The term “Newfie” has frequently sparked controversy but only on two occasions did the term grab international attention.
“Stay where you are ’till I comes where you’re at.” As innocuous as it may sound was the phrase that sparked the first international uproar over the expression “Newfie” when it was mentioned by one of Hollywood’s most famous movie stars, Joan Blondell.
It happened in 1943 during a command performance from Carnegie Hall in New York City during a live broadcast to American troops in Europe and radio audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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The second “Newfie” uproar followed an international television show originating from CNN and hosted by Anthony Bourdain, one of the world’s most famous chefs. That show which was televised on May 13 was viewed by an audience in excess of 10 million people. The show racked up record viewing in Newfoundland.
Just where the term “Newfie” originated from is uncertain, but it is believed to have started when American soldiers in 1941 discovered a strong Jamaican rum being bottled in St. John’s and labelled Screech. The Americans dubbed it “Newfie Screech.”
As the time, Newfoundlanders were referring to the British as Limeys, Americans as Yanks, Canadians as Canucks — so the term Newfie was generally not considered an insult.
The most recent hullabaloo is not likely to match the depth of the episode ignited by the joan Blondell performance in 1943.
Blondell, while visiting St. John’s a year before, was charmed by the phrase “Stay where you are ’till I comes where you’re at.” She used that idiom when introducing a song she sang called “The Newfoundland Express,” thought to have been written by the star while crossing Newfoundland by train in 1942. The song referred to the Newfoundland Express as “The Newfie Bullet” and the name stuck. The audience hooted, whistled and clapped at the end of her performance.
However, when Blondell returned to her Hollywood home she was shaken by some angry and insulting letters from irate Newfoundlanders who cursed the actress, threatened her family and claimed she was ridiculing Newfoundlanders.
Upset by these, she defended herself with a letter published in The Evening Telegram.
Although I have written of this episode in the past, circumstances warrant its repetition.
In the letter Blondell mimicked access from the South and from Brooklyn, where she grew up. She wrote:
Surely on radio shows emanating from the States you have heard the comics mimic the New York talk. “Dis is Toity-Toid Abenue and Toity-Toid Street. Or that southern drawl, “Howdy, y’all, a’hm shore glad to see y’all heah.” Some little girl in Newfoundland at some time said “Stay where you are ’till I comes where you’re at.” If it had not been a charming and quaint way of placing words it would have died on her lips. Instead, its fame grew and grew until it became an important and well-worth repeating. Even my babies have relayed it to Public School Number 14 in Hollywood. It’s likely, in fact, to grace the annals and head the list of our choice phrases.
Several prominent Newfoundlanders defended Joan Blondell through letters to The Evening Telegram. John G. Higgins, KC, a First World War veteran and famous Rhodes Scholar, asked in his letter “Are we losing our sense of humour?”
No doubt the same question is being asked today. Another prominent lawyer, George Ayre, provided the most articulate defence of the actress and utilized a little humour of his own in responding to her critics.
He wrote:
“It is a great pity that our cowardly, anonymous writers did not have to bless instead of curse; but they did not. I am prepared to do it for them, and in my humble way Say:
May Heaven bless you, Joan Blondell
Your form and acting are both swell;
Let those who curse you go to —
Joe Batt’s arm
And there, I bet, they’ll do no harm,
Come back and with us long do well,
For we all love you, Joan Blondell.”
Sgd — G.W.B. Ayre, Liberty Hall, March 25, 1943.
Anthony Bourdain used the term “Newfie” in his show ans as in Blondell’s episode, sparked some negative action. The show was overwhelmingly applauded by viewers and received glowing assessments from television, radio and newspapers.
CBC’s National nightly news program viewed it as a major boost for Newfoundland tourism. The female commentator was particularly impressed by the segment on the Big R restaurant, finding the depiction of Jiggs’ dinner, fish’n’brewis, deep fried fish’n’chips as mouth-watering enough for her to tell viewers she intended to visit the Big R this summer to sample some.
Similar observations were made in The Telegram. Columnist Martha Muzychka noted “Originally the show’s plan had been to focus on St-Pierre-Miquelon, but Bourdain made the cuisine in this province the entrée and the culinary delights of the French islands off shore the amuse-bouche, as it work.”
She was also impressed that the show paid tribute to Newfoundland’s culinary traditions, including “fried bologna, liver with lashings of onions, cod tongues and crab strips and Jiggs’ dinner, awash in gravy.”
Michael Hatch, a Newfoundlander now living in Ottawa said in a letter to The Telegram, “The province’s self-appointed language police should both lighten up and look in the mirror. Mocking visitors for how they speak is a great way to keep them from coming back. Doing so, while peppering your own language with errors and mispronunciations, is even worse.” Hatch said he will sample a Jiggs’ dinner at the Big R when he visits this summer.
Compared to the Joan Blondell episode, Bourdain’s is a tempest in a chip fryer.
Jack Fitzgerald
St. John’s
