Wednesday, April 1, 1964 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Popular Folk Songs Are 'Fake Folklore'
By Tom Moore
Popular folk songs heard on the radio and television today are not folklore; but the elephant jokes are, Robert Georges, instructor of English and a folklorist, said yesterday.
Georges said that the criteria for folklore is that the material, be it song, joke, or superstition, must be transferred from person to person orally with slight occurring in the material as it is retold.
Public interest in folklore in the U.S.A. intensified in the 1930's as America became a world power, Georges said.
The study of folklore, which dates back to the 19th century, has frequently been misunderstood. In the United States, it is the recording and study of ballads, of habits, of superstitions, of beliefs, and of narratives, he said.
In keeping with this new position, a need for a past filled with legendary heroes developed. To fill this need, a parade of fake heroes was created with all the qualities deemed necessary for an American legendary hero.
BETWEEN 1880 AND 1930, there was vigorous activity in folklore in the U.S., especially of the North American Indian folklore, ballad narratives, and Negro songs and spirituals.
AMONG THE FIRST was Paul Bunyan, who was created by a Minnesota lumber company as an advertising gimmick, Georges said. The idea of a lumberjack myth appealed to the writers of the 30's, and the Paul Bunyan story was born.
Joe Magarac (which is Hungarian for the word "jackass") was created for the Hungarian steelworkers in Pittsburgh. Pecos Bill, the Texan cyclone rider, was also created in this period.
Febold Feboldson was created as the greatest mid-western wheat farmer in the 30's. Feboldson could harvest whole fields in a single day and plow a hundred acres without machinery.
Even a female "fake heroine" was created, Georges added, who was known as Anne Christmas, the supposed legendary prostitute of New Orleans.
ALL THESE FAKE heroes had a bad effect on the image of folklore because the public began to see folk-lore as a fantasy. Georges said.
In Georges' folklore classes, he said that many of the students come into class for the first time expecting to see a bearded entertainer with dirty feet and perhaps a guitar on the desk.
he said that a folklorist usually dresses like other people, with a few exceptions in the ranks, and are trained to collect and compare folklore. The American folklorist is a trained scholar and not an entertainer.
The Tarpent Springs Greeks and their descendants have been Georges' main object of research for the summers of 1961-62.
GEORGES HAS done some of his field work in Tarpon Springs, Fla. where the population of 7,000 is about 40 per cent Greek origin.
From the material on the Greeks and their descendants that Georges has collected and studied, he has made these observations. They believe that St. Nicholas is constantly watching over them.
They never begin anything important on Tuesday because that was the day that Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453.
That Tarpon Springs, a sea coast town, will always have a raging storm on St. Nicholas' Day, Dec. 6.
Every boat (the main industry of Tarpon Springs is sponge fishing) must carry a picture of St. Nichols (an icon) on the boat's cabin.
If the sea becomes very rough, the captain will dip the icon in the sea and the boat is supposedly free from harm.
BLACK IS CONSIDERED a bad omen by these Greeks and usually they are very careful about people who wear black.
SAN FRANCISCO — (UPI) California ranks third in the nation in outboard motor users with 412-000. trailing only New York and Michigan, according to the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the Oatboard Industry Association.
Putt, Putt
All of these beliefs originated in Greece and have remained with these people at Tarpon Springs because of the ideal cultural climate.
These are not just things they remember, but things that continue to have a function in their society.
Donna Hanneman, Junction City junior, and John Sapp. Astoria, Ill., sophomore, were elected on-campus chairman and off-campus chairman, respectively, of the KU Peace Corps Committee.
Peace Corps Elect Chairmen
The election was held last night in an executive meeting of the Peace Corps Committee.
In other action, the executive committee evaluated the KU Peace Corps Week which ended March 26.
"About 91 people took the exam," John Fairhurst, Wichita senior, reported to the committee.
Earlier in the week, Fairhurst had outlined the goals of Peace Corps Week as being to inform the campus of Peace Corps activities and to encourage KU students to take advantage of the concentrated testing program.
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