From the Archives

Every so often the RD archives produces an anecdote more astonishing than outright hilarious. This 68-yearold letter from July 1949 is certainly one of those …

In the nearly empty New York bus, a survivor of Dachau was struggling with the words of a song in a booklet entitled How to Become a US Citizen, but it was painfully evident that he was hopelessly off the track. After listening a few moments, a man in a nearby seat moved over, took the booklet and quietly began to demonstrate how the song should be sung.

The bus driver looked back, smiled, and then both he and I joined in with a good, round, “Oh, say, can you see …”

By the time we got to 64th Street, our pupil’s singing had improved noticeably. Of course, he had good teachers – the bus driver, myself and Bing Crosby.