Once Upon a Time in New York by Herbert Mitgang

Author:Herbert Mitgang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cooper Square Press
Published: 2000-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Long afterward, the thievery of Sheriff Farley and the other members of the citywide tin-box brigade contributed to the creation of the 1959 Broadway musical comedy Fiorello! The brilliant lyrics (copyright, by Sheldon M. Harnick) to a song titled “Little Tin Box” included these lines, slightly abridged here:

Mr. X, may we ask you a question?

It’s amazing is it not

That the city pays you slightly less

Than fifty bucks a week

Yet you’ve purchased a private yacht?

I am positive Your Honor must be joking,

Any working man can do what I have done.

For a month or two I simply gave up smoking

And I put my extra pennies one by one

Into a little tin box,

A little tin box

That a little tin key unlocks.

There is nothing unorthodox

About a little tin box.

Mr. Y, we’ve been told you don’t feel well

And we know you’ve lost your voice.

But we wondered how you managed on the salary you make

To acquire a Rolls Royce?

You’re implying I’m a crook and I say No Sir,

There is nothing in my past I care to hide.

I’ve been taking empty bottles to the grocer

And each nickel that I got was put aside . . .

Into a little tin box,

All aglitter with blue chip stocks

There is something delectable,

Almost respectable

In a little tin box,

In a little tin box!

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