monkey.
(I Quit, the History of Resignations in American History by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pocket Books 2007)

10 comments:

ricpic said...

Molly Picon was 4' 10" of hot stuff.

Trooper York said...

Yes but she had a monkey on her back.

With a strap on.

Penny said...

So her monkey had the Napoleon complex! Not to mention a bit of the Bull "dyke" Durham in her. ;)

Well not literally "in her", but you know what I mean.

No wonder William quit. It's one thing to love a short woman, but it is a WHOLE other ballgame to love her formerly pitching monkey playing short stop.

chickelit said...

Interesting. Could WJB have quit because of complications of SIV? What you're suggesting is actually a mechanism for the transfer of SIV to humans.

I have always considered simians loathesome and do not consider them my distant cousins. Not to be rude, but I have to agree with the late Charleton Heston:

Take Your Stinkin' Paws Off Me You Damn Dirty Ape!

Peter V. Bella said...

Hey Ripic, she was a spinner!!!!

The Dude said...

They all are, if you are large enough.

Anonymous said...

For some odd reason, I found myself humming "Guitarzan" while reading that.

Darcy said...

LOL. These are very funny!

And I'm having trouble getting on your blog from home again! Soon to be fixed by getting a new machine. :(

Loved the pic of you and family in Florida!

Hoosier Daddy said...

I thought that was Hugh Hefner sitting next to Peter Boyle.

I think I need a new prescription for my contacts.

Penny said...

I learn something new every day at Troop's place.

I will never hear "spinning" again without a silly few seconds of the visual that Peter V. Bella and NKVD just set up.

hahaha

This takes that song, "Dizzy", to a whole other place.