# the little man who was not there **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916 "2001-09-05T19:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gabbyhayes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@gabbyhayes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabbyhayes)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/1 "2001-09-05T19:51:16Z")
snippet of verse appeared in my mind unbidden and has been driving me crazy all afternoon. it goes something like this: in the dark behind the stair the lived a man who was not there he was not there again today oh how I wish he’d stay away can’t find a reference to it anywhere. is it ogden nash or dorothy parker? or a traditional nursery rhyme? did I get the words right? I think the little man’s name is Yehudi–at least that’s what Frank Brown, the science fiction writer, called him. Do you know what the connection is? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/2 "2001-09-05T19:55:36Z")
**Antigonish** _As I was walking up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there! He wasn’t there again today! I wish, I wish he’d stay away!_ - Huges Mearns ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/3 "2001-09-05T19:56:26Z")
It’s Fredric Brown, by the way. The poem was written by that most prolific of all poets, Anon. It goes something like this: Yesterday, upon the stair I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d go away. It was 30’s comedian Jerry Collonna who came up with the name “Yehudi” for the little man. Collona was inspired by the name of violinist Yehudi Menuhin, a name Collona found particularly amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/4 "2001-09-05T19:58:14Z")
**Antigonish** _By Hughes Mearns_ As I was going up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there! He wasn’t there again today! I wish, I wish he’d stay away! Damn, not quick enough… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/5 "2001-09-05T19:58:19Z")
It’s originally from an amateur paly called _The Psycho-ed_ (1910), by the writer and educationalist Hughes Mearns (1875-1965). As I was walking up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d stay away I was popularized in the song ‘The Little Man Who Wasn’t There’ (1939) ---
**Author:** ![gabbyhayes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@gabbyhayes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabbyhayes)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/6 "2001-09-05T20:06:22Z")
thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/7 "2001-09-05T20:09:46Z")
Damn, you guys are fast 😃 from [this site](http://members.aol.com/EOCostello/xyz.html) > [@](#): > > \*\*Yehudi > > Catch-phrase of Jerry Colonna (which see). This originated in a gag involving the violinist Yehudi Menunin and an appearence by him on the Bob Hope radio show, on which Colonna was a supporting player. Wertheim describes the origin of the gag: apparently, Colonna, not knowing who Yehudi was, asked the cast of the radio show, who didnt know either. The search for the mythical Yehudi became a running gag and, eventually a popular song. Yehudi references can be seen in Hollywood Steps Out (where an invisible figure is sitting next to Colonna, and is identified by Jerry as Yehudi), Farm Frolics (an owl says Whos Yehudi?), and Crazy Cruise (Avery/Clampett, 1942), in which an invisible battleship, the S.S. Yehudi, is seen. There is also the Club Yahoodi in Lights Fantastic (Freleng, 1942), which does not have much of anything. > > A fairly recent episode of the PBS series Nova, I have been informed, discussed a so-called Project Yehudi from the World War II era involving camouflage schemes for ships, which gives the Crazy Cruise gag an interesting twist.\*\* My father, a WWII vet, often used “Yehudi” to refer to an unidentified person who had done some piece of mischief (actually done by us kids). ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/8 "2001-09-05T21:22:08Z")
I must apologize for claiming the author was Anon. That was faulty research on my part. ---
**Author:** ![AKAmame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/9 "2001-09-06T10:19:44Z")
Or there is the second version I learned at school: _Yesterday upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today, I think he’s from the CIA._ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/10 "2001-09-06T11:20:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Or there is the second version I learned at school: > > Yesterday upon the stair, > I met a man who wasn’t there. > He wasn’t there again today, > I think he’s from the CIA. That version was originalli in Mad magazine. I posted it yesterday, but soon found it gone. I suspect the Mods were afraid of copyright issues (possibly correctly). Is the mortal that you shouldn’t attribute your quotes? ---
**Author:** ![AKAmame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/11 "2001-09-06T12:00:48Z")
Mad Magazine? You mean the exorbitantly expensive ladies finishing school I attended got it’s syllabus from MAD MAGAZINE??? Is nothing sacred. (Mind you, it was the late '60/early 70’s. 'Spose I should be glad they had a syllabus, not just music and enthusiasm.) ---
**Author:** ![Nyrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/919ad9/32.png) [@Nyrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyrath)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-man-who-was-not-there/79916/12 "2001-09-06T21:18:46Z")
The UFO version goes: I saw a disc up in the air A silver disc that wasn’t there Two more weren’t there again today Oh, how I wish they’d go away!