Sticky Sticky Stumbo revisited

Those of us who blog generally know how many people read our blogs and how they found us. We know what countries they live in and if they read a lot or just now and then, and for how long. We have stats. One of my favorite stats is Keyword Search. Keyword search is a word or phrase that someone searched the Internet for, which brought them to your blog. And some of those searches appear again and again. I was surprised to find out that one of the top searches that brings people here is "Sticky Sticky Stumbo."

If you are someone who has read my 1oo things link, you may remember that #47 (because I'm sure you've read my hundred things over and over again) is about one of my very favorite stories when I was a kid. It was a story called "The Little Boy With the Long Name." I loved the story, not because it was a wonderful story, I mean, the kid dies, but it was his name. It was a name a kid would try to memorize and read over and over in a rhythmic sing-song kind of way. It was:

Sticky Sticky Stumbo
Nos E Rumbo
E Pro Pennyo
Hara Bara Brisko
Nicky Prom Po
Nish No Menyo
Dumbricko

It was always written that way, as if it were lines in a poem. And I can still recite it 40 some years later. Without the book.

I was contacted by a couple who were looking for a copy of the story and they emailed me. I told them I remembered it from a book I got from an uncle when I was 3 or 4 years old called Big and Little Creatures. I found it as a used book on Amazon and sent them the link. Recently, having seen the search come up in my stats again I thought I would get a copy of the book for myself. It arrived today.

It's magic! As I turned the pages I remembered every illustration whether I remembered the story attached or not. But I did remember many stories and nursery rhymes and poems. It was copywrite 1961, by Golden Press. 1961. So it was when the villains in children's books were scary and people really died and not everything was all sweetness and light. The story of Little Black Sambo was a story about a little boy with a loving mother and father and not a reflection of race relations in the world. And I remember devouring this book. Even when I got too old for it, I would pull it out and flip through the pages, every drawing a memory and even the smell of the pages would bring back the innocence of the years before.

So I share a bit. Click to make pictures bigger - indulge me in my memories of long ago. I hope you enjoy!

Still true today.

From The Three Little Pigs




The Story of The Three Bears




The Story of Little Black Sambo

~ * ~

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Little Red Riding Hood

~ * ~


~ * ~

And finally - The Little Boy With the Long Name

. . . who fell down a well

. . . and was quite, quite dead. He had died while they were saying his name.

~ * ~

We played outside summer and winter, we watched a little TV (3 stations) and when we had nothing to do - we used our imagination. Nobody wrapped us in cotton. We were allowed to learn to distinguish between right and wrong and real and make believe and we read books that were not PC'ed to death and completely sanitized.

And we're all right. For the most part.


For those of you looking for your "Sticky Sticky Stumbo" memories, you can find them if you try.