I think, although I’m not sure, that “bread and butter” was something you uttered when “splitting a pole” to ward off the polespitting demonds (or whatever bad thing is supposed to happen when two people pass on either side of an obstruction.)
I think that what you are remembering here is the cartoon in which an animated Ray Milland pays for drinks with a typewriter and receives little typewriters as change.
The reference is to Lost Weekend, in which Milland plays an alcoholic writer who, in a fit of desperation, wanders the streets looking for a pawn shop to hock his typewriter so he can buy some booze. But the shops are all closed due to a Jewish holiday. And, man, those old typewriters were heavy! Tragic.
I second Biggirl on the bread-and-butter.
In the Bugs cartoon where he becomes an organ-grinder and uses a gorilla to forcibly get loot from patrons, at the end, Bugs looks into the camera and says “I sure hope Pertrillo doesn’t find out about this!”
A good friend of my informs me that “Pertrillo” was James Caesar Petrillo, powerful President of the American Federation of Musicians.
Guess Bugs was afraid Pertrillo would get angry if he didn’t get his cut.
Technically, Yahoodi should be Yehudi. On a radio episode of either the Eddie Cantor or Bob Hope shows (I believe) they were thinking of a name for a baby. At this point, Yehudi Menuhin (did I spell it correctly?) was of some note as a violinist to the general public, and Jerry Colonna decided to propose the name Yehudi. The audience that had never heard of Menuhin thought it hillarious, and the bit became a long-running catchphrase.
SadTomato, you’ve answered a little mystery that’s been stuck in the back of my mind for about 30 years. Thanks!
You’re welcome, initech.
Until my friend told me about Pertrillo, I’d always assumed “Pertrillo” was the organ-grinder seen at the beginning of the cartoon.
This may have been produced during one of the musician’s strikes of the 1940’s, in which case Bugs doesn’t want Petrillo to find out that he’s been working as a musician (e.g., organ-grinding) on film, which may have been in violation of the strike.
To be precise, it is an old superstition. If a couple is walking together and have to walk on opposide sides of a pole, they both say “bread and butter” or else they will break up.