Amazing picture, eh? … Groucho Marx and Lydia … by Mark Fredrickson …
And now, a little bit of history … AND geography … sung by Groucho …from At the Circus, 1939 (a song I MUST memorize!):
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia the Tattooed Lady
She has eyes that folks adore so
and a torso even more so.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia
Oh Lydia the Queen of Tattoo
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo
Beside it, the Wreck of the Hesperus too
And proudly above waves the red, white, and blue
You can learn a lot from Lydia!
La-la-la…la-la-la, La-la-la…la-la-la
When her robe is unfurled she will show you the world
if you step up and tell her where
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree
or Washington crossing the Delaware
La-la-la…la-la-la, La-la-la…la-la-la
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia the Tattooed Lady
When her muscles start relaxin’
up the hill comes Andrew Jackson
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia the Queen of them all
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz
with a view of Niagara that nobody has
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz
You can learn a lot from Lydia!
La-la-la…la-la-la, La-la-la…la-la-la
Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon
Here’s Godiva, but with her pajamas on
La-la-la…la-la-la, La-la-la…la-la-la
Here is Grover Whelan unveilin’ The Trilon
Over on the west coast we have Treasure Isle-on
Here’s Nijinsky a-doin’ the rhumba
Here’s her social security numba
La-la-la…la-la-la, La-la-la…la-la-la
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia
Oh Lydia the Champ of them all
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat
And now the old boy’s in command of the fleet
For he went and married Lydia!
I said Lydia…
He said Lydia…
They said Lydia…
We said Lydia, la, la!
Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
.
Virginia Weidler gave Lydia a jaunty rendition in The Philadelphia Story, 1940 … with sofa skeptics, Ruth Hussey and James Stewart …
Movies, Of Course! 