“Big Apple” (Dan Burley’s Original Handbook of Harlem Jive, 1944)
Dan Burley (1907-1962) was an American pianist and journalist. From Dan Burley’s Original handbook of Harlem Jive (1944):
Big Apple—Harlem, New York City, any Big Town
Big Red with the Long Green Stem—New York
Wikipedia: Dan Burley
Dan Burley (November 7, 1907 in Lexington, Kentucky – October 29, 1962 in Chicago, Illinois) was an American pianist and journalist. He appeared on numerous network television and radio shows in the US and had two radio shows of his own on WWRL Radio in New York.
He was editor of many African-American publications, including the New York Age, the Amsterdam News, and the magazines Ebony, Jet and Duke.
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Burley reputedly coined the word bebop and was the creator of The Harlem Handbook of Jive, which sold more than 100,000 copies. It was published in 1941 and reprinted in 1944. Burley’s handbook brought mentions from H. L. Mencken, Gertrude Stein, Danton Walker, Winchell and others
OCLC WorldCat record
Dan Burley’s Original handbook of Harlem jive
Author: Dan Burley
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : D. Burley, ©1944.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
Google Books
Dan Burley’s Jive
Dan Burley
Northern Illinois University Press, 2009 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 232 pages
This retro volume combines two brilliant and long out-of-print books, Dan Burley’s Original Handbook of Harlem Jive (1944) and Diggeth Thou? (1959) by Dan Burley, with an introduction by Thomas Aiello. Burley was a journalist and sportswriter who worked for various African American newspapers and magazines, including the Chicago Defender, Chicago Crusader, New York New Amsterdam News, Jet, and Ebony in both Chicago and New York in the 1920s through the 1950s. Although he did not invent jive, throughout the 1940s Burley’s Handbook fostered it, popularized it, and broadened its use beyond the cloister of the jazz community. Jive acted as an invisible conduit between the new urban linguistics and the inevitably square world.
Burley’s goal was to inform readers about this new language, as well as to entertain. Dan Burley’s Original Handbook of Harlem Jive offers a history of and definition for jive, followed by examples of folktales, poetry, and Shakespeare translated into jive. The work also includes a jive glossary for easy reference. Burley followed up the success of the Handbook with Diggeth Thou?, which includes more stories told in jive. These rare books sparkle with wit and humor and offer a flashback to the world of New York’s and Chicago’s hepcats and chicks. Aiello’s work will allow Burley’s fascinating take on jive to reach a new generation of readers and scholars.
Google Books
Dan Burley’s Jive
By Dan Burley
Edited by Thomas Aiello
DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press
2009
Pg. 208:
Big Apple—Harlem, New York City, any Big Town
Big Red with the Long Green Stem—New York