Re: Slowly I Turn

[EMAIL PROTECTED] ((null)) wrote:

>Does anybody know the reference to this phrase:
>
>"Slowly I turn... step by step... inch by inch..."
>
>I've heard it in a few settings, and it's like a quote from a book or a movie that I 
>should know. Anyway, if anybody has and idea of where it's *from*. I'd like to know.


http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/6/messages/1155.html

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Posted by Rephah on December 12, 2000 at 18:34:08:
In Reply to: Re: Slowly I Turn posted by bob on October 19, 2000 at
06:07:07:

: : : : Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "Slowly I turn, step by step, inch 
by inch"? I been looking for almost a year, but can't find it.Thanks!

: : : It's from a Three Stooges movie, "Gents Without Cents" made in 1944. Curly says 
"Niagra Falls" and Moe (who was under some sort of post-hypnotic suggestion? I don't 
remember) turns on him and launches into the speech. (I dunno. Seemed funny when I was 
a kid.) See www.imdb.com for good sources of movie quotes, trivia, etc.

: : This was also from an Abbott and Costello movie entitled "Lost in A Harem".
: : Many of Bud and Lou's best-known routines were vaudeville and/or burlesque 
standards. The "Niagara Falls" bit ("Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch...I 
took my revenge.") was performed by many teams before becoming identified with Abbott 
& Costello.

: I had a suspicion that it might be an old burlesque routine. I met a man once, in 
1968, who was a high school earth science teacher from Colorado who, as a 
hobby/scholarly pursuit, spent his summers tracking down old burlesque comedians to 
record oral histories of the routines, many of which were not written down. People on 
the circuit just knew them. He also interviewed strippers, many of whom were elderly 
now, and recorded some wonderful stories. I don't know if or where he ever published 
them. Ring a bell with anybody?

It must indeed have been a burlesque or vaudeville routine. I've seen
an episode of "I Love Lucy" in which Lucy wants to go on stage. An old
vaudeville actor comes to her house and gives her an acting lesson. He
sets out to teach her the act "Slowly I Turn." This actor was
traumatized by a bad marriage--I think his wife left him--to a woman
named Martha, and he can't stand to hear her name. As he demonstrates
the vaudeville act, every time Lucy innocently says "Martha," he hits
her. 
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http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/slowly.html

"SLOWLY I TURNED": A PIECE OF AMERICA'S POP CULTURE
By Rebecca Day
Tell a non-resident you're from Niagara Falls and the likely response
will be, "Niagara Falls! Slowly I turned ... step by step ... inch by
inch ..." 

Where'd that come from? Some remember it as an old Abbott and Costello
or Three Stooges routine. Others may recall it from an episode of I
Love Lucy. 

They're all right. 

The skit, which was well known on the vaudeville circuit, goes
something like this: A bedraggled man buttonholes a stranger and tells
him a tale of betrayal and vengeance. A rogue seduced his sweetheart.
He trailed the miscreant from town to town, finally catching up with
him in Niagara Falls, where he pummeled him mercilessly. The hearer of
the story haplessly says the magic words, "Niagara Falls," causing the
man to turn on him and mete out the same punishment. 

Sometimes a different town was the red-flag word. Abbot and Costello
performed the "Pokomoko" version in their 1944 film, Lost in a Harem.
The improbable storyline revolves around the pair traveling to Arabia
to recover the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, which has been hypnotized into
playing only for the villain. Okay. They pose as Hollywood talent
scouts. At one point, they end up locked in a jail cell with a
lunatic, who does the "Slowly I Turned" routine.  

That same year, the Three Stooges incorporated it into their short
feature, Gents Without Cents. In this episode, the Stooges are
out-of-work actors who meet three dancing girls in similar
circumstances. They all get a job in a show, where they perform the
routine. The Stooges marry the ladies and honeymoon in (where else?)
Niagara Falls. This time, Curly is the Stooge who exclaims "Niagara
Falls!" making himself the target of Moe and Larry's wrath. 

The venerable routine reappeared in an episode of I Love Lucy aired in
1952. Ricky needs both a ballerina and a comic to be in his floorshow
at the Tropicana. Lucy, as usual, is clamoring to participate. He
sends her to a ballet teacher. She klutzes it up, hurts her leg and
hires someone to teach her a vaudeville routine instead. In a typical
misunderstanding, Ethel tells Lucy that the show needs an emergency
substitute performer. Lucy goes and performs a vaudeville routine in
the ballet, walloping the dancers and causing general lunacy and
mayhem. 

This little skit, and its centerpiece phrase, have become so well
known that its authorship would seem to be lost in the mists of time,
like an old folk ballad. 

Extensive research (i.e., Web-surfing) has revealed that comic Joey
Faye claimed authorship of "Slowly I Turned" in its many formats. Born
Joseph Palladino in 1909 on Manhattan's Lower East Side, he appeared
in burlesque and vaudeville shows, usually as a sidekick to the star,
often Phil Silvers. He was in 36 Broadway shows, including Man of La
Mancha as Sancho Panza, and dozens of movies. He had his own series,
The Joey Faye Frolics, in 1950, and appeared as well in other
television shows, such as The Real McCoys, Perry Mason and Maude. His
most recent claim to fame was as the green grape in the Fruit of the
Loom underwear commercials. He continued to work until well into his
80s and died in 1997. 

Finally, the mystery has been solved. But people will continue to use
the phrase at appropriate moments and enjoy its several film
performances without knowing or caring about its source. It has become
an acknowledged part of American popular culture, and that is a
greater accomplishment than having your name appended to a bit of
comic business.