| Yama Yama Girl | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Yama Yama Man |
|
First Appearance |
The Three Twins (1908) |
|
Original Publisher |
Witmark & Sons |
|
Created by |
Karl Hoschna |
Origin[]
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"The Yama Yama Man" was a comical song for the Broadway show The Three Twins, published in 1908 by M. Witmark & Sons with music by Karl Hoschna and lyrics by Collin Davis. It became popular after Bessie McCoy's animated performance in a satin Pierrot clown costume with floppy gloves and a cone hat. At age 20, she became an overnight sensation on Broadway and was known thereafter as the "Yama Yama Girl"; it became her lifelong theme song. The show ran for 288 performances. The lyrics contain topical references of the era such as street cars and ladies' fashion while the refrain is about a comical bogeyman—the Yama Yama Man—who is "ready to spring out at you unaware".
Bessie McCoy's signature performance was key in establishing the song's popularity. According to Marjorie Farnsworth, "thousands came to see Bessie sing and dance as the Yama Yama Girl and then came to see her again.... her knack of dancing the songs became so effective that she often did them in pantomime with the audience filling in the words."According to Joe Laurie Jr she was one of the most imitated routines in Vaudeville. Nell Brinkley, who saw McCoy perform, described her thus:
she swings on her heel and leaps away into a wild fantastic headlong dance—the dance of a crazy king's clown, half girl, half wild boy, heady with the wine of the Spring air at twilight … The black satin of her bloomers fills like sails, and they ripple and flatten against her body. Her hair flies in loose flax around her face, and her face is a vivid white candle flame in the yellow aureole of her hair … Her feet might be bounding white balls carrying her body with them in their tireless, leaping flight. She circles madly around the boards, touching lightly and rebounding from the jutting points of the painted mock scenery, like an imprisoned moth, or an elf hunting for some lost thing and fearful of being caught. She is wonderful.
Lyrics[]
1. Ev'ry little tot at night, Is afraid of the dark you know. Some big Yama man they see, When off to bed they go.
Refrain: Yama, Yama, the Yama man, Terrible eyes and a face of tan. If you don't watch out he'll get you without a doubt, If he can. Maybe he's hiding behind the chair, Ready to spring out at you unaware. Run to your mama, For here comes the Yama Yama man. 2. Great big scary eyes you see, So you cover up your head. But that Yama man is there, Standing right beside your bed.
Refrain 3. In the theater now today, Ev'ry girl takes off her hat. But that doesn't help a bit, For you can't see 'round her rat.
Refrain 4. Mister Harriman to-day, Thinks he'll have to change his dish. Fridays he says he'll stick to meat, For he's getting sick of "Fish".
Refrain 5. Lady coming up the street, Holds her skirt up with hands so deft. To do this she has a perfect right, And she also has a darn good left.
Refrain 6. The "Pay-as-you-enter" car, Is the brightest scheme evolved. They can't Miss a nickel now, So the traction question's solved.
Refrain
Notes[]
- In 1918, the cartoonist Max Fleischer created Koko the Clown, who appears to owe much to the Yama Yama Girl costume. Both Koko and Bessie McCoy wore clothing of loose black material, with three large white pom-poms in front and a white-trimmed neck frill. Both wore white foot coverings, white gloves with long fingers, and a hat with the same white pom-pom as in front. A 1922 sheet music drawing makes the connection explicit, saying "Out of the Inkwell, the New Yama Yama Clown", showing a picture of Koko.