March 23, 1923
Frank Silver & Irving Conn released “Yes, We Have No Bananas,” sung by Eddie Cantor in the Broadway revue “Make it Snappy.” The song is usually attributed to a banana shortage caused by blight in Brazil. Lot’s of other things happened on March 23. Benito Mussolini formed Fascist movement in Italy (1922.) The 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party re-established a five-member Politburo, which became the center of political power in the Soviet Union (1919.) Tennessee became the 1st state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution (1922.) Via the Enabling Act, the German Reichstag granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers (1933.) Today, we’re sticking with bananas. Eddie Cantor got really, really tired of singing this song, as the follow-up tune illustrates:
